George Wilson (basketball, born 1942)

Wilson was born in Meridian, 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 Player of the Year award. Wilson was named All-State three years. and the first team in 1960. ==College career==

Recruited by many colleges, he chose to attend the University of Cincinnati primarily because of his admiration of Bearcats star Oscar Robertson. 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 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 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. 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 Chicago Bulls for Len Chappell. 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 Phoenix Suns 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. He played for the 76ers as a reserve while Lucious Jackson was injured. The Buffalo Braves 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 fraternity. ==Career statistics==

NBA Source Regular season Playoffs ==References==