During the time of the Great War, Roy Wilson participated in – and served to lead his teams – in football, basketball and track.
Roy had an early love of football and was a starter for Atkins’ first high school football team in 1911, 1912 and 1913, where his big brother, Burt, was assistant coach. Atkins head coach, Oscar Alewine, was one of Roy’s lifelong friends.
After entering Hendrix in 1913, Roy “Big” Wilson began his football career as a guard for the Bulldogs. It was said that he was big, fast – and didn’t talk much. In his first year, however, he did catch Arkansas College’s fastest man from behind and, after a long chase, saved his team from being scored upon. The result was a 46-0 victory for the Hendrix Bulldogs.
In the years that followed, Roy played center for the football team and served as their captain. He also played tackle and running back and, in 1915, scored on a 55-yard run during a game against Henderson and later blocked a punt and recovered it in the end zone for his third score of the day. In 1916,
Roy was again captain of the Bulldogs and was selected to be on the first team All-Arkansas at the position of center. The following year, he was starting halfback and, once again, served as Captain of the team. This three-year captainship was an honor conferred on no other Bulldog. Roy started and lettered for each of his five years in football at Hendrix.
In basketball, Roy was a first team center, a member of the 1914 Arkansas Basketball Champions, lettering in 1914, 1915, and 1916. In addition, he participated in hurdles, relays and the hammer throw, and was a three-year letterman in track.
Roy served as President of the Hendrix College student body in 1917-1918 and, after graduation, served as a coach and a district superintendent – after serving as assistant football coach at Hendrix in the early ’20s. Roy married his Hendrix sweetheart, Vada Bowen, who was the President of the class of 1919 at Hendrix, which gave the College its original “spoon holder.”
Roy and Vada moved to Forester, Arkansas in 1929 and lived there until moving to Waldron in 1953, where he taught in public schools until his retirement. The Wilsons moved to Little Rock in 1979 where they spent their last years.
