Life has been hard for Lodi wrestler Jason Wilson and his family, but that’s not stopping him from pursuing his dreams
By Richard Banas II
News-Sentinel Staff Writer
Memorial Day weekend is usually the traditional start of school vacation for most kids who eagerly anticipate the lazy days of summer. However, for 13-year old Lodi Middle School seventh-grader Jason Wilson, the end of May represents a deadline for reaching a prestigious goal.
Wilson was nominated in February as a potential candidate to travel to Amsterdam, Holland, as a U.S. representative for the People-to-People Sports Ambassador Program.
Wrestling as a 5-foot-8, 210-pound heavyweight for the Lodi Firecats amateur club under the direction of head coach Phil Kendall, Wilson was delighted to learn recently in a letter from the program directors that his nomination had been accepted.
Young men and women from more than 30 countries compete against each other in various athletic events over a two-week period in a non-sanctioned sporting gala which closely resembles a diplomatic version of the Junior Olympics.
A former Lodi News-Sentinel newspaper carrier, Wilson knows he has precious little time remaining until the Memorial Day deadline to raise funds for the non-sponsored trip, which leaves July 21 from the Bay Area.
Dan Wilson, Jason’s father, says that despite dozens of letters and e-mails requesting full or partial sponsorships sent out to local area businesses, corporations and private individuals, so far they have been unable to come up with the estimated $4500 cost of the trip.
“Jason is one of the most intelligent kids I have ever known. He would literally give you the shirt off his back, “Dan Wilson says of his extremely polite and well-mannered son. “He has that big of a heart. He is always trying to help other people.”
Dan Wilson, 45, a former student at Tokay High, used to wrestle for then-coach Larry Bishop in the late 1970s. After working in a warehouse for 25 years, advancing arthritis in his back left him unable to continue. Several years ago, Dan Wilson’s wife and Jason’s mother left the marriage, leaving him to raise the former couple’s eight children alone, which only made matters worse.
Unemployed and disabled, Dan swallowed his pride and turned to welfare and food stamps in an effort to feed his large family. Dan and five of his eight children currently reside in a three-bedroom apartment in a six-unit complex surrounded by security gates built to keep out the drug dealers, prostitutes and unsavory characters from the rough neighborhood that surrounds them.
Dan and his kids subsist entirely on $935 dollars monthly from welfare along with approximately $430 in food stamps. He pays $800 in rent alone, which does not include utilities. It has been a hard life of grinding poverty to which the family has been exposed
“It’s been tough, I won’t lie. But I manage to feed the family and keep them away from the drugs and alcohol, “said Dan Wilson, a student at San Joaquin Delta College currently in the process of earning a degree in warehouse supervision and management. “At least we have a roof over our head. But I can’t afford to send Jason to Holland, even though the learning experience would be great for him.”
Jason Wilson hopes to become a real-life version of Indiana Jones in attaining his lifelong dream of becoming a paleontologist and he believes traveling to Holland would give him valuable insight.
“I think it really would be something that would help me in my desired profession. It would give me confidence and the ability to learn how to travel and interact with people from different countries, “Jason said. “It would be great training for becoming a paleontologist as well as becoming a better wrestler against international competition.”
Undeterred by life’s hardships with the trip’s fiscal deadline looming, Dan and Jason Wilson continue their joint fund-raising efforts in hopes of sending Jason off on the trip of his dreams.
For anyone interested in contributing to Jason Wilson’s trip, a custodial account is set up in his name at Lodi’s Washington Mutual, 2445 W. Kettleman Lane. The account number is 3736322897.
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