NOTEBOOK : Jefferson High Basketball Teams Honor Deceased Coach

The Jefferson High girls’ and boys’ basketball teams have dedicated their season to Demorrio Wright, a boys’ assistant coach who died Nov. 11 after a 2 1/2-year battle with leukemia.

Jefferson teachers, administrators and students were among the 600 mourners who crowded into Neighborhood Community Church Nov. 16 to remember the 32-year-old alumnus who played football and basketball at Jefferson. Wright, survived by a wife and two children, was buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery.

Curtis Hughes, the girls’ basketball coach and a Jefferson graduate who had known Wright since the seventh grade, delivered the eulogy. Hughes said Wright was a caring and dedicated coach who went out his way to ensure his athletes kept up with their studies.

“Students always gave him respect,” Hughes said. “He would stand in front of the school every morning and he would make any athlete who came late do 50 pushups. He did it all the time to push them to go to classes.”

Wright, who coached at Jefferson for the past six years, was diagnosed with chronic myelogenic leukemia in 1992 after complaining of severe muscle spasms.

Wright, though, continued to coach through his illness. He was hospitalized several times and underwent intermittent chemotherapy. “I never said, ‘Why me?’ I’m a fighter. I’ll fight till the last season,” Wright said in a 1993 interview. “But seeing the kids trying is always a thrill. It makes me realize all the hard work is worth it.”

Jefferson boys’ Coach Andy Fujitsubo said Wright was coaching the team in preparation for the Democrats’ season opener Wednesday at Roosevelt when he checked into a hospital. He fell into a coma three days later and died the next morning.

“He never complained,” Fujitsubo said. “He was always at practice and the games. It seemed like he had just entered the hospital when we got the word he passed away. All of this happened so fast. It’s caught us off guard.”

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The East L.A. College soccer team is vying for its second state title in five years in the State tournament at Consumnes River College in Sacramento.

East L.A. (19-2-1), which won state titles in 1974 and 1990, played American River (15-2-6) in the semifinals Saturday. The victor advanced to today’s final against the winner of the other semifinal between Rancho Santiago (17-2-3) and De Anza (17-0-2).

East L.A. defeated San Diego City, 4-2, in the Southern California Regional finals Nov. 26 to advance to the two-day, four-team tournament for the third time in five years.

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Andrea Ferchaw and Korina Kemp, who helped the Cal State L.A. volleyball team reach the NCAA Division II Southwest Regional finals, have been selected to the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. all-conference first team.

Kemp, a 6-foot senior outside hitter, led the team with 375 kills and 46 service aces. Ferchaw, a 5-10 junior outside hitter, averaged 4.31 kills per game and a team-leading 3.48 digs per game.

Teammate Kaili Kimura, a junior business major with a 3.27 grade-point average and an all-conference honorable mention selection, has been chosen to the GTE Academic All-District VIII volleyball team.