The Baltimore basketball standout survived addiction, gunfire, and the prospect of prison—then devoted his second chance to helping young people see one for themselves. (BALTIMORE – September 2, 2026) – I have to thank Dwayne “Kosher” Wood for the bounce pass. My reintroduction to Baltimore basketball history took root at the Dome, where I covered Greg Branch’s Tally Ho Foundation Legends Tournament year after year. That is where I met Kosher and became connected to a brotherhood of men – and women legends like the Great Gert Scott – who carry this city’s basketball history in their bones. I knew Keith Goodie from my Dunbar days, but the Legends games allowed me to know him—and so many others—on a deeper level. The tournament has become an important event for Baltimore City and BMORENews.com, and we try to be there every time. Then Kosher called me about another legend. He told me there was a Lake Clifton Laker living in Iowa whose story I needed to hear: Rodney “Pop” Wright, the brother of fellow Baltimore legend Frederick Wright. So I called Pop. What began as a conversation about basketball became a testimony about survival, redemption, faith, and what it truly means to be a legend. From One Win to a Baltimore Basketball Powerhouse Pop said he started for Lake Clifton from his freshman year through his senior year and led the Lakers in scoring each season, averaging roughly 20 points per game during that span. But his story is not simply about points. It is about transformation. Pop remembers Lake Clifton going 1–18 in 1973. By 1975, the Lakers had become one of the finest teams in Baltimore. A published ranking of the city’s greatest public-school basketball teams lists the 1975 Lakers at 24–2, winners of the MSA A championship and the city championship, ranked No. 1 by The Baltimore Sun, and No. 12 nationally. How did a struggling program become a powerhouse so quickly? “I would say the players,” Pop told me. “We just had a great group.” He remembered Tim Burroughs as a relentless forward whose energy resembled Dennis Rodman’s. Kevin Graham, the brother of Maryland great Ernie Graham, was a force at power forward. Robert Brown anchored the middle and, in Pop’s estimation, may have been the best player on the entire team. The Lakers had something unusual for a high-school team in that era: size without sacrificing skill. Pop described two guards around 6-foot-4 who could handle the ball and shoot, the Graham brothers standing roughly 6-foot-7 and 6-foot-8, and a center around 6-foot-7. “We really had the equivalent of a college team,” he said. According to Pop, Lake Clifton won 32 consecutive MSA games during a two-year stretch. The record was remarkable, but what happened after Lake Clifton may have been even more significant. Four Division I Starters From One Baltimore Team Pop points with pride to four members of that Lake Clifton era who became starters at major Division I programs: Ernie Graham at the…