Early Years
Wilson was born in Maricopa, California. At age 16, he played for the Montgomery Wards baseball team that won the 1928 American League Junior Series. The team, considered "Oakland's first World Champion Baseball team," won 18 straight games, including 14 by shutouts, in the national junior baseball tournament sponsored by the American Legion. As the team advanced, the Oakland newspapers covered the games and the players on a daily basis, as reflected in the following account: "The excitement that gripped Oakland as their 14 boys progressed through the tournament finals jumps out of the old news clippings. Game results were featured on Page One of the Oakland papers, individual players being written up day after day." When the team returned to Oakland, the headline in the Oakland Tribune read, "Welcome Home World Champions," and the team was greeted at the train station with a victory parade: "Straight up Broadway the lads were paraded, led by a band and drum corps and surrounded by thousands of cheering Oaklanders."
At San Leandro High School in San Leandro, California, Wilson was a star in football and baseball.
Read more about this topic: Icehouse Wilson
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