Eastern Tech's Wright Wins McCormick Unsung Hero Award

When Eastern Tech's Michael Wright was announced as Monday night's male recipient of the McCormick Unsung Heroes Award—an honor that carries with it a scholarship valued at $36,000—his father Wayne burst into tears.

"I just feel so blessed. That's all that I can say. We're 110 percent very appreciative," said Wayne Wright, an electrician whose son overcame a broken left foot to play seven different positions for the Mavericks football team.

"Michael has just overcome so much adversity," said Wayne Wright of his 18-year-old. "Plus, he wants to go to college, and literally we didn't have many options. But his perseverance and his heart has been into it, and, thankfully, that is being rewarded."

A 6-foot-3, 190-pounder, Michael Wright, along with Pikesville's Alysha Davis, were the winning athletes at the 71st annual McCormick Unsung Heroes Awards Banquet at the Marriott's Hunt Valley Inn in Hunt Valley.

Wright and Davis were the 66th and 67th recipients of the awards at the banquet, which salutes football and female basketball players from among the 107 players nominated from the 67 Baltimore area public, private and parochial and independent schools.

Originally established in 1940 by the late Charles P. McCormick, the program recognizes unselfish team play and honors those who contribute substantially to their team's success without receiving acclaim.

"Michael was just so determined that not even a broken foot could stop him," said Wright's mother, Beatrice Wright, an employee at Home Depot. "That just seemed to pick people up, emotionally, along the way."

Wright will pursue a major in business and mechanical engineering as well as look to play football at the College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, Calif.

"I'm just so proud. So proud. And this will help him tremendously," said Beatrice Wright. "I've already started texting people. I'm going to text the whole world. That trophy is mine. I'm going to show it off to everybody."

Michael Wright was penciled in as a starter, if not a team captain, and figured to be one of the Mavericks go-to players before suffering a fractured foot while running sprints in June.

Wright nevertheless remained involved in off-season conditioning, which allowed him to be cleared to play in August.

But he re-injured his foot early in the season. Still, after two games, Wright was cleared to play again, even as he was relegated to reserve linebacker.

"We soon realized that Michael was too good of an athlete to be left off of the field. And thus began the journey that brought me to nominate him for this award," said coach Marc Mesaros, whose Mavericks went 11-2.

"In additon to playing both linebacker positions, both defensive end positions, strong safety, tailback and wingback, Mike also played some noseguard and he played some special teams," Mesaros said. "Mike doesn't look like a defensive lineman, but he also started at noseguard in a game and picked it up and had six tackles and a sack against Dundalk in the playoff game."

Wright's goal, from game to game, was to leave it all on the field.

"I've basically played every position but quarterback from my freshman year to my senior year. I had the mindset of basically not leaving the field with any regrets," Wright said. "I was just playing my hardest and going out there and doing what coach wanted me to do to get it done."

The naming of the recipients is always preceded by a short description of the players' accolades, without revealing the athlete's name until the telling of his or her story is complete.

But it didn't take long for Michael Wright to figure out he was the male winner.

"They said that the person had a fractured left foot, so that kind of gave it away," said Michael Wright. "But when I turned around and told my mother that it was me, she was like, 'Nah, that's not you.'"

Beatrice Wright, sitting at a table behind her son, required convincing.

"When they said 'fractured foot,' Michael turned and said, 'It's me,' and I'm like, 'No, no, it's not you,'" said Beatrice Wright. "I said, 'Maybe somebody else had a fractured foot.'"

When their dream of winning became a reality, Mesaros, like Wayne Wright, cried.

"I started to choke up a little bit, because Mike is one of the all-time good guys," Mesaros said. "Mike's the kind of kid that this award was invented for. You always root for kids like that. They never let you down."

But Wright said the award won't change who he is as a player or a person.

"I'm just going to continue to be myself, the same person that I've always been. You know, I do this to make everybody proud of me," Wright said. "I just do it for the team and I do it for my school. I do this for everybody else, not just for myself."