Former Etowah School Supt dies

E.C. "Baldy" Wilson

Former Etowah County educator and school supt. E.C. “Baldy” Wilson died Monday at the age of 93.   A celebration of life will take place from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. this evening in the Glencoe High School gymnasium.

Wilson is a native of Calhoun County and was a multi-sport athlete at Oxford High School. He then served during World War II in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany. He was at the Battle of the Bulge and was wounded and later honored with a Purple Heart.

While a student at JSU He is also known as the person who suggested the new mascot be the Gamecocks at JSU,. And it was he and his teammates that chose the new school colors to be red and white.

After graduating from JSU, Wilson arrived in Glencoe in the late 1940s and stayed until the late 1960s. He served as both head football and basketball coach.

Wilson had become legendary in Glencoe and across the state.

He was inducted into the Alabama High School Athletic Hall of Fame, the Jacksonville State Sports Hall of Fame and the Etowah County Sports Hall of Fame, among others.

The Glencoe High School football stadium was dedicated in 2004, named the E.C. Wilson and Lyle Darnell Stadium and known now simply as the Wilson-Darnell Stadium.

Wilson retired as superintendent of Etowah County Schools. He was appointed and served from 1976 to 1984. He served as interim superintendent from February 1994 to July 1994.