Carol William Wilson was born on June 5, 1892 in Winnipeg.
As a young man, Wilson started playing hockey in the arenas and frozen ice surfaces of the city. This included playing in the church leagues of the city where he quickly excelled.
In one of the first stories about Wilson, it was not about his hockey skills but his abilities in lacrosse. The Winnipeg Tribune wrote in June 1908,
“For the Mulveys, Cully Wilson was the particular star and was instrumental in the getting of all the goals.”
When he turned 18, Wilson began to play hockey for the Winnipeg Falcons, recording five points in four games. He also played for the Winnipeg Monarchs that season, 1910-11. In his one game with the Monarchs that year, he had two goals.
The following season, Wilson played seven games and recorded 12 goals and four assists. He was quickly establishing himself as a highly gifted player in the Winnipeg area. He was considered the best player on the team by the local media.
It didn’t take long for teams out east to see his talent and in 1912-13, he made the move to the National Hockey Association when he signed with the Toronto Blueshirts.
The Toronto Star wrote,
“The Monarchs have lost Cully Wilson, the best of the forwards, to the Toronto professional team.”
In his first season with Toronto, he had 12 points in 19 games.
Wilson remained with Toronto the next season, recording 13 points in 20 games. The team finished at the top of the league, tied with the Montreal Canadiens. In a two-game series with Montreal to determine who would compete for the Stanley Cup against the Victoria Aristocrats, Toronto won six goals to two. In the first game, the Blueshirts were held scoreless, but in the second game Toronto won 6-0 to take the series. In those two games, Wilson had no points.
Going up against the Victoria Aristocrats of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, a five-game series was played at Arena Gardens in Toronto.
Wilson played the first game but was held scoreless as Toronto won 5-2. In the second game, Wilson recorded two goals in a 6-5 victory for the Blueshirts. In the third game, Scotty Davidson substituted for Wilson as Toronto won 2-1 to capture the Stanley Cup, the first of Wilson’s career.
The Toronto Star wrote of his play,
“Wilson roamed around like something lost at times but when that puck was down on Vic nets he was slamming around like something possessed.”
Wilson remained with the Blueshirts for another season, recording 27 points in 20 games in 1914-15.
In 1916-17, Wilson went west to play for the Seattle Metropolitans of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. In his first season with the team, he had 17 points in 18 games. That same year he took part in a game with the PCHA All-Stars, where he recorded eight goals in one game.
The team finished at the top of the standings in the league, and earned the right to compete for the Stanley Cup against the Montreal Canadiens. In the best-of-five final in Seattle, the first to be played in the United States, Montreal won the first game 8-4. At that point, Seattle took over, winning 6-1 in the second game, 4-1 in the third and 9-1 to win the Stanley Cup.
In the effort to capture his second Stanley Cup, Wilson recorded one goal and three assists.
Wilson remained with Seattle for another two seasons. In 1917-18, he recorded 14 points in 17 games. The following season, he recorded 16 points in 18 games. In the Stanley Cup Final against Montreal that year, he had four points in five games but didn’t win the Stanley Cup for a third time as the series was cancelled due to the outbreak of the Spanish Flu.
Despite being five-foot-eight inches, he played an aggressive style of hockey and was known to give as good as he got on the ice. This led him to receiving more than a few slashes to the face during his career.
The Regina Leader-Post wrote,
“Cully is a big little man. He weighs only 160 pounds, has short legs and a big body. Those short legs of his look like an electric fan when he gets going, and because of his strong body he has no fear of charging into heavy defence men of the opposing side.”
This also got him into trouble sometimes. In a game against the Vancouver Millionaires during the 1919 season, Wilson was fighting for the puck against Millionaires centre Mickey Mackay. In the scuffle, he slashed MacKay over the mouth, fracturing his jaw. MacKay missed the rest of the season.
The Vancouver Sun wrote,
“Cully Wilson was first suspended for the season by the league president. The suspension was later changed to a fine of $50, not because the league head suddenly realized the row that was stirred up but principally because the Millionaires, with Mickey Mackay, foremost almost begged him not to deprive the Seattle club of Wilson’s services at such a critical point.”
After the season ended, PCHA chief disciplinarian Frank Patrick banned Wilson from the league. As for MacKay, he contemplated leaving hockey but remained in the professional ranks until 1930. During that time, he won two Stanley Cups. In 1952, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
In 1919, he signed with the Toronto St. Patricks in the NHL and moved back east. In his first season in the NHL, 1919-20, he had 26 points in 23 games. The team finished in third place in the league that year. Wilson’s 26 points was good for eighth in the league and third on the St. Patricks. He also led the team with 86 penalty minutes.
The next season, he played eight games with the St. Patricks, recording five points. He was then loaned to the Montreal Canadiens on Jan. 21, 1921 and finished out the season with another seven points in 11 games.
In 1921-22, he played 23 games with the Hamilton Tigers, recording 16 points and finishing fifth in team scoring. He remained with the team the next season and improved on his point total with 21 points in 23 games. His point total was good for ninth in league scoring and second on the team.
After that season with the Tigers, he went west to play for the Calgary Tigers of the Western Canada Hockey League. He continued to be a reliable player with his new team and in the new league.
Around this time, he was playing the Regina Capitals and came across Dick Irvin. During a confrontation, he head-butted Irvin in the head. Irvin paid him back by skating over to the players’ bench and cracked him over the head with his stick.
In 1923-24, he had 23 points in 30 games with the Tigers. He addition helped the Tigers finish first in the league and his point total was eighth best in the league. Calgary defeated Regina to win the WCHL title. The team then went on to defeat Vancouver two-games-to-one in the WCHL-PCHA Final.
The team next went on to play the Montreal Canadiens for the Stanley Cup. At this point, the team was outmatched, losing 6-1 in the first game and 3-0 in the second game. Through seven games in the playoffs that year, Wilson had four points.
Wilson never again reached the Stanley Cup Final.
By this point, Wilson had received at least 80 stitches to his face from his rough play on the ice through his career.
Over the next two seasons, Wilson had 35 points in 58 games for the Tigers before he returned to the NHL with the Chicago Black Hawks in 1926-27. That season, despite being nearly 20 years into his professional career, he had 12 points in 39 games with Chicago. In one of his last games with Chicago, he battled a bad cold at the end of the season. The Ottawa Citizen wrote,
“The little blonde pepper pot is suffering from a bad cold.”
That proved to be his final season in the NHL.
At the end of his career, it was said that Wilson was the most stitched up player in hockey history. The Regina Leader-Post wrote of him,
“The reason for all those stitches is his method of playing. When hockey sticks are flying wildly, he is in the midst of it, and any fellow who mixes like that in the game is bound to get numerous cracks on the head. He’ll trade a new stitch in his head any time for a goal.”
In 1928-29, he joined the St. Paul Saints of the American Hockey Association, where he remained for three seasons. He had 30 points in 116 games.
After some time with the San Francisco Tigers in 1930-31, he played with Duluth for 24 games earning 16 points that same year.
His final professional season was with Kansas City in the AHA, picking up three points in 34 games.
Thus ended his professional career.
In his 342 games in the NHA, PCHA, WCHL and NHL he had 264 points.
Soon after his career ended, Wilson went back to the ice but not as a player. Now, the man who was one of the most feared individuals on the ice, was a referee. The Victoria Times Colonist reported in November 1932,
“At one time having the reputation of being one of hockey’s bad men, Cully Wilson, who donned hockey togs in the NHL, Pacific Coast and Western Hockey Leagues, is now holding down a job as a referee in the Seattle amateur league. Not nearly as bad as he was painted, Wilson was a smart winger. Although not particularly big, Wilson could take care of himself in any kind of going and if opponents were included to be rough, it was all right with him.”
In November 1937, Wilson made his way back to the ice as a player for an exhibition game in Vancouver. The exhibition game was organized by Cyclone Taylor. Joining Wilson on the team was his one-time rival and on-ice enemy Mickey MacKay. It was two decades earlier that Wilson was expelled from the PCHA after breaking MacKay’s jaw.
Wilson died on July 7, 1962 in Seattle. Despite being one of the great players of his era, no news of his death was reported in the media.
In 2015, he was inducted into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame.
