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Newspaper clipping May 28, 1954 (Source unknown, presumably The Knoxville Journal) TOMMY WRIGHT KILLED BY TRUCK By BEN BYRD Assistant Sports Editor Tragedy ended the career of Knoxville’s greatest golfer last night when Tommy Wright, former Tennessee State Amateur champion, was killed by a truck just outside Dallas, Tex. Death came instantly to the 39-year-old professorial of Kingsport’s Ridgefields Country Club, who had been missing and feared an amnesia victim for almost two weeks. The driver of the truck, J. C. Ray, said that Wright "either jumped or fell" in front of his vehicle. The truck was headed toward Fort Worth from Dallas. Wright, widely known throughout the South as one of its top golfers, leaves his wife, the former Virginia Mary of Knoxville, and five small children--four girls and a boy. He had been pro at Ridgefields since 1948. The victim disappeared from his Kingsport home May 16, and a three-state alarm had been broadcast for him last Monday. He had suffered a nervous breakdown last winter and was reported to have been moody and depressed lately. The only possessions found on Wright after the mishap were a bus ticket from Kingsport to Dallas, a razor, and a shaving brush. Wright had been driving his car when last seen in Kingsport. The end came to the drawling, popular go1fer a thousand miles from the scenes of his greatest (Continued on Page 6, Col. 6) Death Ends Career of Knox Golfer Continued from page one triumphs as an athlete. In 1937 he won the Tennessee State Amateur championship by beating, Tom White of Memphis in the finals at Nashville’s Belle Meade course—the only time a Knoxvillian ever copped the state title. He was city champion and Southern Appalachian titleholder many times. In 1950 Wright was voted Knoxville’s outstanding native golfer for the first 50 years of the century in a mid-century sports poll conducted by The Journal. Wright turned professional in the late thirties and served as club pro at Knoxville’s Holston Hills and Whittle Springs courses as well as several other East Tennessee clubs. He became Ridgefields’ first pro when the club was founded in 1948 and had become something of a fixture there in the intervening six years. Wright took a turn at the professional circuit from 1946 to 1948, placing high in some of the top tournaments throughout the country. But he quit the rugged tourney trail when Kingsport enthusiasts urged him to accept the Ridgefields post. Wright, whose full name was Thomas Jefferson Wright Jr., also leaves his parents, Mr. and Mrs. T. J. Wright Sr. of Tecoma Drive. PHOTO GOLFER KILLED--Tommy Wright, shown here after he won the Tennessee State Amateur Golf Tournament in 1937, was killed last night when struck by a truck on a highway just outside Dallas, Tex. The 39-year-old professional at Kingsport’s Ridgefields Club had been missing from his home for more than two weeks. {{NOTE: The article apparently has his age incorrect. Wright was 38 years, 7 months old at the time of death. DOB: October 27, 1915 DOD: May 27, 1954}} File historyLegend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete
this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version.
LinksThe following pages link to this file: License: This image is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in the United States from 1923 through 1963 with a copyright notice but the copyright was not renewed.
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