Lonnie Wright

Conduct brain surgery while blindfolded. Build a Las Vegas Strip resort without a single power tool. Defeat the 1990 NCAA championship-winning Runnin’ Rebels while playing a man short.

Pulling off any of these ridiculous feats seems less difficult than answering this question: Where in the world does one begin to explain why Lonnie Wright is deserving of being a 2024 UNLV Alumni of the Year honoree?

This seemingly simple question is impossible to answer because Wright’s UNLV- and community-related accomplishments and contributions are so vast and so varied that there is no obvious jumping-off point.

You could start with academics. After all, Wright holds three UNLV degrees — one in hospitality and two in education — that he earned in three different decades.

Or you could shine the spotlight on athletics, given that the Las Vegas native landed a basketball scholarship with the Runnin' Rebels out of high school — a scholarship he had to re-earn after his freshman year, when legendary coach Jerry Tarkanian arrived on campus.

Of greater impact on the athletics side, Wright founded the UNLV Basketball Alumni Association in the late 1970s, a nonprofit that raised more than $3 million for scholarships. Those scholarships helped more than 100 former student-athletes complete their UNLV undergraduate and graduate degrees after their playing eligibility and athletic scholarships expired.

That's just one example that speaks to Wright’s lengthy and ongoing service to his alma mater. Wright is an active member of the Dean’s Leadership Council for the Graduate College, and in 2009 he participated in an important project for the university’s Oral History Research Center.

Then there are Wright’s many achievements at the front of the classroom. As an adjunct professor, he taught hotel management classes at UNLV for more than two years, departing only after being recruited to develop a hotel college at the American College of Singapore.

Then in 1992, Wright put his UNLV graduate degree to use when he began grooming the next generation of hospitality professionals at the College of Southern Nevada. More than three decades later, Wright remains at CSN as a tenured professor in the school’s hotel management program, having recently stepped down as the program’s longtime director.

What about a positive impact in the broader community? Again: Where does one begin?

Wright and his wife, Sherrie, started Hospitality International Training, which teaches front- and back-of-house job skills to multiple disenfranchised populations, including Native Americans, incarcerated youths and adults, and homeless individuals (including veterans).

The Las Vegas-based academy is an offshoot of Hospitality International, which for the past several years has consistently fed 100 residents of a local halfway house.

Beyond his hometown, Wright has imparted his wealth of hospitality knowledge through a textbook he authored, as well as extensive career travels both nationally — including to Native American reservations — and internationally.

On top of all this, he’s found time to volunteer for numerous community-focused boards and commissions over the years, including a previous role as vice president of the Tri-State NAACP, which serves Nevada, Utah, and Idaho.

So having clearly established that there is no perfect launching point for Lonnie Wright’s amazing, half-century-long UNLV story, it’s probably best to just end that story by going all the way back to where it began. Or, more accurately, to where it almost didn’t begin.

Because as it turns out, the Graduate College’s 2024 Alumnus of the Year was close to never being a Rebel. As Wright explains, his decision to attend UNLV hinged on a two-sport coin flip: football or basketball?

“I was recruited in both sports at Western High School, and actually received more scholarship offers for football than basketball,” Wright says. “Eventually, it came down to three options: play basketball at UNLV — which was always among my top three choices — or the University of Maryland, or accept a full-ride football scholarship to Cornell.”

Spoiler alert: Having concluded that getting crunched on the Ivy League gridiron wasn’t conducive to his long-term physical health, Wright chose basketball.

So what ultimately tipped the scales in UNLV’s favor? During his junior year of high school, Wright was selected to participate in Upward Bound, a federally funded college prep program geared toward low-income students and/or would-be first-generation college students. 

“As part of my involvement with Upward Bound, I got to take college classes at UNLV in back-to-back summers,” Wright says. “I even lived in Tonopah Hall. Through those two experiences, I fell in love with UNLV.

“Plus, those of us who were born and raised in Las Vegas back then grew up with a special affinity and loyalty for our hometown university.”

Needless to say, that affinity and loyalty has never waned. And for that, countless individuals who have passed through UNLV and the greater Las Vegas area over the last four-plus decades are grateful.

At what point did you know that you wanted to attend college, and when did that become a realistic possibility?

Growing up, my parents and grandparents always emphasized education. My mother and father sacrificed financially to send my brother Larry and me to private school starting when I was in the first grade. For a year, my mom or dad drove us every day from our home in Las Vegas to St. Peter’s Catholic School in Henderson. Then we switched to Our Lady of Las Vegas when it opened the following year.

When I came to understand how much our family stressed the importance of education — and understanding the time and financial sacrifices that my family made — I knew college was a given. Not just attending, but graduating.

Luckily my brother and I both obtained full athletic scholarships — Larry earned one in football from Arizona State but he later transferred to UNLV, and I got mine in basketball from UNLV.

Interesting fact: One of our classmates at UNLV was none other than our mother, Bobbie Wright, who was a nursing student. All three of us completed our undergraduate degrees at UNLV within a year.

Describe your early attraction to and development in basketball. When did you start to believe you had potential in the sport?

I had a 6-inch growth spurt during the summer between fifth and sixth grade. Then the following summer, my parents sent me to Los Angeles to attend a weeklong basketball camp run by Los Angeles Lakers star and NBA legend Jerry West.

That week, more than 200 boys around my age — most from California — ate, slept, talked, watched, and played basketball. When not on the court during camp hours, we would watch West’s basketball fundamentals instructional films. We also watched films of ourselves scrimmaging, running to utter exhaustion, and making mistakes.

That camp is when I fell in love with basketball — not only as a sport but a way of life. And when I made the starting five among my group and saw that I could compete with the California kids, I knew I had potential.

What was it like being a student-athlete at UNLV in the early 1970s? Was it difficult to maintain your academic focus and drive?

Not for me. Because of my Catholic school training and experience in Upward Bound, I knew my main focus had to be academics.  

Obviously, I loved basketball. And like so many student-athletes — both back then and today — I dreamt of reaching the next level. However, the No. 1 priority was going to school and graduating.

Again, this goes back to my upbringing and how education was instilled in me at a young age.

There also was another significant (and timely) influence in my life: Harvey Munford, my counselor and role model with Upward Bound. 

Before and after I got to UNLV, Mr. Munford often reminded me that the phrase was “student-athlete” and not “athlete-student”. And he spoke from experience. Not only was he an All-American basketball player at what is now Montana State University — where he was the school’s first Black student and first Black graduate — but when he returned to the school for his master’s degree, he earned All-American honors again, this time in football.

In between his undergraduate and graduate degrees, Mr. Munford was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers and invited to try out for the Los Angeles Rams. Knee injuries prevented him from playing for either team, and in 1966 he took a teaching job in Las Vegas, which is how I met him.

In addition to being an educator for more than three decades — including teaching at UNLV — Mr. Munford served 12 years as a legislator in the Nevada State Assembly.

What led you to major in Hotel Administration? Was that the plan from the moment you first stepped on campus?

Being born and raised in Las Vegas, it was the perfect major for me. When I was taking summer classes at UNLV in the Upper Bound program, I was introduced to a few intro-level hospitality courses, and I enjoyed the classes.

If I would have taken the football scholarship at Cornell, I would have entered their renowned hospitality program. Instead, I chose to take the basketball scholarship that UNLV offered. In doing so, I also chose what I wholeheartedly believe is the No. 1 hospitality program in the nation.

What sparked your interest in pursuing a graduate degree in teaching and secondary education?

Jerry Vallen — who was the longtime dean of the Hospitality College, including when I was there — told me he thought I would be a natural as a hospitality management instructor. 

The fact that someone of Dean Vallen stature would say that about me made the idea intriguing. However, he also told me that in order to teach as an adjunct instructor at UNLV, I needed to obtain a master’s degree in education.

Before entering graduate school, you accumulated a lot of experience working in hospitality. Do you remember your first hospitality job?

I was a dishwasher at Caesars Palace, where I worked during summer breaks from UNLV. 

In those days, Caesars had a central dishwasher room — meaning dishes came at me from everywhere: from the hotel’s restaurants, from room service, from dinner shows, etc. I swear, I saw dishes in my sleep.

What made the job more difficult was the fact that a 100-degree summer day in Las Vegas felt like 110 degrees in the dishwasher room.

It’s safe to say that the older men I worked with didn’t have much faith in my stamina — they predicted I wouldn’t last the summer. Clearly, they underestimated my strong work ethic and the fact that I was a super competitive student-athlete who loved proving people wrong. They also didn’t realize how grueling, intense, and sweltering our Runnin’ Rebels basketball practices were.

In other words, I was equipped to handle what my older coworkers thought I couldn’t (including dehydration, which I had to combat every day in that dishwasher room).

I not only survived that summer, but vindication came when I was promoted to pot washer — a more prestigious job with more pay and less work. Of course, my long arms definitely made it easier to clean huge commercial pots!

The next summer, I “graduated” to house porter with housekeeping. This was the first time I interfaced with guests. I delivered irons and ironing boards to rooms (and made pretty good tips), and also put the finishing touches on rooms after the maids finished their work. I remember raking the shag carpet until it stood up like new!

Again, I took pride in my work. That continued with every primary and secondary job I had in the hotel business — and there were many, both in the front and back of the house. I might be the only person in the history of the Las Vegas Strip to work as a dishwasher, house porter, front desk clerk, front desk manager, casino dealer (several different games), casino floorman, security guard, and in the surveillance room.

Beyond academics, how did your experiences at UNLV help mold you into the person you are today?

I met some incredible people at UNLV, starting with legendary Las Vegas public relations guru Sig Rogich. Sig took an interest in UNLV’s athletics program, including hiring a lot of student-athletes like myself at his firm R&R Advertising. 

Sig taught us incredible life lessons, such as the importance of working hard, adhering to business ethics, and presenting ourselves to the community as role models for the university. Others with strong ties to the university imparted similar wisdom, including longtime booster Bill “Wildcat” Morris and local businessman (and legendary boxing referee) Davey Pearl.

Those associations, among others, were crucial to my personal and professional development. And they probably never would’ve happened without a mutual UNLV connection.

Another impactful UNLV experience: living in Tonopah Hall, first during those two summers in the Upward Bound program, and then as a freshman UNLV student-athlete. Being independent, I learned to make good decisions on my own. Also, the convenience of living on campus left me no excuses for being late to classes or — God forbid — basketball practices.

Finally, living on campus provided an opportunity to meet and get to know people not just from other states, but other countries. I learned about cultural similarities and differences, and the reciprocal nature of respect — that if you treat people kindly, in most cases, that same kindness will come back to you.

Your philanthropic work is extensive and includes founding Hospitality International Training, which seeks to break the cycle of poverty and unemployment within disenfranchised populations. Who or what influenced your “giving back” spirit?

First and foremost, my grandmother. In addition to doing a lot of charity work with her church, I witnessed her care for many people — whether it was our own relatives or strangers in the community who had fallen on hard times. 

Also, Las Vegas was a small community when I grew up. It was a time when most who could give back were inclined to do so. Some of these community leaders inspired me, none more so than the Coon family.

As a kid, I played Pop Warner football with Dave and Doug Coon, whose family are the longtime owners and operators of Anderson Dairy, the oldest, continuously run business in Las Vegas history. I saw their family regularly give away free milk and ice cream to local community organizations, schools, and families in need. 

That includes the UNLV Basketball Alumni Association — when we staged free basketball clinics, Anderson Dairy provided free ice cream to hundreds of our camp participants.

More than 60 years later, I’m still friends with Dave and Doug, who now run the family business. Since taking over, they’ve continued the family’s tradition of generosity to — and genuine care and love for — our community.

The UNLV Basketball Alumni Association is another example of your charitable spirit. What prompted you to start it?

Today, the NCAA gives student-athletes five years — and sometimes more — to complete their four years of eligibility. But when I was playing basketball at UNLV in the early 1970s — and for several years afterward — the four-year eligibility window was confined to four successive years. Once those four years expired, so did the student-athlete’s scholarship.

As we all know, it often takes longer than four years to finish college — especially for those with other obligations, be it students who have to work to pay their tuition or scholarship athletes whose sport requires an immense time commitment.

So I founded the UNLV Basketball Alumni Association to raise funds to create scholarships that would help Rebel student-athletes — men and women — finish their degrees if they couldn’t graduate in four years.

It all started with organizing what we simply called an Alumni Game, with the first two being against UCLA. Although the main purpose was to raise funds, the players for both sides took the games seriously — we wanted to beat the big, bad Bruins, and they didn’t want to lose to us.

Many of the players on UCLA’s team had won national championships, earned All-America honors, and some were NBA stars — including the late Bill Walton, who became a dear friend.

Well, I’m happy to say we beat UCLA — twice! I’m also happy to say that the second game, which was played at Caesars Palace, earned a lot of national attention for our cause. Sports Illustrated even published an article.

The Alumni Game was an annual tradition for about 15 years, and the money raised helped dozens of UNLV student-athletes complete their undergraduate, graduate, and doctorate degrees. And I was one of those students: I earned my master’s degree through the program I started.

Leadership has been at the forefront of all your professional, personal, and community-focused endeavors. What advice would you give to young professionals who are interested in developing leadership skills?

Strive to be the best that you can be, take advantage of your god-given talents, do your own research, and take responsibility for the products and services you offer — never make excuses.

Also, always remember two things: This life is a testing place, not a resting place, and God will never put more on you than you can handle. So let go, and let God.