James Douglas Wright

Last November 24th, Jim turned 65, celebrating with his wife their shared birthday--a coincidence that was a huge icebreaker when they first met. Sadly that birthday was his final one, as on February 12th, Jim crossed over to the Other Side due to complications of kidney failure.

Jim began his life journey in Houma, LA, and lived several places including Oklahoma City before ending up in Houston, where he graduated from Sam Houston High School. His time studying engineering at the University of Houston was forever memorialized in his trivia player handle, COOGS, by which he was known at NTN/Buzztime locations across North America due to his frequent appearance on the leaderboards.

In addition to many friends, Jim met his wife-to-be while playing trivia, at Catbirds in Houston. They were regulars at many other trivia spots in Houston as well, including BW3 Rice Village, Mezzanine, Concert Pub, SRO, and Coaches, especially Griff's Thursday Night Trivia, but also played all over the country, with stops in Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Louisville, San Diego, Seattle, and Tampa, as well as the Challenge Entertainment finals in New Orleans, among others. Taking to the seas, they tried to overcome their lack of knowledge of "Aussie rules" football and soccer at pub quizzes in Sydney and Auckland, and hockey in Vancouver, while doing much better at cruise ship trivia contests while passing by penguins in Antarctica and whales in Alaska. Jim was also an active "LLama" in the LearnedLeague online trivia competition, and attended regional and national gatherings as a member of American Mensa.

While not doing trivia, Jim worked at the "Houston Chronicle," moving up from third shift to become a systems administrator (which he likened to "computer god") of the mainframe nicknamed "T-Rex." After downsizing ended his 20-plus-year career at the newspaper, he got what he called the best job in his life as the go-to computer guy at IRC Risk and Safety LLC.

Much of Jim's trivia knowledge was based on his extensive reading, including sci-fi and history, and his devouring of TV shows and movies. Before mobility limitations caused problems, he also enjoyed golfing and cooking (although his creative approach to ingredients sometimes got him in trouble, such substituting lemon juice for wine). He also loved music---everything from jazz to the Altman Brothers, Jimmy Buffett, and Robert Earl Keen. He drew from this eclectic background when doing karaoke, and was proud that the database one KJ gave him of all the different songs he'd performed numbered well over 300 for that host alone. (One of the most memorable was his version of Patsy Cline's "Walking After Midnight" in the style of Bela Lugosi done for Halloween "Scareoke.")

Jim is joined on the Other Side by his mother, Shirley Ashe Wright; his father Billy Wright, and many cats, including Fuzz, Brother Lou, Tux, and Brother NJ. Those who remain for now in the material world include his wife of over 20 years, Brooke Smith of Houston TX; stepdaughter Blair Ault of Austin, TX; brother Keith (Kathleen) Wright of Pearland, TX; nephew Shawn (Lacy) Wright of Livingston, VA; niece Ryannon (Chris) Rosenberger of New Braunsfel, TX; niece Amber (E.J.) Carlson of League City, TX; nephew Jake Wright of Fredericksburg, VA; nephew Dakota (Raelynn) Karber of Colorado Springs, CO; and nephew K.C. Wright of Pearland, TX, along with 21 grandnieces and grandnephews; aunt Terri (Brian) Herczeg of Lapaz, Mexico and cousin Rainier Herczeg of Anchorage, AK; and aunt Elsie Stasny of Alice, TX; along with the current Knobby Knoll kitties. especially Brother J whom Jim named after himself, because as a kitten Brother J preferred Jim (Jim named the kitten's twin "Brother NJ" for "Not Jim").

A celebration of Jim's life was held on April 6, 2025. at Catbirds---it can be viewed here:

youtube.com/live/UN8XNyf--bk?fbclid=IwY2xjawOPHlNleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeUQZw2l3269YBqSFwwPOSqq37Jvih7tEUdC-dV68VCnSpesO_FeAFXh5wmv4_aem_nHjOYMjgw7H6uM0Gkw8oEA