George Wilson (May 9, 1942 – July 29, 2023) was an American professional basketball player. Wilson played as a center for the Cincinnati Royals,

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

, Seattle SuperSonics,

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...

, and

Buffalo Braves The Buffalo Braves were an American professional basketball team based in Buffalo, New York. The Braves competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA) from 1964 to 1971. Before turning professional, he played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

Cincinnati Bearcats The Cincinnati Bearcats are the college sports, athletic teams that represent the University of Cincinnati. The teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and the Football Bowl Subdivision as members of the Big 12 Conference. The Bearcats were pr ...

and won a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

in the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

Early life

Wilson was born in

Meridian, Mississippi Meridian is the List of municipalities in Mississippi, eighth most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, with a population of 35,052 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the county seat of Lauderdale County, Mississippi, ...

, on May 9, 1942, and grew up on the west side of Chicago. He attended Marshall High School and led the Commandos basketball team as a center to four straight appearances in the Chicago Public League, winning the Illinois state championships in 1958 and 1960. As a senior, he was named a high school All-American after three seasons of averaging 25, 27, and 26 points per game, and in 1960 he was the inaugural winner of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' Player of the Year award. Wilson was named All-State three years. He was named to the ''Parade'' All-America Boys Basketball Team's third team in 1959 and the first team in 1960.

College career

Recruited by many colleges, he chose to attend the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...

primarily because of his admiration of Bearcats star

Oscar Robertson Oscar Palmer Robertson (born November 24, 1938), nicknamed "the Big O", is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Robertson played ...

. As a sophomore in his first year on the varsity in 1961–62, he broke into the starting lineup for Ed Jucker's Bearcats in the 14th game, and for the season he averaged 9.2 points per game. The Bearcats were co-champions of the

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the fourth-oldest collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the Midwestern Unite ...

(MVC) and posted a record of 29–2, capping off the season by winning the NCAA championship game over

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

71–59, the Bearcats' second consecutive national title. As a junior in 1962–63, Wilson led the Bearcats with 11.2 rebounds per game, a .505 field goal percentage and 1.4 blocked shots to go with 15.0 points per game. He was named All-MVC, and he was named second-team All-American by ''

The Sporting News ''The Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a ...

'' and Converse. The Bearcats went 26–2, again won the MVC and advanced to the NCAA championship game for the third consecutive season, but they were beaten by

Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic Church, ...

in overtime, 60–58. In his senior season of 1963–64, Wilson (who was team co-captain with Ron Bonham) again led the Bearcats in rebounding with 12.5 per game, field goal percentage at .535 and blocked shots with 1.7 per game. He set a new Bearcats record with eight blocked shots in a game against

Dayton Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

. He also scored 16.1 points per game as he was again named All-MVC. The Bearcats finished the season 17–9.

1964 Olympics

Wilson was a member of the 1964 U.S. Olympic basketball team, which went undefeated and won the gold medal.

NBA career

The Cincinnati Royals selected Wilson with their territorial selection in the 1964 NBA draft. In November 1966, the Royals traded Wilson to the

for

Len Chappell Leonard R. Chappell (January 31, 1941 – July 12, 2018) was an American basketball player. He played for 10 years in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the American Basketball Association (ABA) and was selected to one NBA All-Star Gam ...

. He played as a backup for the Bulls, focusing on defense and rebounding. The Seattle SuperSonics acquired Wilson from the Bulls in the 1967 NBA expansion draft. He played as a reserve forward for the inaugural SuperSonics and averaged 6.1 points per game. The following year, the

acquired Wilson from the SuperSonics in the 1968 NBA expansion draft. Playing for the Suns, Wilson saw the most playing time of his professional career and averaged 11.6 points per game and 12.3 rebounds per game with them. However, in January 1969, the Suns traded Wilson to the

for Jerry Chambers. He played for the 76ers as a reserve while

Lucious Jackson Lucious Brown Jackson (October 31, 1941 – October 12, 2022), also known as Luke Jackson, was an American professional basketball player. A power forward (basketball), power forward and center (basketball), center, he played for the Philadelph ...

was injured. The

selected Wilson from the 76ers in the 1970 NBA expansion draft. He retired from the NBA in 1971.

Personal life

Wilson graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1964 with a degree in education. He was also a member of the Beta Eta chapter of

Kappa Alpha Psi Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. () is a List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911, at Indiana University Bloomington, it has n ...

fraternity. In 2006 Wilson was voted as one of the 100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament, a group of former players and coaches in honor of the 100th anniversary of the IHSA boys basketball tournament. In 2010 Wilson was inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame. Wilson worked as a

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

director and lived in Fairfield, Ohio. He competed in the Senior Olympics in golf, basketball, and horseshoes. Wilson died on July 29, 2023, at age 81.

Career statistics

NBA

Source

Regular season

Playoffs

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, George 1942 births 2023 deaths 20th-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen American men's basketball players Basketball players at the 1964 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Mississippi Buffalo Braves expansion draft picks Buffalo Braves players Centers (basketball) Chicago Bulls players Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball players Cincinnati Royals draft picks Cincinnati Royals players Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in basketball Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) People from Fairfield, Ohio Philadelphia 76ers players Phoenix Suns expansion draft picks Phoenix Suns players Seattle SuperSonics expansion draft picks Seattle SuperSonics players Sportspeople from the Cincinnati metropolitan area Sportspeople from Meridian, Mississippi United States men's national basketball team players