Perce Wilson

Percival James Wilson (February 22, 1890 – September 20, 1936), sometimes shown as Perce Wilson, His father, James Wilson, was born in Canada to Irish immigrants. His mother, Anna, was also born in Canada.

Wilson moved to Detroit as a young boy and attended Detroit's Western High School. By 1917, Wilson had become a naturalized United States citizen and was employed in the milk and creamery business in Detroit.

Wilson was rated as "one of the best all-around athletes in Detroit" who also played basketball as a guard for the Detroit Rayls and baseball as a second baseman in the Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League.

In 1920, he played for the Detroit Heralds during the first regular season of the National Football League (then known as the American Professional Football Association). Two weeks later, Wilson appeared in the Heralds' game against the Columbus Panhandles as a substitute at the quarterback position. On November 28, 1920, he played at the left halfback position for the Heralds.

Wilson was one of the first Canadian-born players, and the first Canadian-born quarterback, to play in the NFL. The other three Canadian-born players to play in the NFL during its inaugural 1920 season were Buck MacDonald, a guard, Tommy Hughitt, a halfback, and Jim Bryant, a halfback.

Later life Wilson and his brother, Ernie Wilson, also played basketball for the Detroit Rayls, a team that existed in the late 1910s and early 1920s.