Legacy of coach Wilkinson will carry on forever at Cape-Atlantic League track championships

By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Publisher George Wilkinson would sometimes wander to the classroom next to his at Egg Harbor Township High School, interrupt the teacher’s calculus lesson, and complain about the previous night’s meatloaf. Students in Carol Wilkinson’s class would jump to the defense of George’s wife and tell the big oaf to get on out of there and go back to his own classroom. “My students side with me, and his students were very loyal. So if he came over and made a negative comment about my cooking, if he came over and complained about my meatloaf, my kids would defend me,” Carol said with a laugh. “It got a little ridiculous sometimes.” Those are some of the moments Carol Wilkinson misses most since her husband passed away last summer at age 58 after battling cancer. Those memories, however, and countless others just like it, now will live on through the years as the Cape-Atlantic League track and field championships last month were officially renamed in honor of the popular former Eagles track and football coach. Carol and daughter Holly were presented with a commemorative plaque at this year’s championships describing “Coach Wilk” and the immeasurable impact he had on generations of students, parents and coaches throughout his teaching and coaching career that spanned three decades and more than 90 seasons. That came after a heartfelt speech by current EHT boys track coach Ryan Smith, himself a former student-athlete coached by Wilk. Wife Carol, right, and daughter Holly display a plaque in remembrance of former Egg Harbor Township teacher and coach George Wilkinson. Current boys track coach Ryan Smith announced at this year’s Cape-Atlantic League championships that the event would, from this year forward, bear the name of Wilkinson, who passed away last August. (Glory Days Magazine photo/Dave O’Sullivan) “We really wanted to make sure we did something special for him. We even thought about doing it last spring but it just didn’t happen then,” Smith said. “The opportunity arose with the Cape-Atlantic League, which he was so impactful to, not just for EHT but for all the other schools, we thought that was a great way we could honor him. And this is only the beginning. I really feel like there is going to be a lot more honoring Coach Wilk because of the impact he made on EHT student-athletes.” Smith is a great example of just what kind of lasting impact Wilkinson had on EHT athletes. Smith, who grew up near the school, would ride his bike over to watch football practice while his older brother was on the high school team. “I would ride my bike down the street. I was an offensive lineman growing up and I would just sit there and watch him coach offensive line and that’s kind of how our relationship started,” Smith said. “And even as he (stopped coaching football) and the new regime of (Tony) DeRosa came in, it was really cool because even though he wasn’t coaching anymore he was always around. He was always giving pregame speeches or halftime speeches.” Smith, in fact, owes his success as a track coach to Wilkinson. The Eagles won the sectional team championship last year under Smith, who never even thought about coaching track until prodded by the burly old football coach. “He saw me working with the football team and working on sprints and he said, ‘do you want to help me coach the track team?’ I said, ‘really? I’m 5-foot-8 and 240 pounds, what do I know about track?’ And he said he saw my dedication to the kids. He saw something in me. He just always focused on the kids and that’s how I view my career. I just worry about the kids only, and if you can do that you’ll be successful.” Carol recalls another example of how many lives her husband touched. A few days before George passed away, one of his former shot putters stopped by and noticed some loose shingles on the roof of the Wilkinson home. The former athlete refused to fix the few loose shingles. Instead, two months later that former athlete put a whole new roof on the home. “That’s how much those kids loved him. And I could tell you a hundred stories like that,” Carol said. Smith said he was glad EHT was able to rename the event in honor of coach Wilkinson and he knows how much the gesture means to the family. “Coach Wilk was everything to them. Mrs. Wilkinson, they were right next to each other teaching for about 30 years. He would come over and interrupt her with a big joke and Mrs. Wilkinson would have that look on her face,” Smith said. “For them to get along for so long teaching and working together, and their daughter Holly, what a great kid. You can just see her kindness.” “It is (a thrill) because it meant so much for my husband to leave his mark. He coached not only track for so many years, but football. Both of us taught at the high school and it’s been such a big part of our life for 30 years. Our daughter graduated from the school. For him to leave his mark there, he would have been thrilled,” Carol Wilkinson said. “The kids loved him. Everybody loved him. He was so energetic and he loved what he did, and that came through to everyone who knew him.” Carol said that her husband, ever the jokester, probably would have made a comment along the lines of “jeez, what took you guys so long. It’s about time!” “At home he was humble because I had to live with him and I had to keep him down to earth,” Carol said. “But he would have let everybody know that it was well deserved. When he got named Teacher of the Year back in 2004, that’s the kind of response it was, ‘well, you know, it’s been a long time coming. It’s about time.’ He really was very humble though. He was all about the students and I think that came through with the amount of alumni that showed up. And that means a lot.” Smith said he rarely misses an opportunity to tell Carol what a big impact her husband had at the school. “He coached three sports for 30 years and whenever we see Mrs. Wilkinson or Holly we always say ‘thank you for letting him hang out with us,” Smith said. Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays [adsense]