York University

Title: Builder/Coach  
Year: 1970 -
Position: Associate Recreation Coordinator, Sport Clubs Coordinator, Acting Chair School of Kinesiology & Health Science

What started out as a planned one-year job has turned into a lifetime of achievements at York University for Carol Wilson.
 
A high school teacher before moving to Canada, Wilson came to York in 1970 as an instructor of practical courses in the still-young Department of Physical Education & Athletics. She had no intentions of staying for very long but several jobs and nearly 40 years later she is still making a difference in the lives of her students.
 
“It was really fun and I got to create all kinds of new things,” Wilson said about her first years at the school. “I stayed at York for the long term because it became interesting being involved in the development of the University.”
 
Wilson has had her hand in a number of different projects in her time in sport and recreation. She spent 18 years as the head coach of the interuniversity swim team, including four years leading both the men’s and women’s squads. She also taught many practicum classes within the kinesiology program and added new ones over the years, was the assistant recreation director in charge of inter-college tennis and fitness for women and created, developed and managed the sport clubs, including setting up the council and the co-ed activities.
 
The common thread throughout her work in sport and recreation was to provide increased programming for women. Wilson can be described as a role model for women at York; she was the first to coach a men’s varsity team, the first to act as a residence tutor and the first to become Acting Chair and Undergraduate Program Director in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science.
 
“One thing I focused on was to always move towards equality for women within sport and recreation,” she said. “This was a constant for me in all of the programming I did and everything I was involved in. When I was a student there were few sport options for women and I wanted to change that for active and future students.”
 
In addition to the tremendous growth of recreation programs for women on campus, Wilson also played a major role in the creation and development of the XY Club, an alumni association for athletes. Coming from American schools where there is a close bond between active students and alumni – she completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota and a masters at the University of Michigan – Wilson knew the importance of keeping those connections tight and spent many hours working to create those same bonds at York.
 
From the XY Club sprung the York University Sport Hall of Fame. Along with Steve Dranitsaris, now York’s vice-president finance and administration, and the alumni affairs department, Wilson worked to build a place that would honour individuals who significantly contributed to York’s interuniversity sport program and watched it grow to life in 1980.
 
“I always thought it was important for people to be recognized for contributions made and for excellence,” said Wilson. “The way to remember history is to identify and promote the important people.”
 
It is only fitting that in York’s 50^th anniversary year, Wilson is being inducted into the Hall she worked so hard to establish.