“It’s surreal,” said Ernestine, a longtime food service supervisor at Trotwood-Madison Middle School and matriarch of many outstanding Rams’ football and basketball teams. “I call them my knuckleheads. I’m proud of them.”
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Wright, a dunker extraordinaire at the University of Dayton, left Tuesday to join the Oklahoma City Thunder of the NBA after signing a partially guaranteed contract last month. Grigsby made the Los Angeles Rams as a free agent linebacker out of Pitt. Bradley is a redshirt senior linebacker at Pitt.
All the brothers and other siblings were reared by Ernestine, a strict, vocal and religious woman who has sent each of the three Scripture verses “for years to start the day,” she said. “They’re really into that. Some days it may not hit what you need, but some days it does. This is God’s blessing, not me.”
Wright, 27, is a longshot to make the Thunder and is projected to land with Oklahoma’s D-League affiliate. The 6-foot-8 small forward has played sparingly with the Warriors (2011-12) and Bucks (2013-14). Last season he averaged 12.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.4 steals for Maccabi Rishon LeZion, which won an Israeli League title.
Grigsby, 6-1, 220, had a breakout season as a senior at Pitt last fall, ranking fourth for the Panthers in tackles (66). He started all 13 games and was third team All-Atlantic Coast Conference.
Bradley, 6-2, 220, is a backup at Pitt. He had one tackle, one assist and a QB hurry in last Saturday’s season-opening 28-7 defeat of visiting Villanova, which Ernestine attended. He graduated this past spring with a major in economics and minor in sociology.
Wright ended his UD career in 2011 with 1,601 points, 15th all-time among the Flyers, and led Trotwood to the 2006 Division I state basketball runner-up. Grigsby and Bradley were starting linebackers on the 2010 Rams team that was the D-II state runner-up. Bradley was a hard-hitting safety on 15-0 Trotwood that won a D-II state football championship in 2011.
Ernestine will be at Pitt’s game against visiting Penn State on Saturday. Wright plans to see Pitt’s game at Oklahoma State on Sept. 17 and Ernestine intends to be at Los Angeles for the Rams’ home opener against the Seahawks on Sept. 18.
“When your kids are growing up, you never know what they’re going to say or do,” Ernestine said. “I give all the glory to God. Without Him, none of this would be possible. When Chris starts, I don’t know. I’m like in la-la land. It’s not normal.”
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