Tickets"You're the only player I ever coached who could play every position equally as well. You knew how to win and how to use your outstanding skills to get the job done." –– Head coach Ed Jucker in a letter to George Wilson, 1996
George Wilson was born May 9, 1942, in Meridian, Mississippi––an only child. His parents split up when he was young, sending him with his father to New York and California before moving with his mother to Chicago, where his basketball journey began. Wilson was always tall for his age. He was first discovered playing basketball at the West Side Boys Club by the Club's coach and was invited to join the team at just 11 years old. Wilson's mother agreed, feeling that Wilson's size would keep him safe against the older boys. It would be an inflection point in Wilson's life.
It was only a short time before Wilson was a star at John Marshall High School on the city's west side amid the changing tides of Illinois high school basketball and public school integration. In 1954, two months before Brown v. Board of Education, south-side DuSable High School and its all-black team became the first Chicago squad to reach the state's title game, losing to Mt. Vernon High School in a match debated for its questionable officiating. But Wilson's arrival at the high school level in 1956 was seen as a chance to make Chicago basketball undeniable on the state level. "When he went to Marshall, everyone knew that there was a high probability that Marshall would become the state champion," a teammate recalled later. "The way we saw it is that the West Side would do what the South Side, DuSable, was unable to do."
It didn't take long. Wilson's sophomore Marshall team quickly proved itself as one of the greatest teams in the history of Illinois––tearing through its schedule to a perfect 31-0 record (just the fourth unbeaten team in state history), including a comeback win over Rock Falls in the state title game and a victory over parochial DeLaSalle in the city's championship game a week later (Catholic teams didn't compete in the state tournament). Marshall and its leading scorer, Wilson, were not only the unquestionable best team in the state but the first from the city of Chicago to stake a claim to such a distinction. At just 15 years old, Wilson was unanimously selected to the All-Tournament team by opposing coaches.
Marshall nearly repeated the feat at the end of Wilson's junior year, winning the city title with a 26-4 record but falling short in the state tournament. By the time Wilson's senior year arrived, there was considerable pressure––not only on Marshall but on Wilson's college decision. Among a reported 100 offers were pursuits by the region's top Big Ten schools––Northwestern, Michigan State, and Wisconsin. Publications called him "the finest basketball prospect ever developed in Illinois."
Marshall handled the outside noise, compiling a 30-2 record with another state and city title. Wilson's high school career started with a kind of hype never before seen in the state, and he lived up to the billing, finishing with an astounding 87-6 record in his final three seasons and displaying the kind of durability rarely seen from a center: 103 consecutive games played. Wilson was a two-time Parade All-American and the Most Outstanding Player in Illinois' annual North-South All-Star Game as a senior.
He narrowed his college choice to two programs: local Illinois and Cincinnati––where Oscar Robertson had recruited him personally. Wilson chose the Bearcats. "This makes me most happy," quipped UC head coach Ed Jucker.
Wilson's game was ahead of its time. "He still has the agility, coordination, and speed of a shorter player," boasted a profile in Ebony magazine. "Wilson's the most agile 6'8" man I've ever seen," said UC freshman coach John Powless. "At times, he appears to have the speed and reflexes you'd expect from a guard." His talent was seen as so overwhelming that the Enquirer began to wonder if his presence on the varsity team as a sophomore would supplant center Paul Hogue, a starter on the Bearcats' 1960 Final Four team.
But Cincinnati ultimately won its first national championship in 1961 while Wilson waited on the freshman team. He joined the Bearcats as a starter alongside Hogue in 1961-62, finishing as the team's fourth-leading scorer, averaging 9.2 points and eight rebounds. He gobbled up 11 boards in the national title game as UC once again knocked off the Buckeyes to repeat as champions.
The Bearcats entered the 1962-63 season as national title contenders in search of an unprecedented third-straight championship. Wilson was a leader now, supporting senior Tom Thacker and fellow junior Ron Bonham on a team that finished the regular season 22-1––its only blemish coming in a one-point road loss to Wichita State. In the NCAA Tournament, the Bearcats rolled past Texas, Colorado, and Oregon State before meeting Loyola in the title game. Wilson scored 10 points with 13 rebounds in the championship match, but the Bearcats lost a 60-58 overtime heartbreaker to the Ramblers. "It's like you flunked a test," Wilson said after the game. The coaching staff named Wilson the team's most improved player.
After Thacker's graduation, the Bearcats struggled in 1963-64. A December loss to Kansas snapped a 90-game win streak in the city of Cincinnati. Wilson averaged 16.1 points and 12.5 rebounds as a senior, but a devastating five-game losing streak late in the season was too much to overcome, and the 'Cats missed the NCAA Tournament, bringing to a close a run of five consecutive Final Four appearances, still the second-longest in NCAA history.
Wilson left Cincinnati seventh on the career scoring list, and his trajectory continued to point upwards. He was selected to the Olympic team in April, drafted by the Cincinnati Royals in May, returned from Tokyo with a gold medal in October, and made his NBA debut––alongside fellow UC alums Oscar Robertson, Jack Twyman, and Tom Thacker––on Halloween.
His NBA career, during which he was primarily a defensive and rebounding specialist, spanned six teams in seven years, including more than 2,000 career points and rebounds.
Wilson put his education degree to good use after retiring from basketball in 1971. He served as a youth worker in Bond Hill for the Community Youth Service Bureau of the Citizen's Committee on Youth (CCY). With the committee, Wilson led a restoration of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House––a historic landmark saved from neglect by Wilson and a team of Cincinnati youth he led. He also worked with the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Board of Education. He remained active in sports, competing in the Senior Olympics in golf, basketball, and horseshoes. When the Olympic torch passed through Cincinnati before the 1996 Games, a group including Wilson and Robertson served as torchbearers.
Wilson remained an engaged Bearcats basketball alum, participating in a group of former players who met for weekly breakfasts at the McDonald's on Mitchell Avenue.
George Wilson was inducted into the James P. Kelly UC Athletics Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010. He died on July 29, 2023.