‘Blessed are the peacemakers’

Surrounded by his legacy in the form of photos, certificates, awards and degrees, Sgt. Gregory Wright, a Dallas College police officer, reveals the tattoo inscribed onto his left forearm. The tattoo reads, “Blessed are the peacemakers” with a few ornate designs around them. He had just returned from coaching the Dallas Defenders, a semi-pro football team, to victory against the Orange County Lawmen in California, the final win they needed to secure the Division II championship for the season.

Wright grew up in Oak Cliff in a low-income neighborhood. As the oldest of three with a single mother, it fell on him to provide for them. “I wanted to be the first in my family to do something,” he said. His circumstances served as motivation to work hard at something that stretched beyond the crime he saw other young men lead.

In 1986, Minyard Food Stores appeared as the chance to achieve his goals. He started at 16 as a bagger. “I had guys that knew I was a hard worker and they wanted me to succeed,” he said. His coworkers gave him rides to work and made sure he got there on time. Store employee Jimmy Henderson taught Wright how to cut meat and accompanied him to get his first car. “Those guys made a big difference. They was the dad I didn’t have,” Wright said. Henderson continues to cut meat at the same location, now a store named Cash Saver.

In the early 1990s, he became the manager for a Cedar Hill location and remained there until the company was acquired.

Wright and Joseph Williams, a former member of the Dallas County Community College District board of trustees and CEO of Minyard Food Stores, reunited at a board meeting shortly after Wright began his career at Dallas College in 2007. At first, Wright said Williams recognized his face. “You could just see the look in his eyes, you know,” he said. “I said, ‘You ought to know me, I worked for you for 23 years.’”

He said Williams told him he was proud of him for making it as far as he did. “It almost brought tears my eyes,” Wright said. Working at the company kept him out of trouble as a young man and he does not think he would have made it as far as he has without it.

With a criminal justice degree from East Texas A&M University-Commerce, Wright wanted to find a career that would last, regardless of the state of the economy. “The worse the economy is, the more stable your job is because you’re needed,” he said.

Since joining the Dallas College Police Department at Richland College, Wright transferred to Eastfield, where he became sergeant in 2018, and ultimately came to Brookhaven in 2023.

As a police officer, Wright has been in high pressure situations where people’s lives hang in the balance. The stress of protecting others coupled with trying to get home safe to his family are daily tasks for him. “Me and you can be in here talking right now and I can get a call saying, ‘We got an active shooter.’” He said, “You always have to have your mind and head on a swivel.”

Wright said he and other officers will do what they can to make sure students, staff and faculty make it home, even if it means they do not.

The challenges he and other public safety professionals face go beyond the physical. “Even if most people don’t like cops, we still have to do our job and help,” Wright said. “Y’all only want us when y’all need us.” He said the mental tug-of-war weighs on a person’s psyche. 

For Wright, playing on the Defenders is a way for him and others to release pressure without needing to worry about losing their lives or taking someone else’s. At the same time, they can raise money for the families of those who have lost their lives in the line of duty.

The Defenders is a 501(c)(3) organization and a part of the National Public Safety Football League, which only allows public safety professionals such as firefighters and police officers on the teams. There are currently 14 teams, and the Defenders are set to move into Division I in the league due to their performance in the last season. The last time the team won the championship was in 2013.

Wright said being a part of the league connects the various public safety departments across the nation. “It makes it extra special just being a part of the football team because you’re a part of a bigger team,” he said.

After 16 years on the team as wide receiver and cornerback, he moved into the role of assistant defensive coach. “He’s jumped right in,” Jeff Price, the Defenders’ head coach said. “He’s got a great attitude and a get-it-done attitude and I think he’ll do great.”

In his office, Wright expresses his frustrations in his new role. In his mind, he says he still feels 28. The feeling of being sidelined has left Wright feeling disconnected from the team’s victory. “It’s kind of tormented me a little bit,” he says. “We won the championship, and yes, I coached and I helped the guys and everything, but I don’t feel like I actually made the impact.”

Wright says the most important part of the being on the team is the opportunity to provide for the families who lost a public servant – to be his brothers keepers.  “That’s why I wear this tattoo,” he says. “To remind me of why we do this.”