SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports

Sockers have the Wright stuff
Hometown hero returns at 34, still the fastest on the field

By Phillip Brents
Posted Sept. 15, 2003

Soccer player Paul Wright’s biggest attribute has always been his speed. He used it his junior and senior years at Grossmont High School to lead the league in scoring. At 34, he’s still dazzling hometown fans with his ability to burn opposing defenders as a member of the San Diego Sockers.

“I’ve always been faster than everybody else. It was a natural progression to each level to be the fastest one out there,” said Wright, who still holds the Foothillers record for most goals scored in one season at 39. That record has stood since 1986.

After 12 professional indoor soccer seasons, Wright is still setting records. In 430 games with seven teams, he has scored 365 goals and tacked on 317 assists for 793 points.

He admits he is by no means finished.

“I’m still the fastest guy out there. If I lost anything, no one can tell,” he said.

In fact, Wright has used his natural ability to start a program geared for athletes called Speed to Burn. “If anything, because of that, I might be a little quicker,” he said.

That must be a scary thought for any opponent.

This is actually Wright’s second stint with the Sockers, who open their second season in the revived MISL on Oct. 4 with a game against the Philadelphia Kixx at the San Diego Sports Arena. The Sockers kick off their season with a four-game homestand that also includes games against the Milwaukee Wave (Oct. 11), Cleveland Crunch (Oct. 24) and Monterrey Fury (Oct. 31).

Wright played five seasons with the Sockers in the original MISL, winning four league championship titles (list years). After the MISL folded following the 1992 season, he continued his career in the National Professional Soccer League, a rival indoor soccer circuit, and then followed legendary Sockers coach Ron Newman to play three years with the Kansas City Wizards of Major League Soccer, the top professional outdoor soccer league in the United States.

The speedy forward resumed his indoor soccer career with, of all teams, the Baltimore Blast — the Sockers’ chief rival in the original MISL — in the 1999-2000 season. The Sockers obtained him in a trade with the Blast at the tail end of last season. He played in eight games for the Sockers, scoring eight goals and seven assists. The previous two seasons in Baltimore, he produced 40-game seasons of 104 and 103 points, respectively.

“It was strange. It took the fans (in Baltimore) quite a while to warm up to me because of all the bad times they had with the Sockers in the past,” Wright said with a smile.

The Blast went on to win last year’s MISL championship.

The Sockers hope to use Wright as the centerpiece of an overhauled lineup that can return the team to its glory past that included 10 indoor championships. Wright’s homecoming places him right back where all his soccer dreams started as a youth.

“I wanted to play professionally growing up. When I got here to San Diego (he lived in Northern California as a child), I saw how competitive it was here. It helped me push myself to get to the next level. When I started with the Sockers, there were so many great players. I looked up to all those guys. They were my role models,” Wright said.

It wasn’t long before he became a role model to a younger generation of players who had the same dreams.

Wright was named to the MISL All-Star Team in both the 1990-91 and 1991-92 seasons with the Sockers, scoring 61 points in 51 games in 1990-91 and 50 goals in 39 games the next season. He had 62 goals in 35 games during the 1993-94 season with the Baltimore Spirit to earn All-NPSL Second Team honors. His 104-point season in 2001-02 landed him a spot on the All-MISL All-Star Team once again.

Wright’s return further keeps the Sockers’ legend alive and kicking as he played alongside current Sockers coach Brian Quinn, who played for the team from 1983-91.

“Paul’s looking forward to a big year. Las year, he came toward the end of the season. He was getting reestablished and getting his feet on the ground. Now that he doesn’t have that pressure, he’s more enthusiastic about the game,” said Quinn, who won eight indoor titles with the original Sockers.

Part of that renewed enthusiasm is due to reconnecting with the community in which he grew up. Now that he’s back playing for the Sockers, Wright has had a chance to revisit many of his old digs, including playing in an alumni game at Grossmont High School. He met his wife Jennifer while they were both students at Grossmont High School. They have two children, a son and daughter. Anthony, now 5, is just starting to play soccer.

“I still go by there once in a while. It’s real special for us to go by the old high school and for us to show our kids where we went to school,” he said.

Wright said he counted his blessings during his first tour of duty with the Sockers.

“It was extremely special. The best part of it was that it was my hometown,” he said. “My friends and family could come out. I didn’t have to go anywhere else to play. I could just come down to the Sports Arena and play.”

Wright will be reunited with another Sockers legend this season, goalkeeper Victor Nogueira, who holds every record for that position in indoor soccer history. Nogueira, 44, performed for the original MISL Sockers from 1988-92 and earned eight Goalkeeper of the Year awards while playing the last 11 years in Milwaukee.

Nogueira’s arrival has helped Wright put a new spin on the longevity of his own playing career.

“Thirty-four doesn’t look too bad,” Wright said with a smile.

Wright also has welcomed Nogueira, who was named the Goalkeeper of the World at the 1992 Futsal World Cup, for another reason. “He’s caused me a lot of frustration over the long run with him in Milwaukee. I’m happy to see him here,” Wright said.

Wright will be fronting a decidedly new-look Sockers squad this season — a team built more to fit in with the style of the new MISL that stresses rugged, physical play. The Sockers did not fare well in their first year in the league last season as they finished 14-22 and were eliminated in their first playoff game.

“I think what Brian is trying to do is adapt the team to the league — a more physical type of offense. But I think we can continue to play a very attractive style of soccer, a skill game. You got to have a good balance. You’ve got to have some of everything. I think we have what it takes to be successful,” Wright said.

The Sockers certainly feel they have the Wright stuff.