Elmo Wright (born July 3, 1949) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

wide receiver in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). While at the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

, he became the first football player ever to perform an end zone dance. Wright was an All-American receiver for the Cougars and, somewhere during his collegiate career, he began the practice of "high-stepping" into the

end zone The end zone is the scoring area on the field, according to gridiron-based codes of football. It is the area between the end line and goal line bounded by the sidelines. There are two end zones, each being on an opposite side of the field. ...

at the end of long touchdown receptions. While this was no comparison to the antics later displayed by such famed celebrators as Billy "White Shoes" Johnson, Ickey Woods or

Terrell Owens Terrell Eldorado Owens (; born December 7, 1973), nicknamed T.O., is an American football wide receiver for the Knights of Degen of Fan Controlled Football (FCF). He previously played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons. Regar ...

, it was almost equally shocking at the time. Following his college playing days, Wright went on to star for the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

. He currently resides in Houston, Texas.

References

1949 births Living people People from Brazoria, Texas All-American college football players American football wide receivers Houston Cougars football players People from Houston Kansas City Chiefs players Houston Oilers players New England Patriots players Alumni of George Washington Carver High School (Sweeny, Texas) {{Widereceiver-1940s-stub