CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Curtis Wilson, whose photography was integral to The Post's award-winning sports coverage, died on Feb. 22.

Curtis Wilson, whose photography was integral to The Post’s award-winning sports coverage died Feb. 22 from complications of sickle cell disease. He was 63.

Mr. Wilson was a utility sales manager for Cyient North America, but photography was his favorite hustle, and he excelled at sports, where he captured images from high school games to the Carolina Panthers and Charlotte Hornets.

Mr. Wilson was in the process of moving to Atlanta, where his daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren live. Photography was on the agenda as well – he planned to continue shooting sports there and in Charlotte.

“He loved his family, loved to travel,” his wife Dee Dee said. “He loved going to games loved golf – played golf almost every day with his golf friends. We were just getting ready for  our next stage of life – retirement, moving to be near the grandchildren. He was a great husband, a great father.”

Mr. Wilson, a New York native, was a graduate of the University of Georgia, where he earned a degree in economics, and a big Bulldogs football fan. A highlight of the 2021 season – his final one on the sidelines – was photographing the Georgia-Clemson game at Bank of America Stadium to kick off the Bulldogs’ national championship campaign. Covering Super Bowl 50 between the Panthers and Denver Broncos, however, was a once-in-a-lifetime assignment.

“He would always remember when he went to California for the Super Bowl,” Dee Dee Wilson said. “He talked about that forever because he was right there in the mix of it.”

Mr. Wilson’s interest in photography was sparked as a college student, where he studied it as part of his curriculum. He jumped into photojournalism after reconnecting with the medium after following his daughter’s performances with BB Dance Productions. He turned that hobby into a decade-long relationship with The Post, which led to opportunities with outlets like USA Today.

“He took [photography] in school, I think, as an elective,” Dee Dee Wilson said, “but he really got back into it when our daughter was in competition dance. When we would go to the dance competitions, he’d take pictures, and then he began to sell them to the parents, they all wanted to buy them. That’s what started his photography spark. Dance was just like sport because it was action.”

Mr. Wilson was reserved during assignment, which he said allowed him to focus on the task at hand. Away from the field or court, though, he talked at length about passions from golf to photography with anyone willing to listen.

“He absolutely loved sports,” Dee Dee Wilson said. “Loved to play golf – rain, cold, it could be hot – he loved golf. He wasn’t really outgoing, but I always say he loved to talk. He wasn’t a person that went out to do a lot of things except for golf, but when he got you in a conversation, he’d talk forever.”

Graveside service will be held March 4 at 2 pm. at Gethsemane Cemetery and Memorial Gardens, 1504 W. Sugar Creek Road.

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