Outstanding American

Jim Wright has devoted his professional life to help preserve the peace and safety of our country serving for 26 years as a distinguished member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. During his work at the FBI, Wright earned 25 letters of commendation for excellence in the fulfillment of his responsibilities. In fact, one of the letters of commendation is from the President of the United States. Commendation for cases involved: extortion, illegal drugs, bombings, bank robberies, espionage and foreign counter intelligence, terrorism, kidnapping, murder, organized crime, theft of interstate shipments, and mail fraud.

Wright has an exceptional record of accomplishment in dealing with many high profile cases including the Patty Hearst kidnapping, Chowchilla California kidnapping of a bus load of school children, the Reverend Jim Jones mass suicide, the Walker/Whitworth espionage case in which classified information was sold to the Soviet Union, the search and capture of Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber; and the kidnapping of an hours-old baby from a Canadian hospital. Jim is especially proud of his work in pursuing the kidnapping of this baby from a Canadian hospital for he fulfilled a lifelong dream of returning a child to the parents.

Wright also devoted much of his time to the capture of bank robbers. He was so successful in this effort that the California Savings and Loan Association in the San Francisco Bay area honored him with a special award for arresting 15 bank robbers in one year.

Much of Jim's success in life he credits to his involvement at Woodbury High School in the great sport of wrestling and to coach Bill Morro. When Jim was a seventh grade student at Woodbury High School, he met Bill Morro who encouraged him to try wrestling; and thus began a lifelong relationship with his coach and friend. Wright, had exceptional athletic ability and the self-discipline and desire to succeed. He earned seven varsity letters in three sports: wrestling, cross country and tennis. In wrestling he won a Region title and placed second in the State Tournament. On scholarship to Brigham Young University, he wrestled varsity for two years winning all of his matches freshman year except one and earning a third place finish in the Western Athletic Conference. A knee injury sidelined him and halted a promising college career.

Jim Wright is truly an outstanding American. He epitomizes the qualities of leadership on which American society depends: honesty, commitment, self-discipline, self-reliance, and confidence. Many of these qualities are learned through participation in the sport of wrestling.