John Willson has been a part of the Charger family for nearly four decades. As the former history professor said, his blood runs Charger blue. In addition to teaching, he helped found the women’s track and cross-country teams, coached the kickers on the football team and much more. His legacy in Charger athletics was recognized in 2005 with his induction into the Hillsdale College Hall of Fame while his daughters and granddaughters have all made their mark in the world of Charger Athletics. Today, he works under head coach Keith Otterbein as the kicking coach for the Charger Football.
I’ve coached football all my life; I was offered a very major baseball contract when I was in high school. I love the sport [volleyball], I really do. I love to watch it. I love the runners.
How did you originally come to Hillsdale College?
She (Helen, Willson’s wife) was the one who made me come to Hillsdale. I was teaching at St. Louis University. May of 1975, I was sitting at home grading final exams. Helen was at work. I get this call from Hillsdale College. I had been following Hillsdale for a little bit because I had read about this young president. I didn’t realize the chairman of history had been following me. A guy in the history department resigned so they called me right out of the blue. And they said to me, ‘would you come up and be part of our faculty?’ A group of local businessmen had put $150,00 up for me to run for congress. They gave me a week to decide. Four days into that week is when Hillsdale called. I told Hillsdale I wasn’t looking for a position. Later I told Helen that I got a call from Hillsdale College. She said ‘I hope you took it.’ When I told her I hadn’t she told me to get on the phone, call them back and beg, give them my sincerest apology and get on a plane and go up there. The next day I was on a plane. When I called her that evening from the Dow Center I said, ‘Pack your stuff.’
It was very difficult in those early years because the college didn’t have any money. Dr. Roche decided we wouldn’t accept any government money and boom! People started giving us money. In 1983, I worked for Hillsdale for 88 straight days, 16 hours a day and was never tired.
How did you get involved in starting up the women’s track and cross-country teams?
When we moved to Hillsdale in 1975, we were really trying to get our girls involved. So one day we said, ‘Lets start running.’ I was running a lot and several of my students came to me and said, ‘we would like to have a track team. Will you help us?’ I went to McAvoy [former football coach] and I explained what these girls wanted to do. He said, ‘I think that’s a great idea if you’ll coach them.’ I said I’ll do it for one year, well seven years later. I recruited Diane Phillip, she was my assistant coach for two years and I was her assistant for one year. My daughters came through the program. I stuck around for a while. I couldn’t not because she recruited such great ladies, and in the meantime I started coaching the kickers on the football team because McAvoy found out I was a kicker and no one else knew anything about kicking. If you go down in the sports complex you’ll see a picture of two Willson girls, the only sisters who were All Americans at the same time. They were runners.
How has your relationship with Coach Otterbein changed over the years?
When he [Otterbein] came back in 2001, I was one of the ones who insisted he had the football job. He called me and asked if he could get me out of retirement to coach the kickers. He was such a tough kid when he was here. Great student, very respectful of me. When he came back, I guess I would have to say it was a little bit tough having a former student be your boss, but we’re really good friends.
What are the rewards of being involved in so many aspects of the College?
My blood runs charger blue, that’s who I am. That’s not just sports– what I really am of course is a teacher. I taught here for 30 plus years, I was a pretty good teacher. I went around speaking on behalf of the college, raising money. I started programs and worked with all kinds of good people.