Election Section

Berkeley High has produced a number of outstanding individuals over the years and Peter Wright is no exception. 

As Berkeley High’s number one-ranked tennis player for three years, Wright went on to attend UC Berkeley, first as a walk-on and then on a tennis scholarship. 

After graduation he took on the duties of head coach of Cal’s tennis team. Considered one of the best teachers and tacticians in men’s collegiate tennis, Wright has developed a reputation for getting more out of his players than perhaps any coach in the nation.  

Wright’s coaching talent hasn’t gone unnoticed. Pac-10 Coach of the Year in 2001 and in 1997, he received his first coaching award in 1994 when he was named Wilson/ITA Regional Coach of the Year for guiding the Bears back to postseason play after Cal had missed the Big Dance the previous two seasons. 

Wright and the Bears have been a fixture in the NCAA Tournament almost every year since.  

The ninth coach in the 111-year history of Cal tennis, Wright has compiled a 148-109 (.576) career record during his tenure in Berkeley. 

The 2004 Bears advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth consecutive year, making it to the second round NCAA Regionals and ending the year with a No. 30 national ranking. 

Wright’s 2003 team ended the season ranked fourth nationally, and boasted two All-Americans and three all-conference selections. Their 21-5 record in 2003 surpassed their 2002 mark of 19-7, which at the time was considered the school’s all-time best squad since joining the Pac-10. In that season the Bears finished in second-place, which is California’s best-ever showing in the competitive league. 

The 2002 season also marked the first time that Cal enjoyed a series sweep of UCLA since 1953 and the first time ever that the Bears beat Stanford, UCLA and USC in the same season.  

A four-year letterman during his collegiate career at Cal, Wright worked his way to the number one singles and doubles positions in the Bears’ lineup before joining the men’s professional tour in 1986. 

In his six years as a pro, Wright played in numerous tournaments around the world, including Wimbledon and the Australian Open. In addition to a doubles victory over Pete Sampras, Wright’s career highlights include playing Andre Agassi, Goran Ivanisevic, David Wheaton, Marc Rosset, Jonas Bjorkman and Tim Henman.  

Wright’s tour highlights include representing Ireland in the Davis Cup from 1988-95. His parents, Stanley and Elizabeth, were born and raised in Ireland, allowing Wright to compete as an Irish national. He has won numerous Irish national singles and doubles championships, and was instrumental in Ireland’s upset victories over Greece, Spain and Belgium when Ireland captured the 1992 European Cup.  

In addition to playing in the Davis Cup for Ireland, Wright served as the Irish Davis Cup Captain from 1995-2003. He also served as the head coach of the 1996 Irish Olympic tennis team in Atlanta.  

In addition to his coaching duties at Cal, Wright is currently the chairman of the NCAA men’s tennis committee and serves on the executive board of directors of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.  

His community involvement includes serving as vice president of Youth Tennis Advantage whose mission is to inspire inner-city kids to achieve their full potential through tennis and academic programs. 

In 2001, he established the BearTrax program at Cal, which brings children from Oakland to the Berkeley campus for academic tutoring with Cal students and tennis tutoring with the Cal men’s and women’s teams.  

A Berkeley native, Wright was born in San Francisco on Dec. 8, 1963, attended Berkeley High School and earned a B.A. in Social Science from Cal after returning to school in 1991. His wife of 12 years, Fionnuala, is a former Irish national tennis champion and a former member of the Irish national basketball team. The Wrights currently reside in Berkeley with their sons, Thomas and Michael, and daughter, Carly. 

“The older you get the more you find how unique the Berkeley High experience was,” Wright said. “You don’t have the prejudices or the biases because BHS was so racially diverse.”