A senior’s moment: 53-year-old is a home run
Old enough to be his teammates’ dad, John Wilson is having fun in college
 | Slide show |
 | Week in Sports Pictures Pain on the skating rink, flying high on the hardwood, upsets on the football field, and more. more photos |
ALTOONA, Pa. - The pitch lined off John Wilson’s bat like a missile. Impressed by his prowess in the batting cage, Wilson took a step back from the plate and sniffed the lumber.
The most senior of seniors on the Division III Penn State-Altoona baseball team plans to savor every moment of his final collegiate season, even if much of the time will be spent on the bench.
“I smell wood burning,” Wilson shouts after hitting a line drive that elicits howls from players surveying his swing. Hall of Fame outfielder Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox “used to say that, but guys didn’t believe that,” he says.
Wilson is 53. Old enough to be father to the rest of the teens and 20-somethings he calls teammates. Old enough to remember watching games at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, his hometown.
And two decades removed from a life-changing stint in a rehabilitation center to overcome addictions to drugs and alcohol that drove him to suicidal thoughts.
Wilson is believed to be one of the oldest men to play collegiate baseball, though the NCAA doesn’t keep records.
But he’s young enough at heart and in good enough shape to keep up with guys like Tony Petulla, a 22-year-old senior catcher who threw pitches in an indoor batting cage one recent chilly morning.
“The most feared hitter on the team!” Petulla says as he walks behind Wilson, who smiles and nods. Besides an ever-so-slight paunch hidden under a blue sweat shirt, Wilson’s 5-foot-9 frame is fit.
His mouth might be considered major-league ready, running almost nonstop between words of encouragement for teammates and mock self-congratulation that draws hearty laughter.
“You know what they say? Superstar? You heard that song,” he says as he smacks another hit in the cage. His coaches and Petulla let out a cackle.
“Hey, I had it on my phone before all this happened,” Wilson says. “I want you all to know that!”
Baseball has been a constant in Wilson’s life since he was a kid growing up in Pittsburgh’s rough Hill District.
His mother began taking Wilson to games at age 12 at Forbes Field, the former home of the Pirates that was demolished in 1971. Like dozens of other kids fascinated with baseball, Wilson hung around the park hoping to get a glimpse of greats like Willie Stargell and Roberto Clemente.
But it was Manny Mota who really left a mark on Wilson by giving him a bat as he waited by the railing near the dugout. Mota played six seasons with the Pirates, but is best-known for being a pinch-hitting specialist with the Dodgers.
“I would be at the ballpark before the players got there. Waited until they came out, every game. I still do that today,” Wilson says.
It was after high school when he started getting into trouble. He was arrested for marijuana possession at 18 and sentenced to five years probation.
The addictions got worse from there.
“I drank every day. Every day until I passed out,” Wilson says. His marijuana use led to other drugs. “Whatever I could get my hands on,” he says.
Wilson says he used alcohol and drugs to “make me more outgoing, and allow me to overcome my fears.”
But in the end, he hated himself. “Basically, I was at the end of my rope.”
He spent time at a psychiatric institution before checking himself into Gateway Rehabilitation facility in suburban Pittsburgh for a 28-day program in 1986. He moved from there to a halfway house in Williamsburg, then a transitional house in Altoona the following year.
He’s been clean and sober since, “approximately 21 years and so many months,” he says proudly.
It’s in Altoona where he became an addictions counselor. He also continued playing ball, joining the competitive Greater Altoona City Baseball League.
- Discuss Story On Newsvine
-
Rate Story:
LowHigh - Instant Message
MORE FROM OTHER SPORTS |
 Other sports Section Front |
| Add Other sports headlines to your news reader: |
Sponsored links