Francis Marion University athletic officials recently announced that former basketball players Kim Slawson Hawkins and Bob Wilson, both of whom also returned to coach at the university, are the newest inductees into the FMU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011.
Both Hawkins and Wilson are residents of Florence and employed by Florence School District One; Hawkins at Lester Elementary School and Wilson at Wilson High School.
Wilson, a native of Louisville, Ky., transferred to Francis Marion from Western Kentucky University in 1978. He played two seasons for the Patriots, from 1978 to 1980, and earned a B.A. degree in history in 1982 and a master’s degree in education in 1991.
Married with two children, Wilson has taught and coached at both West Florence and Wilson high schools. In four seasons at Wilson, he guided the Tigers to a 76-31 mark and the 2007 AAA state championship. In some capacity, he coached hoops in the Florence area for 29 seasons from 1980 to 2009.
During his playing career at Francis Marion, Wilson appeared in 58 career games and averaged 15.2 points and 5.0 rebounds per game while helping the Patriots to a combined 42-19 record. He ended his career owning the then Patriot men’s records for free throw accuracy – both single-season (89.3%) and career (86.4%). He also connected on 53.6 percent of his field goal attempts and tallied 85 assists. Despite only playing two seasons, he still stands 22nd on the career scoring list with 880 points.
He scored a career-high 33 points during a 1979 win over Coastal Carolina. That same year, he earned the Francis Marion Coaches’ Award and was voted the “Best Shooter” by coaches in NAIA District Six.
He co-captained the 1979-80 Patriot squad and helped that team record a best-in-school-history-to-that-date 24-7 mark by averaging 13.7 ppg and sinking 100 of 112 free throws. Following his playing career, he was later named to the FMU All-Decade Team for the 1970s.
He later returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach on the staff of Lewis Hill. During his eight seasons on the Patriot bench, Francis Marion posted a 143-100 mark, captured the 1991 District Six title, and made the program’s only appearance in the NAIA National Tournament (1991).
