When the Game Is on the Line, Jocques Wright Is the Right One : St. Michael’s: Senior guard, who averaged 26.8 points and 13 rebounds last season, is always up to challenge at crunch time.
No one questions whether Jocques Wright can shoot the daylights out of a basket. They just wonder sometimes how to write his name correctly in the box score.
Instead of the more common French spelling, Jacques, the 17-year-old senior guard at St. Michael’s Prep, an all-boys’ boarding school, uses a slight variation of the name. That little nuance has forced him into reciting the story repeatedly.
“My mom was watching a Jacques Cousteau show one day even before I was born and she liked the name,” Wright said. “But she wanted me to be different, so she spelled it with an ‘o.’ ”
Last season, Wright burned opposing teams to the tune of 26.8 points per game--the seventh-best scoring average among county players--and averaged 13 rebounds despite being 5 feet 11. He scored 537 points to increase his career total to 772, an all-time school record, and was a first-team All-Academy League selection.
“Jocques is the scorer on the team. He’s the guy we go to when we have to have it,” St. Michael’s Coach Jack Dignan said. “He creates a lot. He can do it from anywhere on the floor.”
Wright, who keeps his ego under wraps, thrives on those instances when he is needed to make a crucial shot or crash the boards for an important rebound. With him, it’s more self-confidence than cockiness.
“The biggest challenge is to win games, and I’m in a position to help my team do that, so they look for me at crunch time,” Wright said. “I like to drive, to ‘attack in the hole,’ as they say. I’m the type of player who goes to the hoop.”
A few years ago, however, Wright wasn’t going in the right direction. While growing up in his hometown of West Los Angeles, Wright said he constantly goofed off and never took his schoolwork seriously. But about eight years ago he attended a summer camp run by St. Michael’s and liked it so much that he returned the next three summers. When Wright finished the eighth grade, his mother, Emako, suggested he attend St. Michael’s.
“I loved the summer camps but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to come to school here,” Wright said. “But I decided to come because I needed a place where I could study and get my grades together. This is the perfect setting for studying.”
His grades improved and Wright now has a 3.0 grade-point average. He also has become more involved in other activities at the school, including becoming senior class president.
Part of his motivation in the classroom and on the basketball floor comes from his parents, who are separated, Wright said. Part also comes from Chicago Bull forward Horace Grant, a cousin by marriage, who always reminds Wright to “keep your head straight.” His family, including younger sisters Lakisha and Dominique, make the long drive from West Los Angeles to Orange County to watch him play.
“They (family members) are real supportive of me playing, especially my father (Ricky),” said Wright, who would like to play at Loyola Marymount because of its run-and-gun system. “He hasn’t missed a game in two years.”
On most weekends, though, Wright is the one driving north when he goes home. But don’t expect to find him around the house. Wright said he spends much of his time during those visits “playing against big people at Memorial Gym in Santa Monica.” That’s where he sharpens his skills against former high school and college players who don’t particularly care how he spells his name but whether he can hold his own on the court.
But even if they did concern themselves with such grammatical matters, Wright wouldn’t mind explaining it yet another time.
“I have to tell people all the time that they spelled it wrong,” Wright said. “I don’t mind. I like my name. I’ve never come across anybody with my name. It makes me feel I’m the only one in the world with this name.”
