Diving: Michael Wright a trailblazer

Tennessee Diving Invitational (Day One)

Michael Wright has gotten a lot of notoriety since joining the Tennessee swimming and diving team.

Mostly recognized for his success and records on the 1- and 3-meter springboard, Wright has also gotten attention for something not listed on his lengthy athletic resume.

Wright is an African-American in a predominantly white sport. And it’s a sport he’s been among the best.

Wright, a redshirt senior from Forest Park, Ill., already has set and broken his own school records at Tennessee and won diving championships at the junior college and Division I level after taking up the sport in high school.

The scary thing for the opposition is Wright, described by his coach as a raw talent, still is adjusting to the sport.

An Easy Transition

After growing up running around with his older sisters in a gymnastics studio run by his mother in Chicago, Wright turned to diving when gymnastics wasn’t offered at his high school.

The easy transition didn’t mean he fell in love with the sport right away.

“It was funny; at first, I hated it,” said Wright, who won the 1-meter springboard at the Tennessee Diving Invitational on Monday at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatics Center with a score of 391.95 points. “It’s a winter sport. In Chicago it’s cold, you get out of practice at 6:30 at night, ride the bus home, and I was just like, ‘I hate doing this.’

“I think it was around my junior year that my coach saw some serious talent and they got me into a club team — and that’s when I started training all year-round.”

That serious talent included All-Sectional, All-Conference and All-America honors for Wright at St. Patrick’s High School.

Getting Away

Wright’s success at St. Patrick’s led him to Indian River Community College in Fort Pierce, Fla., what Wright called a chance to get away and get better.

“I guess it was just an opportunity to travel, get away a little bit,” said Wright, who won the NJCAA National Championship in the 1- and 3-meter springboard.

“It was just a good way to get started, to get used to college diving and get serious more. From there, after my two years was up, I just started looking for somewhere bigger.”

When Wright started looking, Tennessee came calling.

“It was a little bit of luck,” Tennessee diving coach Dave Parrington said of finding Wright. “The level of competition at the junior college level isn’t as great as it is here, we look at the results from their championships, but it’s not something we go watch.

“Our swim coach, John Trembley, was at the junior nationals and happened to spot Mike, and he came back to me and said, ‘We need to take a look at this guy,’ ” Parrington said.

“He’s an incredible athlete. I’m just happy coach Dooley hasn’t seen him, because he’d probably be a pretty good receiver. But a lot of it is pure athletic talent.”

Getting Noticed

After finishing sixth at the AT&T National Championships as a junior, Wright was redshirted to rest a nagging back injury during his senior season, but that didn’t stop him from collecting more accolades.

Wright was elected as a captain by his teammates, but turned down the role because of his redshirt. He went on to win the only event he was eligible for — the USA Diving Winter Nationals last February, an event not sanctioned by the NCAA — with a school-record 396 points in the 1-meter springboard. Soon after, Wright was recognized by USA Diving as the first African-American to win a diving national title.

Wright has since broken his own school record with a score of 414 points in a dual-meet with Louisville earlier this season.

“He went (to the Winter Nationals) and I thought he had a shot at winning it,” Parrington said. “But he hadn’t really had success at that level … But he stepped up and won it and impressed a lot of people.”

Those impressed included the Tennessee State Senate, which passed Historic Achievement Resolution No. 197 in his honor, and Black Sport The Magazine, which featured him on the cover in recognition of his national title.

“He really made a huge statement by winning that event — it was the first time that it had ever happened in history,” Parrington said. “So that’s really exciting for him, and he’s reaped the benefits from that.”

“It was always a goal to win,” Wright said, “but I never thought about magazine covers or anything like the publicity I’ve received … but I’m just out here to win. And I guess that comes with it.”

Racial Recognition

Wright understands his publicity has come because of both his results and his race, but it’s not something he’s shied away from.

“I’m not really affected by it in any way,” Wright said. “It doesn’t really make anything change for me. I guess it’s just I’m that person that everyone will look at.

“I guess at first it was kind of like, ‘Who are you and where did you come from?’ I guess I’m that stereotype. I’m the only one for them to base anything off of, so I’m just trying to set the bar high, and let everyone see that it doesn’t matter where you’re from.”

Wright has set the bar as high as anyone at nearly every level he’s competed in, helping turn his attention to diving at the highest level, the Olympics.

“When I first started out it was just for fun. It was never like, ‘Oh I want to be the best one ever.’ It was more like this is what I love to do so I’m going to do my best at it,” Wright said of his Olympic goals.

“But now as I’ve grown, and Dave (Parrington) has helped me so much, and all my teammates have helped push me, it’s like, ‘Why not keep going?’ ”

Grant Ramey is a freelance contributor.