If not for her love of auctions and her curiosity, author Vanessa Curry may never have learned about one of the most influential people in the history of amateur sports—Kenneth “Tug” Wilson—who just happened to have been born in her hometown of Atwood, Illinois. What she found in a box she purchased from an Atwood estate started Curry on a path of discovery about the remarkable life of a local farm boy whose career took him all over the world. Wilson never forgot his roots, but his historic contributions in promoting the benefits of amateur sports were nearly lost. Honoring his accomplishments through this biography ensures his legacy enriches the lives of generations to come.
Vanessa Curry presents an illuminating biography of Tug Wilson. Curry details how he went from growing up in a small town in Illinois to Northwestern athletic director to becoming the second Big Ten commissioner. We learn how Wilson took the Big Ten into the bowl and television era, and we read the fascinating stories of how he used unprecedented authority as commissioner to enforce conference rules. Curry also details Wilson’s Olympic experience as a competing athlete and the head of the United States Olympic Committee. Her exhaustive research shows why Wilson is an important figure in college athletics and Olympics history.
-ED SHERMAN, author of “This is B1G: How the Big Ten set the standard in college sports.”