[3] Wilson served as the second commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, from 1945 to 1961, and as the president of the United States Olympic Committee from 1953 to 1965.

During the 1920 season, Wilson would play with Helms Athletic Foundation All-American Chuck Carney.

Wison graduated from Illinois in 1920 but remained at the university as an assistant to the athletic director, George Huff.

He utilized his experiences at Illinois to take the role of athletic director and head track coach at Drake from 1922 to 1925.

All of these experiences catapulted Wison into the athletic director position at Northwestern University where he remained until 1945.