Paul Wright spent four seasons with the Kansas City Wizards after being selected in the third round of the 1996 MLS Supplemental Draft.
The forward was born in London but grew up in the US and made a name for himself in indoor soccer.
He made 83 appearances in MLS with the Wizards, scoring 11 goals and 10 assists. Paul Wright also appeared in 6 playoff games and tallied an assist.
Wright developed into a solid contributor in 1997 and 1998, but he was just finding his form in 1996. He made 17 appearances in the inaugural season, but only 7 were starts and he tallied 3 assists and no goals.
The Kansas City Wiz wore unique kits in their inaugural season.
On top of the eye-catching rainbow designs on both primary and secondary jerseys, they went with full NFL or NHL style double-layer tackle twill lettering of blue and black on the white kits, and blue and white on the black kits. It especially stands out because after 1996 the Wizards used single-layer black and/or white twill (and then felt) for their kits.
This shirt appears to have been worn by Paul Wright during the first season of Major League Soccer.
It features the WIZ crest on the left breast and also the unique KANSAS CITY bar across the chest. The Kansas City namebar was not on the jerseys all season long — it appears to have been added somewhere around halfway through the season. These kits also had the squad numbers on the front, and Wright’s #3 is below the rainbow design in blue and black double-layer tackle twill.
On the left sleeve there is a sewn AT&T sponsorship patch. The MLS patch is on the right sleeve.
The front of the shirt also shows several signatures from the 1996 Wiz roster.
The back of Wright’s jersey has a few more interesting features.
Wright’s name is sewn to the top in blue and black double-layered tackle twill. The cut of the letters and stitching is a little haphazard, and the letters appear to be a lighter shade of blue than the back number.
Comparison with other 1996 inaugural match worn shirts shows similar differences in shading between the letters in the name and the back number. It also shows nearly identical lettering, particularly of the “G” which has a unique pinched look.
The number on the back is done in an italicized font and is also double-layered blue and black twill. It sits just above a large AT&T sponsorship patch.
Much like the KANSAS CITY bar on the chest, the Wiz did not wear their AT&T sponsorship throughout the season. Based on photographs, it appears to have begun at or after the halfway point of the season.
It has been a long and fruitless hunt for a shirt from the Kansas City Wiz’s inaugural season. I’ve located a few but been unable to prize them from their owners.
This shirt “completes” my collection of having at least one match worn/issued Wiz/Wizards/SKC shirt from every season from 1996 to present day.