- Date Of Birth: May 30, 1940
- Date Of Death: October 9, 2018
- State: Texas
William Lee (Billy) Wilbanks, of Belton, 78.
Billy was born in Temple TX on May 30, 1940, to DeLay Hiram Wilbanks and Wilma Garner Wilbanks and was the second of three children (Bobby, Billy and Jimmy). His mother’s family (Garner & Heartfield) moved to Bell County in the 1850’s and his father’s family came to Belton in 1913.
Billy graduated from Belton H.S. in 1958 and was a two-time district champion in the 880-yd dash and in tennis. He was Belton’s first all-state basketball player in 1958 as a 5′ 11″ guard averaging 21.6 points per game as a senior, leading Belton to its only state championship. He played in the TX Coaches all-star game, the Texas-Oklahoma all-star game, and later at Texas Tech and Abilene Christian. Billy was elected to the TX H.S. Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012 as a player and contributor.
Billy was valedictorian of his H.S. class and was 4th (and the top ranked male) in a graduating class of over 350 at Abilene Christian in 1963. He received M.A. degrees from Abilene Christian, Sam Houston State and SUNY, Albany and a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from SUNYA in 1975. He taught at Sam Houston State and at Florida International University in Miami (1973-1999) and was the author of 12 books including True Heroines: Women Police Killed in the Line of Duty in the U.S. 1916-1999 and five other “Forgotten Heroes” books (about Dade County FL, early Florida, South Carolina, Alaska, and Bell County TX).
Billy appeared as a crime expert on national television more than 30 times on such topics as murder rates, race & crime, addiction, and police killed. He retired in 1999 and traveled extensively in his RV before and after returning to Belton. Billy was an avid sports fan, sports historian and was instrumental in building the Belton H.S. Athletic Wall of Honor in 2001. He researched the histories of the boys and girls state track meets and created and maintained a website (TexasBasketballChamps.com) on the more than 700 boys and girls high school basketball teams and all-state teams from the 1920’s-2013. Billy was a state tennis champion in the Senior Olympics in FL & TX and state runner-up in 3point shooting at the TX Senior Olympics.
Billy is survived by his brother, Robert Lynn Wilbanks of Denver and by nephews/nieces Robert Lynn Wilbanks, Jr, Julie Wilbanks, and Amanda Duncan; and by grandnephews/nieces Darren and Ryan Wilbanks, Griffin and Caroline Duncan and Danielle Perez; and by his beloved cat.
