Pete Willson
Coach/Wrestler ⋅ Class of 1979
Proviso East: Wheaton College: Blue Island
Pete placed 3rd in the State as a freshman, there weren’t any State Championships his sophomore year, but he made up for that by winning State Titles in his Junior and Senior Years. Pete enrolled at Wheaton College where he became the only Wrestler to win the Highly Respected Wheaton College Invitational Tournament Four times. Pete’s coach at Wheaton College was George Olson, another IWCOA Hall of Famer. His High School Coach was Lou Slimmer who is also an IWCOA Hall of Famer.
His coaching career began at Blue Island, where he developed 15 place winners,
3 of who were State Champions. His teams won many awards and finished 3rd in the State in 1956.
He left Blue Island to assist in the Wrestling Program at Wheaton College in 1964, a program he took over in 1974. He still maintains this program today. His college teams have maintained the same excellent quality that Wheaton College has been known for. He has had Five National College Division Three Place winners. His Wheaton Team has won Two College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Championships.
As he begins his 26th year of teaching and coaching, many other awards have come to him which includes:
Wheaton College Hall of Fame as a Wrestler; 25 year Service Award from the
NCAA Division Three; President of the NCAA Division Three in 1978-1979.
Through Mr. Willson’s leadership, Wheaton College was selected for the site of the 1978 NCAA Division Three Championships, which I might add was run off in excellent form.
Mr. Willson has also done a considerable amount of officiating and for a few years aided the IWCOA in the officials’ instruction programs. Retired 1990 and grand marshal 1991.