Ted R. Wilson (Theodore Roosevelt Wilson) was a native of and grew up in eastern Oregon’s Murrow County.
Born in Cecil and raised in Boardman, he graduated in 1938 from Boardman (now Riverside) High School. He died at age 76 in 1996.
Aspiring to be a teacher and coach, he started at EOCE/Eastern Oregon College of Education (now Eastern Oregon University) in fall 1938. His matriculation, delayed by World War II, concluded with graduating in 1946. In 1952 he earned a University of Oregon master’s degree.
He was student body president at his high school and college. His leadership ability was also shown by fact he was a player-coach in both high school and college.
During the war he was a U.S. Army Air Corps officer flight instructor. After the war was over he returned to La Grande and the college.
His teaching/coaching background included for EOCE while his college coach, Bob Quinn, was teaching and coaching at La Grande High.
He taught and coached at La Grande, McMinnville and Beaverton High Schools before a 20 year career for Linfield College (now Linfield U) in McMinnville, Oregon.
In addition to EOU Mountaineer Hall of Fame membership (player), he’s in the NAIA District 2 Hall of Fame (player, coach), the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame, the NAIA National Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame, and the NAIA Hall of Fame (player). Linfield’s gymnasium is named for him.
As Linfield head men’s basketball coach his fast-breaking teams (1961-1981) were point scoring machines, tallying numerous Northwest Conference and NAIA District 2 titles and earning trips to the NAIA national basketball tournament in Kansas City, Missouri.
(Bio courtesy of Tim Marsh)
