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The Historians Podcast, organized by Bob Cudmore

Thank you for the quick response to our plea for donors to the 2023 Historians Podcast.  Thanks to New York City correspondent Jim Kaplan and to Amsterdam native Tom Urbelis for their generous donations.  We’ve now raised $595 toward the 2023 goal of $7000. Please donate online or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.  NYC attorney and historian Jim Kaplan wrote, “You are a great resource to the people of New York State.  As your New York City correspondent, I am proud to participate and encourage you to continue your efforts to expand your listener base.”

He will understand and say well done

By Bob Cudmore 

   National Football League quarterback Russell Wilson, now with the Denver Broncos, has ancestors who lived in Amsterdam. 

   Russell Wilson’s great grandfather, Harrison Wilson Senior, was born in Falmouth, Kentucky, relocating to Amsterdam in 1910.

   Harrison Senior and his wife Marguerite Ayers Wilson raised eight children.  Marguerite’s grandmother had taught at a one room school in Kentucky.

   Harrison Senior was a plasterer, although racial discrimination kept him out of the union.  He later was the maintenance man for Amsterdam builder and landlord Thomas McGibbon.

   The Wilson children all pursued substantial careers in education, law, health care, industry, media and sports.

   Harrison Senior’s son, Harrison Wilson, Junior, shined shoes and delivered newspapers as a seven-year-old.  His mother told him he looked like his grandfather and that instilled pride in the young man. 

   He was the only African American on Amsterdam High School’s championship basketball team during the 1942-43 season.  Coach Ed Cionek called him the team’s “key player.”

   Harrison Junior and his siblings were childhood friends of the late restaurateur Sam Pepe Junior when both families lived on West Main Street.  Pepe recalled going to YMCA summer camp with Harrison Junior and Wilson’s brother Willis. 

   Pepe said he could always find Harrison Junior in a crowd because of his distinctive walk and a small gray spot on the back of his head.

   Harrison Senior heroically saved the lives of two female pin setters working at a bowling alley in an East Main Street building owned by McGibbon which was destroyed by fire in April 1943. 

   McGibbon died later that year and left a private parking lot in busy downtown Amsterdam to the Wilsons.  The lot was on Federal Street between Church and Chuctanunda streets. 

   A Wilson family member kept watch on the cars from inside a small shed.  They would brush the snow off your car and back it out for you if necessary.

   Harrison Junior played every sport he could in high school, even speed skating.  After graduation in 1943, he entered the U.S. Navy and was tops in his class at basic training.  He was a hospital corpsman.

   When World War II ended, he became a student and basketball star at Kentucky State, then basketball coach at Jackson State in Mississippi.  He taught at Jackson State and earned a doctorate at Indiana University.

   He frequently visited his parents in Amsterdam and provided help to young African Americans who wanted to pursue higher education. 

  He spoke at a 1957 vesper service at St. Paul’s AME Zion Church then on Cedar Street.  The church was torn down when the Amsterdam elderly high rise and town house apartments were built.      

   Marguerite Wilson died in 1960.  Soloist Marilyn Lyons sang “He Will Understand and Say Well Done” at Marguerite’s funeral. 

   Harrison Junior became president of Norfolk State University in Virginia in 1975 and led that historically black institution until his retirement in 1997.

   Harrison, Senior died in 1982 at 94.  Harrison Junior was guest speaker at an Amsterdam High School graduation in the 1990s.

   One of Harrison Junior’s six children, Harrison Wilson III, was a Dartmouth graduate and attorney who almost got into playing professional football with the San Diego Chargers.  Harrison III died from complications from diabetes in 2010.  Harrison Junior passed away in 2019 at age 94.

     NFL quarterback Russell Wilson is the son of Harrison Wilson III, grandson of Harrison Junior and great grandson of Harrison Senior.

   When Russell Wilson was quarterback with the Seattle Seahawks, he led the team to victory in Super Bowl 48 on February 2, 2014.  The Seahawks lost to New England in the 2015 Super Bowl. 

Monday, February 13, 2023-Story behind the story, Amsterdam’s Wilson family

Tuesday, February 14, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-On Valentine’s night in 1887, a bobsled coasting carnival provided spectacle and chaos in Amsterdam

   Being a city of hills, Amsterdam was ideal for the winter sport of bobsledding.  In the late 1800s and early 1900s, winter coasting carnivals brought visitors from miles around to slide down steep city thoroughfares including Market, Northampton, Bell and Locust.

Wednesday, February 15, 2023-From the Archives, June 25, 2021-Episode 376-New York City correspondent Jim Kaplan considers the impact of black separatist leader Marcus Garvey on African independence.

Thursday, February 16, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Snow day in Amsterdam 

Friday, February 17, 2023-Episode 462-Author Mark Dawidziak investigates Edgar Allan Poe’s strange death in Baltimore, and revisits the moments of his storm-tossed life in his book A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe.

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Sunday, February 12, 2023

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