Wildcat Wilson

Wilson was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951. At the time of his death in December 1963, he was a dockworker in San Francisco. Posthumously, Wilson was inducted to the Husky Hall of Fame at the University of Washington in 1980, and the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 1991.

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.

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. 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. 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.

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.

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. 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." Washington was limited to 17 yards of offense and Alabama scored all of their points while Wilson was out of the game.

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.

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." 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."

George Schly "Wildcat" Wilson (September 6, 1901 – December 27, 1963) was an American football player. After earning All-American honors in 1925 as a halfback for the University of Washington, he played professionally, including three seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Listed at .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}5 feet 10+1⁄2 inches (1.791 m) and 185 pounds (84 kg), he was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951.