Another Memphis Son Lost

I, like many Memphians and Tiger fans, prayed he would turn up. Prayed that he decided to take some time off to think. Prayed that maybe he was on a beach somewhere figuring out his newly single life. Prayed that he maybe took off to Israel to try out for a basketball team there and surprise his family with the news that he made it. Now we are praying for his family and six children who no longer have a father.

It is such a sad, tragic end to a very promising career for a true Memphian and Memphis Tiger. Lorenzen Wright was a star at Booker T. Washington High School. He was a star at the University of Memphis and a star at the Memphis Grizzlies. He was loved by Tiger fans. He was loved by Memphians. He was loved by the African-American community. He was loved by the Caucasian community.  Now he is gone. And we all grieve...together.

Lorenzen beat the odds. His father was paralyzed when he was shot breaking up a fight at a community center. He coached Lorenzen from a wheelchair making him a star at BTW. He played at the U of M, endearing himself to Tiger fans as a hometown kid who had made it. He was drafted into the NBA in 1996, eventually returning home to Memphis to play for the Grizzlies. He had made it. He had beat the odds. He didn't face the reality that so many young African-American men face not only in Memphis, but in America today. He wasn't shot. He didn't succumb to the violence that often plagues young African-American men. He didn't fall prey to drugs (that we know of.) He was living his dream in the NBA.

We all grieved with him when his 11-month-old baby girl died. We hoped he could feel the prayers and the arms of the city reaching around his family to comfort him. When we learned he was missing, we began to pray for him and his family again. Reaching our arms out to him and his family to keep them safe.

He had fallen on some hard times. He wasn't playing in the NBA anymore. He was newly single. He was away from his kids. He was apparently having financial troubles. He needed our prayers and support, but we didn't know about it until it was too late.

Today, as Tiger fans and as Memphians, we grieve the loss of Lorenzen Wright. We pray for his parents, his six children and his family. But let's also pray for other young basketball stars -- and other young men, of all races -- so they won't meet the same fate as Lorenzen Wright. Let's also pray they will figure out who did this to Memphis' son and that they be brought to justice.