Walter Julian Wright (November 20, 1908 – August 14, 1972), nicknamed "Bricktop", was an American professional basketball player and

Negro league The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

in the 1930s and 1940s. A native of

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...

, Wright attended Textile High School and Lincoln University. He played professional basketball throughout the 1930s and 1940s with such clubs as the

New York Rens The New York Renaissance, also known as the Renaissance Big R Five and as the Rens, were the first black-owned, all-black, fully-professional basketball team in history, established in October 1923, by Robert "Bob" Douglas. They were named after t ...

, Washington Bears, and

New York Harlem Yankees Glens Falls-Saratoga, also known as Schenectady Yankees, Saratoga Harlem Yankees and New York Harlem Yankees was an American professional basketball team based in several New York State locations. It was a member of the American Basketball League ...

, and served in the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In 1943, Wright played

baseball for the

New York Black Yankees The New York Black Yankees were a professional Negro league baseball team based in New York City; Paterson, New Jersey; and Rochester, New York. Beginning as the independent Harlem Stars, the team was renamed the New York Black Yankees in 1932 and ...

. In 22 recorded games, he posted 12 hits in 78 plate appearances. Wright died in

Southampton, New York Southampton, officially the Town of Southampton, is a town in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, partly on the South Fork of Long Island. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the town had a population of 69,036. Southampton is included in the stret ...

in 1972 at age 63.

References

External links

an
Seamheads
1908 births 1972 deaths New York Black Yankees players New York Renaissance players Baseball outfielders Baseball players from Savannah, Georgia Basketball players from Savannah, Georgia United States Army personnel of World War II 20th-century African-American sportspeople Burials at Long Island National Cemetery {{negro-league-baseball-outfielder-stub