Joe Wilder

Inducted: 2006

Joe Wilder had a long and distinguished history with the Winnipeg Football Club. He joined the team’s board of directors in 1971 and filled various posts with the organization until the early-1980s.

His first post was as a member of the club’s annual dinner committee in 1971. He fulfilled a wide variety of jobs as a member of the management committee during the following years including secretary (1974-78), vice-president (1979), president (1980-81) and past-president (1982). In 1984, he sat as a member of the football club’s Hall of Fame selection committee.

The Bomber executive spearheaded a number of new initiatives during Wilder’s tenure with the team. That included the hiring of full-time media and marketing directors and overseeing the development of a line of Blue Bomber merchandise. The Bomber executive laid the groundwork for what is now the Blue & Gold Room with the creation of the Blue & Gold Club, which held annual fund-raising dinners at the old Winnipeg Arena. Wilder was named an Honourary Life Member of the Winnipeg Football Club’s board of directors in 1985.