Luke Willson had to walk away from a promising baseball career in order to play football at its highest level.

The LaSalle native played eight seasons in the National Football League, winning a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks in his rookie season.

A three-time conference all-star for Villanova Secondary School, Willson earned a scholarship to play tight end at Rice University from 2009-12.

In 2008, he played first base and batted cleanup for the Canadian Junior National Baseball team. He signed with the Toronto Blue Jays but ultimately chose football over baseball.

After four solid seasons at Rice, the Seahawks selected the hard-working Canadian in the fifth round of the NFL draft.

He appeared in every game as an NFL rookie and scored his first touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers. In Super Bowl XLVIII, he caught two passes for 17 yards in Seattle’s 43-8 win over the Denver Broncos.

In his second year in the NFL, Willson caught the game-winning touchdown against the Carolina Panthers and he caught three passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns in a win over the Arizona Cardinals.

Willson and the Seahawks returned to the Super Bowl that year, only to lose in a comeback win engineered by Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

After five seasons in Seattle, Willson signed with his boyhood favorite, the Detroit Lions. He later played for the Baltimore Ravens and re-signed with Seattle before retiring in 2020 after eight NFL seasons.

A fan favorite wherever he goes, Willson hosted a popular radio show in Seattle and is now a valued NFL analyst with TSN in Canada. Willson now joins another team as part of the 2024 induction class into the Windsor/Essex County Sports Hall of Fame.