Kris Wilson life and biography

Kristopher "Kris" Wilson (born August 22, 1981 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) is an American football tight end for the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the second round of the 2004 NFL Draft. He played college football at Pittsburgh. Wilson has also been a member of the Philadelphia Eagles.

The emergence of Wilson has been a bonus for the Chargers, and with the loss of free agent tight end Brandon Manumaleuna to the Bears, the door is open for Wilson to gain additional playing time.

While Wilson gives the team a shot in the arm in both the run game and pass protection, he’s demonstrated that he also has good ball skills and the ability to make plays down the field. In fact it was Wilson who scored the Chargers’ first touchdown in last season’s Divisional Playoff game against the Jets.

Wilson is a student of cultural studies and has an extensive international travel background. He’s fluent in Portuguese and has spent a great deal of time traveling in Europe and South America. He’s been to Spain, Brazil and a host of Caribbean Islands. Wilson learned to speak Portuguese on his own and would like to learn Spanish as well. His brother, Avery, teaches Spanish in their native Pennsylvania.

Wilson’s mother, Deborah, is a social worker who took multiple jobs to support the family, while also going back to school and earning two master’s degrees. Traveling has taught Wilson not to take his good fortune for granted, especially when he sees the happiness of people who don’t base success or failure on material possessions.

Understanding the fragility of an NFL career, Wilson has taken steps to prepare for life after football. In 2009 he attended the NFL’s Business Management and Entrepreneurial Program at the Harvard Business School. An economics major at Pitt, Wilson completed an internship with the Legacy Financial Group in Kansas City in 2005 and he has aspirations of returning to school to complete his MBA after his NFL career comes to an end.

In 2008, Wilson created the Kris Wilson Foundation, which focuses on learning, reading and literacy for disadvantaged youth throughout Pennsylvania. Each July, he hosts a foundation weekend in Lancaster that includes a football camp and black-tie gala, and he’s currently in the process of implementing the first phase of a literacy program for neighborhood community centers.

TRANSACTION HISTORY: Second-round pick (61l) by KC, April 24, 2004…signed four-year contract, July 20, 2004… signed three-year contract with Philadelphia, March 26, 2008 …released, Aug. 30, 2008… signed with Chargers, Sept. 1, 2008...re-signed two-year contract, March 6, 2010.

2009: Nov. 8 at NYG first TD catch since 2007...13-yard TD catch for 7-0 lead over NYJ in Divisional Playoffs...led team with two STTs vs. Jets.

2008: Started Jan. 3 Wild Card vs. IND and Jan. 11 Divisional Playoffs at PIT.

2007: Personal-best 34 yards receiving at CHI Sept. 16…nine-yard TD catch vs. TEN Dec. 16.

2006: Started first-career game and first-career TD catch (11 yards) vs. SD Oct. 22…Two-point conversion in Jan. 6 Wild Card at IND.

2005:Season-high three STTs vs. DEN Dec. 4…INA vs. SD Dec. 24 (rt. quad)...placed on “Reserve-Injured” Dec. 30.

2004: INA Wks 1-12 (broken left fibula)...inj. in preseason game at DAL Sept. 2…played first career game vs. DEN Dec. 19.

COLLEGE: Second-team All-Big East as senior…Big East academic selection as soph and junior…43 career starts, including final 42 games…finalist for John Mackey Award as nation’s top TE…finished career with 88 catches for 1,431 yards and 15 TDs…redshirted in 1999…played at Pittsburgh from 1999-03…majored in economics.

PERSONAL: Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania…attended J.P. McCaskey HS in Lancaster, Pa….first-team All-Lancaster Lebanon Section 1 as LB and WR...also league WR of Year… selected to Big 33 Football Classic and Lancaster County All-Star Game…lettered twice in basketball and once in baseball.

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