Glendale’s Wright Off Track Team : Discipline: Defending Southern Section 4-A champion in the long jump is dismissed for refusing to practice.

The brilliant but often-tumultuous high school athletic career of Glendale’s Mike Wright apparently has come to a close.

Wright, a Times All-Glendale selection in football and basketball this school year and the defending Southern Section 4-A Division champion in the boys’ long jump, was dismissed from the Dynamiters’ track team by Coach John Barnes this week for refusing to practice.

Wright’s dismissal Tuesday came four days after he had competed in his first track meet of the year--the Mt. San Antonio College Relays. Wright missed the first part of the season because he was academically ineligible.

“That was the final straw,” Barnes said Thursday. “It was just flagrant disrespect for the coaches. We can’t have two sets of standards here.”

Wright had 40 receptions for 912 yards and nine touchdowns as a wide receiver on Glendale’s football team, and he averaged 19.1 points as a forward in basketball. He seemed unfazed by his dismissal.

“The best thing for both of us has probably happened,” Wright said. “I’ll miss competing with some of my friends, but (Barnes) felt that this should be the end.”

Wright leaped a personal best of 23 feet 9 1/2 inches to finish second in the invitational long jump at Mt. SAC last Friday. He also ran the third leg on Glendale’s 400- and 800-meter relay teams. But he missed practice Monday, telling Barnes he was sick. On Tuesday, he said he could not practice because he had forgotten his track spikes.

“I told him that we needed him out there to work with the relay teams,” Barnes said. “And he basically said, ‘I’m a jumper. I don’t need to work with the sprinters.’ ”

Barnes dismissed Wright despite being his biggest booster. Barnes, a member of the 1952 U. S. Olympic track team in the 800 meters and the coach at Glendale since 1967, said last month that Wright was the most talented high school track and field athlete he had ever seen.

Wright’s potential was greater than either Dwight Stones or Lee Balkin, two former state champions in the high jump for Glendale, according to Barnes. Stones is a former world record-holder in the high jump and a two-time Olympic bronze medalist. Balkin was a member of the U. S. team that competed in the 1987 World Championships.

“I had Balkin and Stones, and the talent (Wright) has puts those guys to shame,” Barnes said.

Unfortunately for Wright, his physical talents clashed with a lackadaisical attitude toward academics and punctuality.

As a junior, he missed postseason play during the basketball season and the first half of the track season because he was academically ineligible. As a senior, he showed up late for basketball games and missed practices. “He’s a really neat kid,” Barnes said. “But he can really try your patience. Sometimes you feel like kicking him in the butt, and other times you feel like hugging him.”

Wright, academically ineligible for an NCAA Division I scholarship, said he will attend either Glendale College or Pasadena City College in the fall and that he wants to compete in football, basketball and track.