‘Gentle Giant’ dies, left proud hoops legacy at Manual and Bradley
PEORIA — Tom Wilson had a way of holding people together, on the basketball floor, with his family, with friends and everyone he connected with.
The former Manual High School and Bradley University forward died Tuesday at age 53, reportedly from a heart attack, leaving the countless people he touched in Peoria and beyond to come together and remember him.
“He didn’t play a lot at Bradley, but he was one of those glue guys on the team,” former high school and college teammate Curtis Stuckey said. “At BU, he went 110% and we’d try to calm him down because he was making the rest of us look bad with his hustle and effort.
“But that was Tom. His best attributes were just being a good friend, good teammate, good person. He held people together. He had such a good heart. I think track was actually his best sport, but his heart was in basketball. He played it at a time when Peoria was the mecca of the game.”
Wilson, a 6-foot-8 forward, was at Peoria High School and abruptly transferred to Manual High School in the middle of the 1986-87 season, a then-unheard-of move that triggered massive controversy in the Peoria basketball community.
Manual, with Stuckey and David Booth and other stars under legendary coach Dick Van Scyoc, went undefeated in the regular season and spent the entire season ranked No. 1 in Class AA. The Rams were upset in the playoff quarterfinals on an overtime buzzerbeater.
Stuckey went on to star at Bradley. Wilson followed him there, spending his sophomore season at BU in 199091. He appeared in 11 games, averaging 3.3 minutes per game, for an 8-20 BU team under coach Stan Albeck.
Stuckey graduated after that season, and Wilson moved on to SIU-Edwardsville, where he spent two years. In the 1992-93 season, he appeared in 23 games for the 14-12 Cougars team, shot 50.6% from the field, averaged 4.7 points and 3.0 rebounds in 11.6 minutes per game, adding 13 blocks and 11 steals.
“When I was a senior at Manual, Tom transferred in from Central,” said Stuckey, who has lived in Las Vegas since 2005 and works with kids in schools, foster homes and group homes. “He was a role player as a sophomore that season. We had David Booth emerging as a superstar, we had a lot of skilled, big-time players. He had to come earn his time and pay his dues.
“And he did. He gave us so much on and off the basketball floor. Then, for years, he worked so hard to get that team into the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame.”
Mission accomplished. That 1986-87 Manual High School basketball team, with Wilson listed among the names on the roster, is indeed in the GPSHOF.
A man who will be missed
Wilson was living and working in New York, and friends say he never forgot his Peoria roots. His Facebook page contained an outpouring of emotions as those who knew him posted goodbyes, professed their love for him, told stories and posted pictures.
Wrote Brandun Marcel Hughes: “#Ramily! We all we got!! Love all of the guys! I remember coming into the lockerroom in the fieldhouse before the Manual-Central game! Tom was playing for Bradley at the time. On the chalkboard in the room had big giant letters saying… ‘Central ain’t what? Central ain’t s---!!! By Tom Wilson.’ We exchanged numbers at the Coach Van memorial. You told me contact you whenever I’m on the East coast so you can show me around. Sad we never got that chance. We lost one of the real good guys …”
Another post read:
“Tom was a great Son, Father, Husband. His love poured out into many. And he just wanted to see others happy. And make it. His selfless acts was amazing he had a big love, ambitious way of giving back. …”
There are no shortage of heavy hearts among those Tom Wilson touched.
Among those were former Manual High School basketball player Willie “Winky” Williams, who operates a marketing company in Peoria and recently founded a non-profit basketball/outreach program for adult men called Hoops, Inc.
“I just spoke with Tom a couple weeks ago, and he just came back from a cruise a week ago,” Williams said on Wednesday night. “He was sad about what is happening to the neighborhood here. He was determined to help.
“I grew up watching Tom play, all of us at Manual did. We called him the gentle giant back then, he was not aggressive on or off the court. In those days he was so kind to kids at Proctor Center and Carver Center, he was beloved. During my time, I talked a lot to Tom Wilson about basketball and life, too.
“I’m going to miss having him there.” Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men’s basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.