Rick Wilson is resigning from his position as Bethel-Tate athletic director effective July 31.

Wilson is a 1969 graduate of Bethel-Tate High School and was an outstanding athlete. He lettered in basketball. He began coaching “around 1980” in youth football and basketball. Upon the request of some sports-minded people in the community he began the seventh grade boys basketball program charging $1 for the service. He moved with his charges to the eighth grade level and when they were freshmen he began that program for another dollar.

“The reason I became athletic director is because I have always loved athletics and loved working with kids,” said Wilson. “I did all the things I did because I felt I wanted to give back to the school and the community.”

He is very proud of some of the accomplishments made during his 12-year career at his alma mater. He was quite successful in getting donations to the Tigers’ athletic program. Greg Holman of Holman Motors bought the league banners in the gymnasium and Gloria Noday of McDonald’s Restaurant bought the banners displaying the Tigers’ championships.

Wilson designed the high school gymnasium floor and chose the colors to paint it. He also designed the track and field records board in the gym. He came up with the team logo and he personally paid $500 for it to be painted on the wall of the gym. He and Tim Morrow, of the Bethel-Tate class of 1984, designed the baseball and softball dugouts and he got Sardinia Concrete to donate all the cement used in their construction. He helped Hillary Wagner and her mother, paint the logo on the softball dugout and the Tiger on the football field press box.

He sought and received two donations of $10,000 for advertisements that are on the football scoreboard and Wichard’s and Southside donated funds for the baseball and softball scoreboards to the total of approximately $6,000.

“What I am most proud of is probably starting the high school sports hall of fame with Rick Crawford who put me on to the idea and bringing back all the former athletes to honor them for their past accomplishments. If you have never been to an induction ceremony you have missed a lot of what BT is all about,” he said. “The former athletes’ families get a chance to express themselves to the athlete that is going into the hall. It is very emotional sometimes. Just to see a son or daughter talk about their father or mother and what that person has meant to them over the years. They might not ever get the chance to say those things to them again. I have seen men not be able to talk because they are so humbled, or wives talk about their husbands and how great of a man and father he is. I have received numerous letters saying how much this has meant to them.”

The 2009-10 school year, Wilson believes, was particularly outstanding because, he says, school spirit was high, attendance at the athletic events was noticeably increased, and the success of the teams had been fantastic as the Tigers won championships in golf, boys’ soccer, boys’ basketball, boys’ tennis and the academics team and the baseball team advanced far into the tournament. He pointed out that the five conference crowns won last year are the most achieved in one year in school history.

“I will miss the people and the kids. The greatest thing about this profession is the people you get to work with and the relationships developed through that interaction. It just got to taking so much time and I thought about maybe now getting on to family and home things.” he said.