Steve Wright (American football, born 1942)

{{Short description|American football player (born 1942)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}

{{Infobox NFL biography

| name = Steve Wright

| image =

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption =

| number = 72, 78, 75, 73, 62

| position = Offensive tackle

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1942|7|17|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 6

| weight_lbs = 250

| high_school = Louisville (KY) Manual

| college = Alabama

| draftyear = 1964

| draftround = 5

| draftpick = 69

| afldraftyear = 1964

| afldraftround = 8

| afldraftpick = 59

| pastteams =

• Green Bay Packers ({{NFL Year|1964}}–{{NFL Year|1967}})
• New York Giants ({{NFL Year|1968}}–{{NFL Year|1969}})
• Washington Redskins ({{NFL Year|1970}})
• Chicago Bears ({{NFL Year|1971}})
• St. Louis Cardinals ({{NFL Year|1972}})

| highlights =

• 2× Super Bowl champion (I, II)
• 3× NFL champion (1965, 1966, 1967)
• National champion (1961)

| statlabel1 = Games played

| statvalue1 = 101

| statlabel2 = Fumble recoveries

| statvalue2 = 5

| statlabel3 = Games started

| statvalue3 = 43

| pfr = WrigSt20

}}

Stephen Thomas Wright (born July 18, 1942) is an American former professional football offensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for five different teams. He also played for the Chicago Fire of the WFL in 1974. He played college football at the University of Alabama. He never started a game for Alabama, but was drafted in the fifth round of the 1964 draft, by the Green Bay Packers along with the New York Jets in the eighth round; although New York offered a blank check, the prospect of playing for Green Bay proved to factor in his decision.{{Cite web|url=https://archive.jsonline.com/sports/packers/pack-had-to-wait-on-wright-b99579404z1-328877421.html/|title = Packers had to wait on Steve Wright}} Wright played in 101 games in nine seasons in the NFL, but never started.

He is the author of I'd Rather be Wright: Memoirs of an Itinerant Tackle (1974, with William Gildea and Kenneth Turan), a fly-on-the wall look at the pro football world of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

In 1969, Wright was the model for the NFL Man of the Year Award (which was changed to honor Walter Payton in 1999), which was sculpted by Daniel Bennett Schwartz; the award still bears Wright's likeness to this day. Wright worked as a salesman for veterinary pharmaceuticals and insurance before retiring, and he now lives in Augusta, Georgia.{{Cite web |url=http://www.danielbschwartz.com/pages/about_the_artist_3.html |title=Daniel Bennett Schwartz |access-date=February 15, 2013 |archive-date=July 26, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160726150904/http://danielbschwartz.com/pages/about_the_artist_3.html |url-status=dead }}[https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/02/sports/football/lineman-steve-wright-was-model-for-walter-payton-award.html?_r=0 "The Model for a Tribute to Model Players"], by SEAN CALLAHAN, The New York Times, February 1, 2013