{{Short description|American football player (1901–1963)}} {{other people||George Wilson (disambiguation)}} {{For|the NFL football player also nicknamed "Wildcat"|Larry Wilson (American football)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox gridiron football person | name = George Wilson | image = George wildcat wilson.jpg | alt = | caption = Wilson c. 1924 | birth_date = {{birth-date|September 6, 1901}} | birth_place = Draughon, Arkansas, U.S.{{efn|Draughon, Arkansas, is listed as his birthplace on his draft registration card of February 1942.<ref name=fold3>{{cite web |url=https://www.fold3.com/image/649693969 |title=Draft Registration Card |publisher=Selective Service System |date=February 1942 |accessdate=June 25, 2022 |via=fold3.com |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Reference sites indicate Draughon was located in Cleveland County.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/james-harris-draughon-5309/ |title=James Harris Draughon (1843–1913) |website=encyclopediaofarkansas.net |accessdate=June 25, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://arkansas.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,3,fid,60986,n,draughon.cfm |title=Draughon (historical) in Cleveland County AR |website=hometownlocator.com |accessdate=June 25, 2022}}</ref>}}{{efn|The College Football Hall of Fame lists his birthplace as Everett, Washington.<ref name=cfb/>}} | death_date = {{death-date and age|December 27, 1963|September 6, 1901}} | death_place = San Francisco, California, U.S. | team = | number = | status = | position1 = Halfback | height_ft = 5 | height_in = 10.5 | weight_lb = 185 | college = Washington (1923–1925) | playing_years1 = 1926 | playing_team1 = Los Angeles Wildcats | playing_years2 = 1927–1929 | playing_team2 = Providence Steam Roller | career_highlights = * Consensus All-American (1925) * Second-team All-American (1924) * 3× First-team All-PCC (1923, 1924, 1925) * Guy Flaherty Award (1925) * Washington Huskies No. 33 retired | awards = | honors = | CollegeHOF = 1440 }} '''George Schly''' "'''Wildcat'''" '''Wilson'''<ref name=fold3/><ref name=cfb/> (September 6, 1901 – December 27, 1963) was an American football player. After earning consensus All-American honors in 1925 as a halfback for the University of Washington,<ref name="cfhof">{{cite web|url={{College Football HoF/url|id=1440}} |title=College Football Hall of Fame |publisher=Collegefootball.org |date=1963-12-27 |access-date=2010-06-14}}</ref> he played professionally, including three seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Listed at {{convert|5|ft|10+1/2|in|m}} and {{convert|185|lb|kg}},<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104438194/heismans-hundred-in-hall-of-football-fa/ |title=Heisman's Hundred in Hall of Football Fame: George Schly Wilson |first=John |last=Heisman |authorlink=John Heisman |newspaper=The Philadelphia Inquirer |page=21 |date=September 25, 1928 |accessdate=June 26, 2022 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref>{{efn|NFL.com lists him as {{convert|5|ft|11|in|m}} and {{convert|200|lb|kg}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nfl.com/players/wildcat-wilson/ |title=Wildcat Wilson |website=NFL.com |accessdate=June 26, 2022}}</ref>}} he was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951.
==Collegiate career== Wilson played for the Washington Huskies football varsity squads of 1923, 1924, and 1925. Playing in the same backfield as fullback Elmer Tesreau, he scored a career 37 touchdowns as a member of the team, tying him with Joe Steele for a Husky record. Wilson's uniform number of 33 is one of only three that have been retired by the Husky football program.<ref name=rbhof/>
Wilson played in the 1924 Rose Bowl, a 14–14 tie with Navy, a game that Tesreau played with a broken leg. Wilson had a standout game in the 1926 Rose Bowl, rushing for over 100 yards and throwing two touchdown passes, although Washington narrowly lost to Alabama, 20–19.<ref name=rbhof/> Sportswriter Damon Runyon wrote that "George Wilson, the slashing back of the Washington team, was splashing the Crimson Tide at will. Then he got hurt."<ref>{{cite web|last=Richardson |first=Ron |url=https://historylink.org/File/7972 |title=Wilson, George (1901-1963) |publisher=Historyink.org |date=2006-10-28 |access-date=2010-06-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217231153/https://historylink.org/File/7972 |archive-date=December 17, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> Washington was limited to 17 yards of offense and Alabama scored all of their points while Wilson was out of the game.<ref name=rbhof/>
At the close of Wilson's collegiate career, head coach Enoch Bagshaw, who had followed Husky football since 1904, said that Wilson was "the greatest football played in the history of the University of Washington."<ref name=Tyee/> In summarizing his career, the 1926 Husky college yearbook wrote that Wilson's "play was not only spectacular to the crowds but inspiring to his teammates as well."<ref name=Tyee>{{cite book |url=https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/uwdocs/id/15382/rec/27 |title=Tyee |year=1926 |page=132 |publisher=University of Washington |via=washington.edu}}</ref>
==Professional football career== [[File:Wildcat Wilson and lion.jpg|thumb|left|Promotional image of Wilson and a lion, from ''The Rock Island Argus'' of September 23, 1926]] In January 1926, Wilson participated in a series of West Coast exhibition games against Red Grange, whom he admired and wanted to play against, and the Chicago Bears.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31093814/|title=George Wilson To Play With L.A. Grid Team|agency=AP|newspaper=Oakland Tribune|via=Newspapers.com|date=January 4, 1926|access-date=June 29, 2019}}</ref> His first game was with the Los Angeles Wildcats in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum; although he recorded 123 rushing yards, he also lost a fumble in the 17–7 loss.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31159708/|title=Grange is pushed for spotlight|agency=AP|newspaper=The Anniston Star|via=Newspapers.com|date=January 17, 1926|access-date=June 29, 2019}}</ref> With the San Francisco Tigers at Kezar Stadium, Wilson had 87 rushing yards to Grange's 41 before suffering a head injury in the fourth quarter, while the Tigers won 14–7.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31191771/|title=Grange's star dimmed; Wilson outplays him|agency=AP|newspaper=Albuquerque Journal|via=Newspapers.com|date=January 25, 1926|access-date=July 8, 2019}}</ref>
Wilson also led all-star teams in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, agreeing to participate on the conditions that he be paid in advance and game organizers provided an offensive line that could hold off the Bears; he described Chicago as having "the biggest and best line I ever saw on a football field."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31191899/|title=Red Grange Arrives At Portland; Bears Have Giant Linemen|agency=UP|newspaper=Albany Democrat-Herald|via=Newspapers.com|date=January 27, 1926|access-date=July 8, 2019}}</ref> His teammates for the games consisted of players from the Waterfront Athletic Club who also worked as longshoremen.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31191922/|title=Chicago Bears Are Getting Into Shape For Portland Game|agency=UP|newspaper=Albany Democrat-Herald|via=Newspapers.com|date=January 29, 1926|access-date=July 8, 2019}}</ref> In Portland, Wilson only appeared on the field for six snaps before leaving prior to halftime in the 60–3 loss.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31285106/|title=Bears Romp Over Portland Loggers, 60-3|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|via=Newspapers.com|date=January 31, 1926|access-date=June 29, 2019}}</ref> While playing for Seattle, he injured his right leg while tackling Grange as the Bears won 34–0.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31285496/|title=Red and Bears Beat Seattle All-Stars, 34-0|work=Chicago Tribune |agency=AP|via=Newspapers.com|date=February 1, 1926|page=25 |access-date=June 29, 2019}}</ref> Wilson's teammate Rollie Corbett broke his leg during the game, leading to Wilson, Grange, and Grange's agent C. C. Pyle setting up a fund to support him; the three donated $50 apiece.<ref>{{cite news|last=Rocene|first=Ray|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31285502/|title=Sports Jabs|newspaper=Missoulian|via=Newspapers.com|date=February 1, 1926|access-date=June 29, 2019}}</ref>
Later in January, Pyle approached Wilson about signing a contract with him worth $15,000.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31222426/|title=Grange's manager makes pro offer to Huskies' star|newspaper=The Pittsburgh Post|via=Newspapers.com|date=January 28, 1926|access-date=June 29, 2019}}</ref> During the summer, Grange and Wilson collaborated on the movie ''One Minute to Play'', with Wilson serving as the antagonist to Grange's team. Due to California's summer heat and the film being set in an autumn Midwest, the film studio struggled to find extras willing to dress in warmer clothing. To solve this, Pyle promoted the movie's climactic final game as a genuine exhibition game with fans dressed in fall attire being granted free admission.{{sfn|Grange|Morton|1953|p=125–126}}
Pyle also enticed Wilson to join the first American Football League as a potential rival for Grange. Pyle named Wilson president of the league's traveling team, the Wildcats, for the upcoming 1926 AFL season. While Wilson was also nominally named the team's owner, Pyle and Grange actually paid the bills and filed the franchise's ownership papers.
Based in Chicago and training in Rock Island, Illinois, Wilson's Wildcats finished fourth in the nine-team league, with Wilson among the leaders in rushing touchdowns.<ref>David S. Neft, Richard M. Cohen, and Rick Korch, ''The Football Encyclopedia: The Complete, Year-by-Year History of Professional Football From 1892 to the Present'' (St. Martin's Press 1994) {{ISBN|0-312-11435-4}}</ref>
Upon the demise of the AFL, Wilson joined the Providence Steam Roller of the National Football League, for which he played for three years. The championship year of 1928 featured Wilson as he was credited with five touchdowns and four interceptions as the Steam Roller won its only NFL championship.
==Later life== Wilson was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951.<ref name=cfb>{{cite web |url=https://www.cfbhall.com/about/inductees/inductee/george-wilson-1951/ |title=George Schly Wilson |website=cfbhall.com |accessdate=June 26, 2022}}</ref> At the time of his death in December 1963, he was a dockworker in San Francisco.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104437598/ex-husky-gridiron-ace-dies/ |title=Ex-Husky Gridiron Ace Dies |agency=AP |newspaper=Tri-City Herald |location=Pasco, Washington |page=24 |date=December 29, 1963 |accessdate=June 26, 2022 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> Posthumously, Wilson was inducted to the Husky Hall of Fame at the University of Washington in 1980,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.uwtyeeclub.com/big-w-club/the-husky-hall-of-fame/inductees-by-year/ |title=Inductees by Year |publisher=UW Tyee Club |website=uwtyeeclub.com |accessdate=June 26, 2022}}</ref> and the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 1991.<ref name=rbhof>{{cite web |url=https://rosebowlgame.com/honors/rose-bowl-hall-of-fame/george-wilson/19 |title=George Wilson |website=rosebowlgame.com |accessdate=June 26, 2022}}</ref>
He also spent time as a professional wrestler.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.wrestlingdata.com/index.php?befehl=bios&wrestler=18253&bild=1&details=11 | title=George Wilson | publisher=wrestlingdata.com | accessdate=22 September 2024}}</ref>
==See also== *List of gridiron football players who became professional wrestlers
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==Further reading== {{commons cat}} *{{cite book|last1=Grange|first1=Red|last2=Morton|first2=Ira|title=The Red Grange Story: An Autobiography|isbn=0252063295|publisher=University of Illinois Press|date=1953}}
{{Washington Huskies football navbox}} {{1925 NCAA Division I FBS College Football Consensus All-Americans}} {{1928 Providence Steam Roller}} {{Los Angeles Wildcats (AFL)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Wildcat}} Category:1901 births Category:1963 deaths Category:All-American college football players Category:College Football Hall of Fame inductees Category:Los Angeles Wildcats players Category:Providence Steam Roller players Category:Washington Huskies football players Category:People from Cleveland County, Arkansas Category:20th-century male professional wrestlers Category:20th-century American professional wrestlers Category:American male professional wrestlers Category:Players of American football from Arkansas Category:Professional wrestlers from Arkansas