lu M wrigh T

Coach, Football

Edcouch-Elsa, ‘57-‘59 Mission, ‘60-‘68

One of the nation’s legendary football leaders, Elbert “Lum” Wright played football and baseball at Mississippi College in the late 1940s and then proceeded to win 361 lifetime games in a 45-year span that ended with his being elected to the National Federation of State High School Associations Hall of Fame.

Wright won 23 of 30 games with Edcouch-Elsa from 1957 to 1959, and the Yellowjackets went 10-1 and won the district title in ’59. He went to Mission, where in eight seasons he won a pair of league titles before coaching Gilmer in East Texas for two seasons and then returning to his native Mississippi in 1974.

Wright was a seven-time Coach of the Year who fashioned six undefeated seasons and had two 27-game winning streaks as a coach. A member of five different Halls of fame, Wright retired in 2000 as No. 9 in all-time wins nationwide.