Wright’s Versatility Pays Dividends for Jaguars

By RuBin E. GRant

Sam Wright was asked to do something during the 2021-22 high school basketball season that he hadn’t done before, and with good reason.

Given his size – he’s 6 feet, 9½ inches – Wright was strictly a lowblock post player during his sophomore season at Spain Park. But with the presence of 6-9 Colin Turner in the post for the Jaguars last season, head coach Chris Laatsch asked Wright to play more on the perimeter to give Turner more room to operate.

“I’d never played on the outside in my life,” Wright said. “Coach Laatsch threw me into that role and I had to learn to shoot the three.”

With Turner now playing at North Georgia, Wright, a senior, is back on the blocks for the Jags, but he can also step outside if need be.

“I’m more versatile,” Wright said. “I’ve been able to combine the knowledge I gained last year on the perimeter with my post skills.”

His inside-outside skills were on display last Thursday in Spain Park’s 54-52 overtime victory against Sparkman in the Class 7A Northeast Regional semifinals at Jacksonville State University. Wright recorded a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds. He made 6 of 8 field goal attempts, including his only 3-pointer, and 8 of 10 free throws.

“It’s been absolutely incredible what he’s done the last few games,” Laatsch said. “If we need a bucket or a rebound, he goes out and gets it.

“He’s just an unbelievable kid. He’s extremely smart and he’s tough on himself. He holds himself to high standards, not only on the basketball court but in everything.”

High Standards

That includes in the classroom,

Gaydosh Boys Make Papa Proud With Youth Wrestling Titles

By RuBin E. GRant

Jacob Gaydosh likes to keep things in perspective, but he couldn’t contain his joy after watching his sons win youth state wrestling titles.

Clayton Gaydosh, a third-grader, won the 80-pound youth division, and his brother Kenny Gaydosh, a sixthgrader, took first place in the 112-pound youth division while competing for the Skull & Crossbones Wrestling Club in Hoover during the youth state championships Feb. 3-4 at Thompson High School in Alabaster.

They were the first ever brothers from the club to win state titles.

“It was a fun weekend,” Jacob Gaydosh said. “I downplayed it with my boys because the ultimate goal is winning in high school and it is youth wrestling, but I was happy and they were happy.”

The Gaydosh boys weren’t the only Skull & Crossbones wrestlers to win state titles. Brianna Keys, a seventh grader, captured the 100-pound girls division crown.

Jacob Gaydosh, a two-time state champion at Vestavia Hills and former Hoover head wrestling coach, wasn’t the only one celebrating enthusiastically. So was Skull & Crossbones head coach Stewart Holt, who was a twotime state champ at Berry (now Hoover) and a collegiate wrester at Carson-Newman College.

“I was just elated,” Holt said.

“I knew we were having a good sea- where Wright has a 4.45 grade-point average while taking advanced classes. He scored 29 on the ACT.

“Having high academic standards starts with my parents and grandparents,” Wright said. “They want me to do my best and reach my potential academically.”

Wright’s mom, Maya Britt, is a social studies teacher at Berry Middle School. She also played college basketball at Colgate from 1994 to 1997.

Wright said his height comes from his mother’s side of the family. His mom is 6-0 and she has two sisters, one 6-5 and the other 6-0, who were also college athletes, one in basketball and the other in volleyball.

Wright didn’t hit his growth spurt until high school. He was 6-0 but grew five inches after his freshman year and another four or five inches the past two years.

With his strong academic and basketball skills, he has received several scholarship offers from colleges such as Navy, Colgate, Dartmouth and Berry College.

“I’m going to go visit the Naval Academy and the other schools after our season is over and see how I like them before I decide,” Wright said.

Spain Park (24-6) was scheduled to play Huntsville Tuesday in the Northeast Regional final for the third consecutive year. The Jags won in 2021 and 2022 to advance to the state tournament at Birmingham’s Legacy Arena.

“Obviously, our goal is to win the state championship,” Wright said. “We’ll be one step closer if we can beat Huntsville. It would be awesome to go back to the Final Four.” son and were wrestling well all season, so I was expecting it to go well. I was ecstatic that the kids could pull it off and win their last match.

“Kenny and my son Joe have been in our program since kindergarten. This is their last year with us. Clayton still has four more years with us.”

First Girls Win

Keys began wrestling because of her dad, Craig Keys, a former wrestler from Nebraska who has been a wrestling assistant coach and head coach in Nebraska, Colorado and Pennsylvania and helps at the club. Her victory represented a milestone for the club.

“Brianna is our first girls champion,” Holt said. “She’s been coming to our club a couple of years. She’s a good wrestler.”

Other wrestlers from the club who placed in the top four in their divisions were: Tyler Foran, second place in the 120-pound youth division; Adrian Lowe, third place in the 120-pound school boy division; Joe Holt, third place in the 120-pound youth division; Jones Meadow, third place in the 120pound youth division; and Corey McCray, fourth place in the 150-pound youth division.

The Skull & Crossbones Wrestling Club includes children from Hoover, Helena, Homewood and McCalla. According to Holt, it has grown from 25 youth participants two years ago to more than 100 this past season.

David P. Adkison, MD

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