Description
Robert Wilson was an outstanding basketball player at West Virginia State College, and after graduation, played for the Harlem Globetrotters, Chicago Stags, and Tri-City Blackhawks. He was one of the first men to break the NBA color barrier. After his basketball career, he became a teacher in North Carolina. In 1955, he accepted his first YMCA position as the youth director in the Milwaukee association. While there, he developed the first Hi-Y and Tri-Hi-Y training for YMCAs, as well as innovative outreach programs. He also served YMCAs in Dayton (Ohio) and Detroit (Mich.). Wilson became the chief executive officer of the YMWCA of Newark (N.J.) in 1970, the first African-American to lead a metropolitan YMCA. Under his leadership, the Y gained solid financial footing while expanding its inner-city child care center and youth programs. In 1978, he joined the national staff as regional associate executive for the Northeast region, and later became the Management Resource Center (MRC) director for the YMCA of Greater New York. In 1989, he was appointed executive vice president of the YMCA Retirement Fund. Wilson was awarded the Brotherhood Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and was inducted into the Sports Halls of Fame at the Harlem (N.Y.) YMCA and West Virginia State College.Portrait photograph of Robert W. Wilson.
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