Like father, like son.

It’s hard to miss the devilish grin on six-year-old C.J. Wright’s face as he holds his champion bull frog up for the camera. The one-pound Speed Racer lived up to his name at the GDS Fair Sunday, August 31. A blue ribbon speaks of their success. 

It’s history repeating itself. Twenty-five years ago, on September 1, 1983, Howie Wright, C.J.’s dad, took home two blue ribbons with his champion croaker, a bull-frog named Dr. Plotzman. A yellowed, laminated newspaper article remains a prized possession, evidence of a win a quarter of a century ago.

Readying a frog for Olympic-style jumping takes time and commitment. And crickets—lots of them. Howie laughs about the weeks leading up to the fair, nights spent in the yard, encouraging Speed Racer to embrace the race. “He’d only jump for a minute, then sit there and groan ...sit there and croak.” Training’s hard, hungry work. Speed Racer ate about two-dozen crickets every three days. “He had  it made,” says Howie.

The day of the race found a lot of Howie’s work buddies there to cheer C.J. on. It’s with a father’s pride that Howie remembers the moment. “He blew everybody away. Everybody else’s frog was there chirping.” Unlike Speed Racer, who forgot to stop at the finish line. “They were trying to catch him,” Howie says. The winning moment found C.J. with his arms in the air, running back to his dad for a high five. 

Howie’s dad, Butch Wright, has to laugh at the family tradition, recalling his then 12-year-old son doing pretty much the same. How he and a friend found a frog and went to the fair. Howie’s champion came from the family pond in Hamlin all those years ago. C.J.’s frog is a Waymart frog, who’s since been returned to the wild.

To his grandson, Butch says, “Way to go, to keep the Wright tradition going ...The Wrights aren’t going to stop winning frog jumping,” he says with a smile in his voice.