Notoriously violent professional hockey player who became Seattle’s first hockey “bad boy;” Carol W. Wilson was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. “Cully,” as he liked to be called, began his remarkable twenty-two year hockey career in 1910 with the Winnipeg Falcons at the age of eighteen. In 1914, the right-winger helped his NHA team, the Toronto Blueshirts, win the Stanley Cup. By the time Wilson came to Seattle in 1915 to play for the newly franchised Metropolitans, he had already gained a reputation for being a “loose cannon.”

In his final season with the Blueshirts, the aggressive forward scored 22 goals and led the league with 138 penalty minutes – in just twenty games! He not only was the first in Seattle (and PCHA) hockey history to take a penalty, but was also the first to be ejected from a game – both of which occurred in the very first game of the season. Even with a leg injury that kept him out of nine games during the 1916-17 season, the PCHA All-Star player still managed to lead the Mets with 58 penalty minutes. Wilson did come back healthy enough later that year, however, to help the Seattle Mets win the Stanley Cup. During the following season opener, a hot-headed Wilson beat Smoky Harris of Vancouver unconscious and was warned to tone it down or risk possible suspension. For that entire season and the next, Seattle and Vancouver clashed in a number of brawl-filled games. An intentional stick to the face left Wilson with a broken nose, which made him even rowdier than ever upon his return.

On February 26, 1919, Wilson cross-checked Mickey MacKay in the face, which broke MacKay’s jaw and ended his season. Wilson was ejected from the game and suspended for the rest of the season, but was reinstated with a $50 fine when his teammates refused to play without him. They went on to play for the Stanley Cup again in 1919, and Wilson scored what would have been the Cup-winning goal, but the goal judge ruled that the period had ended prior to the puck crossing the goal line. They ended the series tied with Montreal because game five was cancelled due to a flu epidemic. After the Stanley Cup, Wilson was signed as a free agent by the Toronto St. Pats, who later loaned him to the Montreal Canadiens. Feeling slighted, Wilson refused to report when it was time to go back to the St. Pats, once again causing his own suspension for the rest of the season. He retired in 1932 at the age of forty.