Tony Wilson (brother of singer Nancy Wilson) began competing as a high jumper while attending high school in Ohio. He entered UT in 1969 and continued competition until his death from a rare strain of meningitis on March 10, 1973. He was the first UT athlete to clear seven feet in the high jump, and he won the 1971 SEC championships with a jump of seven feet one inch. Elected team captain for his senior year, he was well respected both as a person and athlete. He overcame a variety of injuries—knees, back, elbow—and would quote a Muhammad Ali saying, “Soon the wings will be back on the butterfly.”
On October 26, 1973, the Run for Tony Wilson Marathon fund-raiser was held on Tom Black Track, with individuals running and getting sponsors to pay per each lap they ran. The entire track team, the swimming team, faculty, student athletes, students, and administrators—male and female—took part in the event conceived by Minority Affairs staff member Ralph Boston and coordinated by Minority Affairs, the Afro-American Student Liberation Force, and the Athletics Department. The event established a permanent memorial to Wilson to be maintained by the Athletics Department, with interest from the fund going to provide replicas of the large trophy as the Tony Wilson Memorial Award, which is given annually at the on-campus relays to the male and female outstanding athlete in field and running events. A memorial scholarship also bears his name.