TOP PHOTO:  Being a part of championship teams started early for Caryville native Jody Wright.  The Caryville Cardinals (above) finished 16 & 0 and won the 1973 Campbell County Elementary School Basketball Tournament.

(First row left to right) 13 Lee Lowe, 32 Tony Simpson, 20 Dennis Money, 8 Walter Asbury, 22 Jody Wright, 4 Johnny Seal, 10 Jeff Newport

(Second row left to right) Coach Len Pierce, Manager Greg Lawson, 30 Ricky Kennedy, 12 Eddie Hatmaker, 34 Terry Petree, 14 Phillip Rogers, 21 Gary Smith, Manager Wade Lawson  (PHOTO COURTESY OF CARYVILLE FIRE CHIEF EDDIE HATMAKER)

Caryville native and Fulton Basketball Coach Jody Wright was celebrated at his 700th win in 2018.

GREENEVILLE, TN (WLAF) –Campbell County native and Fulton Basketball Coach Jody Wright’s team travels to Greeneville tonight to take on the Green Devils for a spot in next week’s state basketball tournament.

For Wright, going to state has become a tradition of sorts.  His teams have made the trip to Murphy Center 18 times since 1990.  However, the three-time state champ coach will be quick to tell you that none of that matters, because every season and every team are different.  They have to go out and win the games necessary to qualify for state.  The 2019-2020 Falcons must win tonight if they plan to travel to the mid-state next week.

At this spot in the season 30 years ago was where a challenging day ended up being a most memorable night for Wright and his Falcons.  They had lost the region championship game on Saturday night which meant they were on the road the second Monday night of March facing the Happy Valley Warriors, Region 1 Champs, at the gym that sits atop Warrior Hill.  The winner of that game was headed to the Field of 8 and the state tournament at Murfreesboro.  The loser’s season would end.

That Monday in March 1990, Wright and the Falcons hopped a bus and headed to Elizabethton.  On the way up, the bus broke down.  In the days before everyone had a mobile phone, Wright and his team sat on the side of the road south of Johnson City until they were able to hitch a ride with a man in a minivan.  The team was taken to Shoney’s where they ate.

At Shoney’s Coach Wright used a pay phone to start calling for help.  Wright recalls that an assistant basketball coach from Science Hill High came by, picked up the team on the Science Hill team van and delivered them to Happy Valley.

After a day of frustration, the Falcons defeated a tough Warriors team coached by legendary Coach Charlie Bayless.  A full house, with a large section of chair backed reserved seats, witnessed Ivan Roper and Fulton pull away in the second half vaulting the Falcons to the state tourney.  This was the first time Wright had taken a team tot state.

Tonight, 30 years later, Wright looks at a chance for his team to repeat upper East Tennessee history with a win over Greeneville and an appearance in the state tournament.  Tip time for the 21 & 7 Falcons and 25 & 6 Greene Devils is 7 pm.  (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 03/09/2020-6AM)

Here is a related story from March 2018

Caryville’s Jody Wright wins Number 700

Fulton is Murfreesboro-bound.  Again.

KNOXVILLE, TN (WLAF) – There they were sitting on the front row of bleachers in the gym at Happy Valley High School.  It was March 1990.  Former HVHS Warriors Walter “Buck” Van Huss (1,021 wins) and Charlie Bayless (960+ wins) were chatting hours before Happy Valley was to host Fulton in a sub-state basketball game.  In-between two of the winningest high school basketball coaches in the history of the game was 29-year old Jody Wright.  And I had a front row seat to the conversation.

Little did I know Buck would never coach another game.  He died later that summer.  I had no clue that Charlie would coach until he was 88-years old.  And Jody.  Well.  I felt deep down he’d be successful.  But even in my best dreams for his success, I would never have thought he’d win 702 games.

Fast forward 28-years, three state titles, countless trips to the state tourney at Murfreesboro, and now 700 Falcon wins later, Jody starts getting his team ready this afternoon for one more ride to Murphy Center.  That comes after last night’s 90 to 57 win over Unicoi County on the floor of Jody Wright Arena.

The one-time Caryville Cardinal said after the milestone win, “I’m just a small part of the puzzle right there but it’s been a good run and the main thing is I’m glad were still playing.”

Fulton learns tonight who it will be playing in next week’s state tourney.

You may be wondering where those two other wins were earned.  In Wright’s first head coaching assignment, at Maynardville High School, he was 2 & 20-something just part of the learning experience like that March afternoon in 1990 with Buck and Charlie. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-03/05/2018)