Gerry Wilson
Jerold Joseph Wilson was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and physician. Wilson played three games in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens during the 1956–57 season. His son, Carey Wilson, also played in the NHL, and his grandson Colin was most recently a member of the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL.
Credited with recruiting Swedish hockey stars Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson to the Winnipeg Jets of the World Hockey Association, Wilson is said to be the man most responsible for pioneering the arrival of European hockey players to North America. He later worked as the team doctor for the Jets and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League. He died on March 22, 2011, in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Hockey career
Wilson played three games in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens during the 1956–57 season. He mainly played in the minor leagues and retired in 1960.
Post-playing career
Wilson retired from hockey as a result of injuries to his shoulders and knees. He then enrolled in pre-medical courses at the University of Manitoba, also coaching their hockey team. Specializing in orthopedics, Wilson was given a grant in 1973 to study the subject, along with physical education, at an institute in Stockholm, Sweden. As part of his research, Wilson would study the physiology of hockey players, specifically their heart and lung conditioning. As a result, he was asked by the Winnipeg Jets of the World Hockey Association to watch out for any notable Swedish hockey players. In Stockholm one of Wilson's interns was Anders Hedberg, a hockey player, and he also tested Ulf Nilsson. Wilson informed the Jets of both Hedberg and Nilsson in 1974, and they would join the team that year. Dr Gerry Wilson died peacefully on Tuesday March 22, 2011 at the age of 73.