Wilson Computer Ratings

David L. Wilson (1943-2024)

David's connection to sports

From 1995 until the mid 2010's, David maintained the website for the popular Usenet group rec.sports.football.college. The site contained links to schedules, logos, recruiting information, football pools, computer ratings, historical stats, and more. It was the source for college football information in the early days of the web.

Close to that time (1994-ish, I think), he wrote the first code for what he originally called the "College Football Power Rating System." He described it as "an objective way of rating teams given their won-lost-tie record and the records of their opponents." The name evolved to the College Football Performance Rating System and then to the Wilson Performance Ratings over time, but the purpose was still clear: to describe how impressive a team's season has been based on past performance.

David freely shared the source code for his system on his website and welcomed questions and comments about it. Although he designed it based on college football, I have adapted the system for college basketball and for high school football; other authors have adapted it for other sports as well. (If you're fluent in C, I have made his source code publicly available to preserve it.)

David's own bio

(reproduced in full, unedited, from his UW-Madison website, retrieved in 2019)

I partly retired in June of 2011. I competely retired in July of 2019. I grew up in Milwaukee (Pulaski High School). My degrees are B.S. in "Applied Mathematics and Engineering Physics" from UW-Milwaukee in '65; M.S. in Math from UW-Milwaukee '66; M.S. in Computer Sciences from UW-Madison '67; and "all but dissertation" in Computer Sciences from UW-Madison. I first worked at CAE (then called the Engineering Computing Lab) in '66. From '67 through '69 I served in the Peace Corps in Ankara, Turkey. I taught calculus and programming at METU (Middle East Technical University) there. I started working for the Waisman Center in '74 and have worked the two half time jobs until my retirement.

During the 1970 TAA (Teaching Assistants Association, AFT, AFL-CIO) strike, I decided to just picket rather than strike. I was on their executive committee as the Engineering area representative. I was back in Turkey for the summer of 1970 writing a student records system for METU at the time of the Sterling Hall bombing. Still pro-union, I dropped my membership in the UFAS (United Faculty and Academic Staff, AFT, AFL-CIO) to save money and joined the unaffiliated WUU (Wisconsin University Union) and MASA (Madison Academic Staff Association). Still a socialist, I dropped my membership in the Socialist Party, USA in 1994. On the other hand, I own stock--my first purchase was Computer Science Corp. in 1974. I have been an entrepreneur, selling an early Macintosh spelling checker through a partnership called "Champion Swiftware."

I have never drunk (alcohol that is) and never smoked. Sometime during the 70s, I gave up eating red meat because mammals are relatively intelligent animals. Thus, for me, pork is not the "other white meat." In 1996, I give up caffeine due to an irregular heart beat. Even though I play sheepshead (the German card game schafkopf) regularly, I do not gamble. I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 2008. As a result, I'm exercising more than ever.

My wife, Ann (married '71) has a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from UW. She retired from being the director of Wingra School in Madison (an independent progressive K-8 school) in 1998. She then taught a Children's Literature course at Edgewood College until 2009. We have two daughters, Sonja (born 1978) and Lydia (born 1981). Lydia is a National Merit scholar and has a Ph.D. in Eastern African Historical Archeology from the University of Virginia after graduating Summa Cum Laude from Bryn Mawr. She married Adam Marshall. They made a special trip to Japan for the ceremony. She and Adam have twins born in 2011. She is now an assocaite professor at DePauw University. Sonja was a National Merit finalist and All-State Scholar, finished 2.5 years at Bard College and then graduated from Edgewood College. Sonja married Timothy Tatro in June 2007 at our house. Ann and I are Quakers, even though Ann and I were both Unitarians in our youth.

In Memoriam

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has a memoriam for David.