"Mike" Wilson: Sem grad's 1926 season at Lafayette captivated nation
Wilson, who led Lafayette to a national title, remains prevalent in its record books.
One hundred football seasons ago, comparing a halfback to Red Grange surpassed the modern-day equivalent of comparing one to Saquon Barkley or Derrick Henry.
Grange, a three-time All-American at the University of Illinois and charter member of the College Football Hall of Fame, was as much a national hero as baseball’s Babe Ruth and boxing’s Jack Dempsey.
While perhaps a little overzealous, the Times Leader on Nov. 17, 1924, likened George “Mike” Wilson to Grange. Wilson, a student at Wyoming Seminary, had trampled the Bucknell University Reserve Team’s defense in a 40-0 win.
“Seminary presented a varied and powerful attack … led by ‘Mike’ Wilson,” the newspaper said. “Wilson, emulating Red Grange, scored four of the Blue and White’s six touchdowns with lightning thrusts off tackle and brilliant end runs.”
For some athletes, that kind of performance and published praise would be the highlight of a career. Wilson, however, was so successful beyond his prep school days that he became one of Grange’s peers.
After graduating from Sem, Wilson, of Glenside, Montgomery County, attended Lafayette College. He had one truly spectacular season — so spectacular, in fact, that he still occupies prime real estate in the program’s newest media guide.
According to the 2024 publication, Wilson remains the single-season record-holder in touchdowns (20) and points scored (120). Wilson’s most prolific performance — five touchdowns against Susquehanna — is tied for a single-game record. The team itself went 9-0 and claimed a national championship, as did Alabama and Stanford. While Lafayette has since added two more undefeated seasons in 1937 and 1940, it has failed to win another national title.
Following the season, on Friday, Dec. 10, Wilson returned to Kingston with his head coach Herb McCracken for Sem’s football team banquet. Wilson and McCracken brought some serious star power, as they were both later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
“Start something big, put the goal in front of you, have the enthusiasm to keep going and the perseverance to finish strong,” McCracken told the boys in a speech. “When the Great Scorer writes opposite your name, it isn’t whether you won or lost but whether you played the game.”
The Lafayette all-time roster lists Wilson as having played from 1924 to 1928, but the years sandwiching that famed ’26 season are a mere footnote. Wilson’s page on the CFB Hall of Fame website calls his 1926 season “one of the finest in football history.”
Wilson’s football career ended in the professional ranks, as he played in 1929 with the Frankford Yellow Jackets. Among his Frankford teammates was Eddie Halicki, a Hanover Township High School graduate who starred at Bucknell.
Wilson served his country with distinction in World War II and earned the rank of brigadier general in the Marine Corps. He worked 41 years for Bell Telephone.
In 1974, Wilson was honored as a charter member of the Wyoming Seminary Varsity Club Hall of Fame with the likes of Ralph “Horse” Chase and a couple other football players who will eventually be featured on College Football Incubator.
The 1988 CFB Hall of Fame class included Wilson, as well as UCLA Heisman Trophy winner Gary Beban and Oklahoma defensive lineman Lee Roy Selmon.
Two years after his induction, Wilson died. He was 84.
View the constantly updated list of all the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre region’s major college football All-Americans by clicking this link.