What a sports career odyssey for Robby Wilson, who first gained notoriety in Southern Arizona as a standout tight end with Dennis Bene’s state championship team at Salpointe in 2013.
Wilson was only a few months removed from celebrating the championship when he started to attend Adams State, a Division II school in Alamosa, Colo. He at first thought he should have been recruited by Division I programs.
A hamstring injury early in his freshman season effectively ended his year and made him believe that football was not for him. Also a standout with the basketball team during his time at Salpointe, he missed playing on the court as much as he yearned to return to Tucson and his family.
He stayed at Adams State and tried to participate in spring practice that season but suffered a back injury.
That made him come home.
Uncertain about his future, and working as a bellboy at La Encantada, Robby eventually had a talk with Pima football coach Jim Monaco, who welcomed him to the Aztecs’ football team in 2016. After only two weeks of practice, Robby walked away believing basketball was more for him.
His academics were a concern for him getting back on the court. He went part-time to Pima to improve his grades, worked his 9-to-5 job at La Encantada, and played basketball for a college prep team at Pima in the 2016-17 school year.
While playing for the prep team at Pima, he caught the eye of assistant Dylan Hildago.
Hildago insisted to Pima coach Brian Peabody to watch Robby’s relentless style around the basketball and his sound fundamentals of rebounding, shooting and passing for a power forward that grew to 6-9 and 220 pounds.
Wilson finally returned to college athletics as a 22-year-old freshman at Pima, four years removed from his stellar football and basketball career at Salpointe.
He was a reserve for Pima’s team that made the national championship game in 2017-18 and became a NJCAA Division II all-region player. He led the Aztecs to two ACCAC Division II titles.
He advanced to Arizona Christian and became an all-conference player there in 2019-20 and 2020-21.
He tried to play professionally overseas but wanted to turn to coaching. Mutual associates between him and Washington coach Tina Langley landed him with the Huskies.
He is in his first year as an assistant video coordinator and works as a scout.
The Huskies play at Arizona on Friday night. Wilson will be with them on the bench with his family watching from the stands.
Listen to the podcast to hear Wilson’s comments about his remarkable sports life.
FOLLOW @JAVIERJMORALES ON TWITTER!
ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator five years ago and is presently a special education teacher at Gallego Fine Arts Intermediate in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
Recommended for you
