WRIGHT, JAMES "JIMBO" M , FUHS 1979

FUNERAL: OCT 4, 2013

FINAL FAREWELL : OCT 6,, 2013

 

JAMES “JIMBO” WRIGHT, FUHS 1979

 

Longtime youth football coach remembered

By LOU PONSI

2013-10-02 21:53:35

Anyone involved with youth football in Fullerton over the past three-plus

decades likely connected at some point with James Wright.

Known to virtually everyone as “Jimbo,” Wright served as a volunteer

coach and board member with Fullerton Pop Warner & Cheer for 35

years.

Wright died Monday at age 53, succumbing to a variety of medical

issues he'd been battling for years, said his son, James Wright Jr., 28.

Wright's football family on Wednesday honored the longtime volunteer

and father of three with a vigil at Lions Field, where he spent countless hours teaching football's X's and O's and mentoring youngsters.

Despite battling illness, Wright was showing up at practices as recently as three weeks ago, said Tracy Bair, the current league president.

“It was about the kids for him,” said Bair, who'd known Wright for 14 years. “He was amazing.”

A lifelong resident of the city, Wright's first involvement with Fullerton Pop Warner was as a player. He went on to play running back for the Fullerton Union High School team and was still in high school when he began volunteering as a coach with the Pop Warner league, James Wright Jr. said.

Wright coached his son's team to an Orange Bowl championship in 1994.

“He always said he was going to retire after I stopped playing,” Wright said. “And years later, he was still going.”

Orange County Supervisor Shawn Nelson, a Fullerton resident and former city councilman, coached in the league with Wright for the past eight years.

Wright loved youth football, Nelson said. “There are not that many people that, when their kids are out, they stay involved,” Nelson said.

Along with his son, Wright is survived by his father, John Wright; wife, Kim Betty-Wright; daughters Vanessa Loera, 25, and Taylor Wright, 18; and granddaughters Alize, 5, and Issella, 11 months.

Funeral services will be at 1 p.m. Friday at Cornerstone Church, 4905 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim.

Bair said a “final farewell” is also being held by the league at 12:30 p.m. Sunday at Lions Field, 1300 Brea  Blvd., Fullerton.

Fullerton Pop Warner plans to purchase a memorial bench inscribed with Wright's name for the field.

Said Nelson: “He was the heart and soul of the league and he was the tenure of the league.”

Contact the writer: 714-704-3730 or lponsi@ocregister.com

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FUNERAL:  OCT 4, 2013

FINAL FAREWELL : OCT 6,, 2013