Alex Wilson

When athlete Alexander Wilson took home a bronze medal as part of the Canadian 4x400 relay team at the 1928 Summer Olympics it was only the beginning of a successful half-decade career in amateur athletics. It was the same year that he entered the University of Notre Dame and began a string of victories in the quarter-mile and half-mile that left him undefeated in these events at the collegiate level. He also set an indoor record of 49.3 seconds in the 440 yards, as well as several other Canadian national ones. During these four years he also acquired numerous medals at the international level. At the 1930 British Empire Games he captured the 440 yard title as well as silver in the 4x440 yard relay (with Olympians Jimmy Ball, Stan Glover, and non-Olympian Art Scott) and bronze in the 880 yard competition. At the 1932 Summer Olympics he medaled in every event that he entered, taking silver in the 800 metres and bronze in the 400 metres and the 4x400 relay. Shortly thereafter he graduated from Notre Dame and retired from active competition.

Wilson then transformed his passion for athletics into a lifelong career. He quickly secured a coaching position at Loyola University Chicago and spent the next 13 years coaching swimming, basketball, cross-country, and track before being promoted to athletics director in 1945. Five years later he returned to Notre Dame, now as a track coach, and remained there until his 1972 retirement, garnering a 1957 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) cross-country championship title in the process. He was inducted as a member of the Canadian Track (1954) and Helms Athletic Foundation Halls of Fame (1967) and was named NCAA cross country coach of the year in 1972. The Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame is named in his honor.

Personal Bests: 400 – 47.3 (1932); 800 – 1:49.9 (1932).