Coach Tom Wilson
Tom Wilson was an extremely successful coach at Glen Rock High School in multiple sports over multiple decades; his soccer teams won five consecutive Group, Sectional Championships and his baseball teams won three consecutive Group, North Jersey Championships and one Group, State Championship.
Tom Wilson graduated from Glen Rock High School in 1976, after being a leading member of the school’s soccer and baseball teams. He returned to Glen Rock in the 1980s as a Physical Education teacher and as a coach for the soccer, wrestling, basketball, baseball and track & field programs.
Tom was the Head Coach of the boys soccer program from 1983 through 1999. The 1987 through 1991 teams won five consecutive Group, Sectional Championships. The 1987 Team won the Group 1, Sectional Championship before losing to the ultimate State Co-Champion in the Group 1, North Jersey Championship. It was also the first Group 1 team to reach the championship game of the All Group, Bergen County Tournament. It defeated the much larger Englewood, Northern Highlands and Ridgewood (3-1) before losing to Don Bosco in the championship final. It was also the first boys soccer team to win 20 games, finishing the season with a 20-3-2 record (and a 12-0-2 league record). At the end of that season, Tom shared the All-Suburban Coach of the Year Award (by The Ridgewood News).
Despite most of the 1987 Team graduating, the 1988 Team won the Group 2, Sectional Championship by defeating River Dell 4-0 and the 1989 Team won the Group 2, Sectional Championship by defeating Harrison 2-1 (in a 4-2 penalty kick shootout).
Despite losing most of the leaders of the 1988 and 1989 teams, the 1990 Team continued Glen Rock’s streak of winning Sectional Championships, defeating Midland Park 3-2 to win the Group 1, Sectional Championship. It also reached the Bergen County Semifinals. The Sectional Championship victory was also Tom’s 100th victory as Head Coach of the soccer team. The 1990 Team also topped The Record’s season ending Group 1 & 2 poll.
The 1991 Team also reached the Bergen County Semifinals and then won the team’s fifth consecutive Sectional Championship, defeating Waldwick by a score of 3-0 to win the Group 1, Sectional Championship. It then defeated Brearley Regional by a score of 3-2, with the winning goal coming in the closing minutes of the game, to win the Group 1, North Jersey Championship. Unfortunately, it then lost to Montgomery by a score of 1-0 in the Group 1, State Championship Game.
By winning a Group, North Jersey Championship, the 1991 Team coached by Tom is one of the three boys soccer teams to win that title (1968, 1991 and 2018). Its final record was 18-2-1.
At the end of that season, The Ridgewood News named Tom All-Suburban Coach of the Year.
Tom had equally significant success with the school’s baseball teams.
Tom was Head Coach of the varsity baseball team from 1985 through 1992, then was Head Coach of the freshman baseball team for three years, and then returned as Head Coach of the varsity from 1996 through 2004.
During Tom’s second stint as Head Coach, he coached the following five extremely successful baseball teams. The 1996 Team reached the Group 2, Sectional Final; the 1997 Team reached the Group 1, State Championship (before losing to Riverside); and the 1998 Team reached the Group 2, State Championship (before losing to Audubon); the 1999 Team won the school’s third consecutive Group North Jersey Championship and then won the school’s first Group State Championship (defeating Riverside to win the Group 1, State Championship); and the 2000 Team reached the Group 1, Sectional Final.
The 1999 Baseball Team was Glen Rock High School’s most successful baseball team and was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The Ridgewood News named Tom Co-Coach of the Year in 1997 and Coach of the Year in 1998 and 1999. Those five teams had a combined record of 78-27.
Tom continued to support Glen Rock athletics in many ways, including as a Physical Education teacher, as a coach and as the Manager of the Glen Rock Swimming Pool, before recently retiring.