Pokes Football: Best of Wyoming – No. 12
LARAMIE -- It's officially "series season."
This summer, with the help of some longtime Wyoming football followers, we will count down the Top 25 homegrown products in program history.
As always, what these guys did in professional football doesn't matter. This is all about production in Laramie. A couple of the guys on this final list may not have been born here, but they grew up in Wyoming and graduated from an in-state high school.
Once we put a bow on these selections, we'll move on to other states like Colorado, Nebraska, Texas, etc. You get the picture:
No. 12 - Tom Wilkinson
Quarterback, 1963-65, Greybull, Wyo.
Résumé in Laramie
Tom Wilkinson, also known as the "Greybull Rifle," led the Cowboys in passing and total offense during his three seasons as the starting quarterback. Though he earned All-Western Athletic Conference honors every year, his best season was his last. Wilkinson threw for 1,313 yards and six touchdowns that fall while leading the team to a 6-4 record. Wyoming won six of its first seven games during the '65 campaign and was ranked as high as 12th in the nation. That included rivalry wins over Air Force, CSU and BYU. The lone loss came at Utah. The Cowboys dropped the final three games that year to fall just short of the postseason. The team captain capped his career with 23 touchdown tosses. Wilkinson was 18-10-2 as a starter and never lost to BYU or CSU. He also played shortstop and pitched for the UW baseball team. He was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in 2020-21. Wilkinson went on to have a long career in the Canadian Football League, winning five Grey Cup championships. He was named an All-Star six times. Wilkinson was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1987.
About Greybull
Featuring a population of less than 2,000 residents, Greybull is a town in Big Horn County in the most northern central part of the state. "City limits" has a total area of 1.83 square miles. Actor Wilford Brimley once called the town home. So did future NFL standout Brett Keisel and former MLB pitcher Bill Wilkinson.
Pokes Football: Best of Wyoming series
* No. 22
* No. 21
* No. 20
* No. 19
* No. 16
* No. 15
(Cody Tucker and Jared Newland both work for Townsquare Media, which owns 7220sports.com. Kevin McKinney has been a color commentator of Cowboy football for five decades. Ryan Thorburn now works for the University of Wyoming in a sports information role after spending decades in the newspaper industry, most recently at the Casper Star-Tribune. Sally Ann Shurmur, the daughter of former UW football coach Fritz Shurmur, is also a veteran of the newspaper industry, working as a journalist, columnist at the CST for 43 years. She currently writes for Cowboy State Daily.)
University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players
Gallery Credit: 7220Sports.com
- University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players
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