STA Black History, Black Excellence

As a student in the then Risk Program (now the Skip Grant Program), Jeffrey Wright ’83 came to St. Albans school in Form A. After St. Albans he went on to graduate from Amherst College with a bachelor’s degree and political science. With an initial plan to attend law school, Wright changed course and decided to pursue an MFA acting program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He eventually left the program to explore a career in theater, which eventually led him to the big screen. At the age of 31, Wright was cast in his breakout role portraying Jean-Michel Basquiat in the movie Basquiat.

He would go on to win a Tony Award for his role as “Belize” in the Broadway production of Angels in America. When the theater production was adapted into a miniseries by HBO, he also claimed an Emmy and Golden Globe for the role. Some other popular performances of Wright’s include his roles as “Peoples Hernandez” in Shaft (2000), as “Muddy Waters” in Cadillac Records (2008), as “The Watcher” in Marvel’s animated series What If? (2021), and as Commissioner James Gordon in The Batman (2022).

Jonathan Ogden ’92 joined the STA community as a first form student in 1986. While at St. Albans, he excelled in both football and track and field, and he still holds the current school record for distance thrown in both the shot put (19.23 meters) and discus (56.73 meters). Ogden went on to play football and participate in track and field at UCLA, where he helped the Bruins get to the 1993 Pac-10 Championship and Rose Bowl, as well as win the 1996 NCAA Men’s Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships in shot put with a personal best throw of 19.42 meters. Ogden was the eighth player to have his jersey retired by UCLA and was inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame in 2012.

Drafted in the first round and fourth overall in 1996, Ogden was the Baltimore Ravens’ first-ever draft pick. He was named a four-time All-Pro and an 11-time Pro-Bowler with the Ravens, and Ogden helped the franchise win a Super Bowl in 2001. After 12 seasons, Ogden retired from the Baltimore Ravens. In 2008, he established the Ogden Family Foundation to benefit inner-city schools and help student-athletes take responsibility of their futures through lessons learned on the playing field, in the classroom, and throughout their local communities.