Joseph Walter Harris Wright (14 January 1864 – 18 October 1950) was a famed Canadian rower, municipal politician, and all-round athlete who had success in a variety of sports in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

He competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics and was a member of the Canadian boat which won the silver medal in the men's eight.

He coached the legendary crews of Geoffrey Barron Taylor helping them win the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta five times in 1907.

Hired in 1916 to coach at the University of Pennsylvania, Wright, who had seen the popularity of lightweight rowing grow after its introduction to the Canadian Henley in 1906, advocated for its adoption at US colleges.

Following the end of the war, on May 31, 1919, the first event on the program of the American Rowing Association, a "Special Eight-Oared Shells (150 Lb.