SARATOGA SPRINGS — Local basketball legend, Gregory Wilson, has recently had his second induction into Oswego Basketball Hall of Fame for his prominent place in the Laker record books. He had the highest scoring average in a single-season (28.0) and on January 30, 1968 for 31 rebounds in a game at Utica. As a Laker, Wilson averaged a double-double over his career.
Although Wilson was only on the Oswego Lakers for two varsity seasons, he made his mark. He was inducted into the Upstate New York Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017 for “his contributions at several levels of the game.”
Wilson began playing basketball at age 13 in Round Lake. "All the guys used to play, I wasn't really that interested but I would play anyway, and it wasn't until I was on the freshmen team in high school at Shenendehowa watching the varsity play, that it clicked with me. I couldn't believe the feeling I got from watching it, I wanted to be a part of it," Wilson said.
Wilson still plays basketball at the YMCA in Schenectady and for 20 years, he played in a Colonie senior basketball league for guys 50 and older. They would travel around the country playing three on three. He remains active by working part time at his son Rory’s pizza shop, D’Andrea’s Pizza, and he works at a food pantry every other week.
Still, basketball is what changed his life.
"Well, I got a great education and a great life out of it. I put a lot of hard work into it and I got the results of it. I never expected anything like this, believe me, but it's just something you like and pursue. I was fortunate enough to have the life I have. I taught for 37 years and basketball got me that way,” he said.
Wilson is eternally grateful to his family: his wife, his six children, and his friends.
"It never crossed my mind that anything so spectacular would happen, totally overwhelming. John Harrington and Dave Hewitt helped me, a lot to pursue this and I was friends with them for years, and of course my three sisters and my mother, they were really behind me all the way and never gave me any grief about it,” he said, citing his biggest supporters.
