Lorenzen Vern-Gagne Wright (November 4, 1975 – July 2010) was an American professional basketball player.
Raised in Oxford, Mississippi, Wright played all levels of basketball in Memphis – high school, collegiate and professional. Wright was selected a Third Team All-America by the Associated Press as a sophomore at the University of Memphis.
After being selected seventh overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 1996 NBA Draft out of the University of Memphis, Wright moved on to the Atlanta Hawks in 1999. He was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies in 2001, but returned to the Hawks in 2006.
On February 16, 2008, he was involved in a multi-player trade, going from Atlanta to Sacramento for Mike Bibby.
He held career averages of 8.0 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, playing in 778 (793 including playoffs) NBA games over 13 seasons.
Wright founded the Sierra Simone Wright Scholarship Fund after the death of his infant daughter in March 2003. During the summer of 2003, he returned to the University of Memphis to finish his degree. His father Herb was a professional basketball player who competed in Finland.
The Dogs were a 1990s hip hop group consisting of Disco Rick, Keith Bell, Labrant Dennis and Fergus "Cracked Up" Smith, best known for "Crack Rock," their hit single with the chant "Yo' Mama's on Crack Rock!" The group released three studio albums The Dogs in 1990, Beware of The Dogs in 1991 and K-9 Bass in 1992.
Labrant Dennis was arrested in May 1996 for the double murder of Marlin Barnes, a University of Miami football player, and Timwaneka Lumpkin, his exgirlfriend.
Rudy Carlton Gay, Jr. (born August 17, 1986) is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played collegiately at the University of Connecticut before turning pro.
Gay was one of five siblings and began playing competitive recreational basketball at 12 years old in the Turner Station community of Baltimore County, Maryland in one of the toughest youth basketball leagues in the area. Early exposure to Baltimore AAU basketball and summer league games in the Tom Jones Youth Summer League in Washington, D.C., showcased his abilities against top competition.[citation needed]
At the age of 14, Gay began playing for the nationally-known Cecil-Kirk AAU program under Coach Anthony Lewis with other blue-chip players such as Josh Boone (UConn), Paris Carter (New Mexico State), and Chester Frazier (Illinois). During the spring of his 8th grade year, Gay and teammate Scott Dozier were highly sought after by several private schools. Gay attended Eastern Technical High School in Baltimore County, while Dozier enrolled at the St. Paul's School.[citation needed] Gay transferred to Archbishop Spalding High School of the Baltimore Catholic League after his sophomore year at Eastern Tech.[citation needed]