George Wright

Born on April 17, 1935 in Savannah, Ga., George Wright's family moved to New York City at a young age. Wright began boxing in New York as a youngster, but the Army brought him out west to Fort Lewis.

By the time Wright arrived in Washington, he had given up boxing. But Wright was encouraged by Stan Naccarato to start back up. Bob Richards was his first manager and trainer, and he was later managed by Jack Connor and trained by Henry Woods.

During Wright's boxing career, he worked at Nalley's Foods. The company was understanding and generous in allowing Wright a flexible schedule to train. During the week of a fight, Nalley's would give him time off with pay.

"The folks at Nalley's were very understanding and generous with me during my boxing career," Wright once recalled.

Wright's first professional fight was in Tacoma on August 18, 1961, and was held in Cheney Stadium, home to the Tacoma Giants baseball team that played in the Pacific Coast League.

The 6-foot-1 Wright defeated Johnny Osborne with a fourth round TKO. He went on to win the next seven fights in a row and in 1962 he attained his highest ranking as the reigning State Middleweight Champion.

His pro career record ended with 19 wins (16 by KO), 3 losses, and 2 draws.

Wright retired from the ring following a loss to Frank "Snakebit" Niblett on May 17, 1967, a fight promoted by Promotions Northwest, a group of local Tacomans which included Stan Naccarato, Clay Huntington, Bill Rohrs, and Joe Macaluso.

George decided to retire because, "My wife, Norma, said that I didn't have anything more to prove and that I had had a good career and it was time to move on. That was pretty good advice. I met many great people in boxing such as Stan and Clay and others. The Lord has been good to me and so I was comfortable with the decision."