Two Super Bowl QBs with Mississippi roots
Posted on: January 23,2014
Rick Cleveland
You know about Super Bowl quarterback Peyton Manning’s Mississippi background – dad Archie born in Drew and mother Olivia from Philadelphia.
But did you know the other Super Bowl quarterback, Russell Wilson, has Mississippi roots as well? He most certainly does. Russell Wilson’s late father, Harry,was born and spent his formative years in Jackson. His grandfather, Harrison B. Wilson, was an incredibly successful basketball coach at Jackson State before going on to a distinguished career as a college administrator in Tennessee and Virginia.
Back in high school, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, with his father, the late Harry Wilson, who was born and raised in Jackson.
Originally from Amsterdam, N.Y., Harrison Wilson, Jr., played basketball in the Navy and at Kentucky State before getting his Masters at Indiana. Straight out of Indiana, he took JSU basketball job at age 26. His teams won 75 percent of their games and numerous conference championships, but his legacy at JSU goes much deeper than that. He also coached the football team’s wide receivers, including such NFL legends as Mississippi Sports Hall of Famers Harold Jackson and Willie Richardson.
The Wilsons lived first on the Jackson State campus and then on nearby Pittsburg Street. Ben Wilson, the oldest of four sons and Russell Wilson’s uncle, remembers growing up in the college atmosphere and going to practices and games.
“What I remember most of all is that my dad’s teams didn’t lose many games,” Ben Wilson says. “We beat Grambling when they had Willis Reed, Prairie View when they had Zelmo Beatty, Winston Salem when they had Earl Monroe, and North Carolina Central when they had Sam Jones.”
Harrison Wilson, 88, and now living near Norfolk, Va., is more proud of another legacy. “All my basketball players graduated and most of them got their Masters,” he says. “I had mostly Mississippi kids and they were great kids, hard workers.”
At 15, Ben Wilson was about to enter Jim Hill High School when a Jackson State professor, who was close to the family, suggested he already was smarter than her college students and that the family should consider sending him to prep school in the northeast. Ben took an entrance exam for Wilbraham, near Springfield, Mass., qualified for a scholarship and off he went first to Wilbraham and then to Dartmouth. His three younger brothers, including Harry, followed.
Harry, Russell’s dad, was born at the JSU Health Center on campus. He became an athletic standout at Dartmouth, a record-breaking wide receiver in football and a middle infielder in baseball.
When Ben Wilson, a successful lawyer in Washington D.C., looks at Russell Wilson, he sees Harry, his brother, who died of complications from diabetes three years ago.
“It’s uncanny the physical resemblance,” Ben Wilson says. “He’s the spitting image of my brother. It’s just striking how much they are alike, their mannerisms, the way they walk, the way they talk. Don’t get me wrong, I love Russell, but when I’m around Russell it makes me somewhat melancholy. I miss Harry; I loved him so much.”
Harrison B. Wilson, Jr.
Says Harrison Wilson of his son, Harry, and Harry’s son, Russell: “They could be twins. It’s uncanny.”
Harrison Wilson says he will watch the Super Bowl on TV: “I’m too old to sit out in that weather.”
Ben Wilson will take it all in. And he will be thinking of Harry.
Says Ben Wilson: “Russell is a special young man, focused and intelligent, just like his dad was. He has always been on a constant quest to get better, always working to be as good as he can possibly be.”
Sounds like another quarterback with Mississippi roots, the one named Peyton Manning.
“Russell has all the respect in the world for Peyton Manning,” Ben Wilson says. “Peyton Manning is the gold standard for NFL quarterbacks and Russell respects that. He respects the game.”
This Super Bowl should be a splendid game, befitting the uniquely successful families of both quarterbacks.
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You have such a great talent for digging out so many stories like this in Mississippi history and telling them in such a superb manner. I had no idea Russell Wilson had any connection with Mississippi.
I had no idea either and I’m very glad that I came across this. Thanks for digging this up. It’s very interesting.,,makes me even more proud of my home state.
Thanks, Paul. High praise coming from you. Hope all is well…
I had no idea. This was a wonderful article. Thanks. Wilson is a great QB. I am a die hard Peyton fan!!
I am glad you published this article. Had know idea Russell was coach HB Wilson grandson. Coach HB was my teacher at Jackson State and I am a die hard fan of Seahawks .
Most of the mainstream media did not care what happened at JSU back when Dr. Wilson coached basketball, and football there. I remember Lee Baker of the Jackson Daily News would come over to cover JSU sports on occasions. I also recall him once writing that mixing of the races as he called it would never happen in his lifetime. Things changed dramatically within a couple of years of that article. And as they say, the rest is history regarding sports in Mississippi. We know who the major players are in the major sports. If Dr. Wilson’s teams won 340 games and lost only 72, why isn’t HE in the Mississippi sports Hall of Fame? There are stories of other high school coaches who should be in the Hall of Fame if you, Mr. Cleveland, would take the time to research them. Who do you think helped develop a Willie Richardson, Harold Jackson, Jackie Slater, or Judge Plummer Lott from Jim Hill who Played for the Seattle Supersonics and now resides in New York City? If you look you will find many hidden gems associated with black high school sports before integration ruined our high school and HBCU’s athletic programs. Most people in Mississippi did not want integration in sports or anything else thinking it would ruin their programs. Now who is making millions off the blood, sweat, and skills of the Black athlete?
Just a little food for thought to let your readers who may not know that Black schools in Mississippi have a history also! A proud history.
Leland, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I remember Coach Wilson at JSU, but had no idea of the connection. The article was most informative.
This is a great article and for me I feel connect to both teams, being a native of Philadelphia, MS and Graduate of Jackson State. Go Denver and Seattle.
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