Dennis Wilson knew he had a huge responsibility resting on his shoulder pads when he started his second season with Pearl River’s Wildcats in the fall of 1970.
Wilson was earmarked to take over the starting quarterback duties for Coach John Russell’s defending state champion team, which posted an undefeated 9-0 record the previous season.
A 5-11, 160-pound sophomore out of North Forrest High School, Wilson had backed-up All-Stater Steve Worrell in 1969...a season that saw the Wildcats win their 12th state championship. He played sparingly as a freshman, but managed a bit of personal hoopla, passing for a touchdown in PRCC’s 54-0 championship clincher against Holmes.
“I went into my sophomore year feeling I would be the starter, but that wasn’t a sure thing. Two
freshmen (Roy Yarbrough of Hattiesburg and Gene Estapa of Bay St. Louis) were talented players and looked pretty good during preseason,” Wilson said.
But Wilson’s experience gave him the nod and he guided The River to its 13th title that season, while accomplishing feats that have placed his name all through the Wildcat record book.
He will be inducted into the college’s Sports Hall of Fame during homecoming festivities.
Dennis Wilson was lean and gangly, but an outstanding all-around athlete when he graduated from North Forrest High School in the spring of 1969. He had already earned all kind of accolades as a quarterback, defensive back, and punt returner for Coach Sonny Jordan’s team and was named to the All Singing River Conference team. Incredibly, Wilson had single-handedly scored 171 points his senior season with the Eagles.
“I had a few options heading into college,” he said. “William Carey wanted me for basketball and baseball. Mississippi College wanted me for baseball and football. But neither offered me a full scholarship. Coach (John) Russell at Pearl River did.”
So did Miller Hammill, former men’s head basketball coach at PRCC who is now “Dr. Hammill” and is the college’s Dean of Student Affairs. Hammill recruited Wilson off the football field to add depth at his guard position.
“Dennis wasn’t the most athletic person to ever come through Pearl River, but he was dedicated and worked hard,” said Hammill. “And even though he excelled more in football than he did basketball, he was an excellent ball handler and solid defensive player on the court.”
Wilson was primarily a reserve point guard, but he did start several games as the Wildcats’ roundball QB, according to Hammill.
“It was unusual for a student athlete to play two sports on this level back then,” he said. “Dennis is just a good athlete and great leader. It was a privilege to have coached him. He is one of the best people I ever coached or known. He is a class person.”
After reporting for his first day of preseason drills in early August of 1969, Wilson’s fortunes took an abrupt turn. He took a vicious hit in practice that separated his right shoulder..the one he threw passes with.
“I thought everything was over for me right then and there,” he recalled. “I had never been seriously injured before. Coach Russell let me take time to heal-up, but I still suited-up for the games. After two or three weeks into the season, I was getting an occasional quarterback sneak, then a few sweeps. I started feeling better and better and started playing more and more.
“Even though I never started that season, I saw some playing time.”
Dennis’ sophomore season in 1970 season saw a dream 4-0 start and he earned MVP honors in two of the Wildcats’ four wins. PRCC’s boasted a win streak of 14 games. The River opened-up with a 26-3 blasting of Northeast, then wrecked Southwest 31-6 with Wilson passing for 253 yards on 12 completions. In next week’s 28-7 victory over Northwest, Wilson passed for two TDs and had a 37-yard run to set up another score.
Next came a 12-0 shutout over arch-rival Gulf Coast that pushed the undefeated Wildcats into the limelight with a No. 1 national ranking.
But all the excitement was short-lived. The following week, the streak and ranking vanished in Scooba when East Mississippi’s Lions handed the Wildcats a heartbreaking 23-12 setback.
“We went in to our East Mississippi like a firestorm,” Wilson said. “In the first quarter, I ran right up the middle for a 25-yard touchdown, but things went downhill quickly.”
From that point on, the Wildcats would lose six of eight fumbles, have two touchdowns called back due to penalties, even though Wilson led the offense to 333 yards and finished the game completing 10 of 24 passes for 185 yards of that total.
“It was a real disheartening thing for the entire team,” he said.
The Wildcats took it out on Hinds the next week at homecoming and blasted the Eagles 35-0, despite being penalized 14 times for 140 yards. Week No. 7 saw Pearl River lose four of seven fumbles to Copiah-Lincoln and lose 21-14 on the road, even though Wilson had a 14 of 29 night for 220 yards.
Pearl River won its hard-fought East Central game the following week 14-6 in Decatur with Wilson earning MVP honors, then clinched the division crown a week later with a 29-22 win over Jones. The Wildcats ended their regular season with a 37-7 win over Holmes and awaited an East Central rematch for the state title.
“We’d already played them a few weeks earlier and that was a tough game,” Wilson said. “We expected the same in the championship, plus we had to go up there (Decatur) for a second time.”
In the title match, the Wildcats recovered a Warrior fumble on the game’s opening possession. Wilson ran a counter QB keeper on first down right up the middle for a touchdown. East Central answered with a three-and-out on its ensuing series. Pearl River’s ball and this time it takes the Wildcats only two plays to score.
“We had run only three offensive plays and were up 14-0,” said Wilson, who, along with Donald Bridges, earned MVP honors in the game. “We were as surprised as anybody.”
Pearl River went on to claim a 27-8 victory and a 13th state championship.
Wilson went on to Mississippi College in Clinton and played sparingly as a junior, but entered the 1972 season as the starter. He suffered a hairline leg fracture that year and his season was over as a QB, even though he played some wide receiver later in the season.
After graduating from MC in 1973, he coached high school ball in the Jackson area for four years, then returned to the Choctaws as a graduate assistant wide receivers coach. After earning his master’s degree, he coached at Hinds Community College for a season (1978), then returned to south Mississippi as head coach of Forrest County Agricultural High School in Brooklyn.
In 1980, he turned the FCAHS football reins over to former Wildcat teammate Perry Wheat (who, incidentally, coaches the Aggies today), moved to Texas and entered sales for a year. He remained in the Lone Star state as a coach and administrator in the Houston area, eventually moving up to assistant principal posts at middle schools in Missouri City and Truitt.
Wilson has since left the school business and entered his family’s manufactured housing business in Tupelo.
“My brother had been in this business a long, long time and our business is growing and growing,” he said, noting the Wilsons have recently opened a second dealership in Tupelo, which is the 11th statewide.
For the past five years, Wilson has served on the State Board of Directors for the Mississippi Manufactured Housing Association.
While in Texas, Wilson met and married his wife, Vickie, who is a choral teacher. She spent three years at Northeast Community College in Booneville, two years at Tupelo High, and is currently teaching at Ole Miss. Wilson has two stepsons.