Generald Wilson, the retired Navy Petty Officer First Class, will perform the national anthem on Saturday before the Seattle Seahawks host the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Divisional Round at Lumen Field. Wilson has sung at nearly 1,000 major sporting events — World Series games, Stanley Cup Finals, NBA Finals, NCAA championships — and this isn’t the first time he has performed at Lumen Field.
Wilson has performed the anthem prior to multiple Seahawks games, including last season and the year before (often as part of the team’s Salute to Service festivities). The return trip for the franchise’s first home playoff game in five years feels earned.
Who Is Generald Wilson? A Look at the Navy Veteran
Wilson’s path to the nation’s biggest stadiums started in Kinloch, Missouri — a St. Louis suburb of fewer than 300 residents. He grew up poor, but he was leading adult church choirs by age 5.
He joined the Navy in 1989 as a radioman in San Diego and spent the next two decades in service, eventually landing in St. Louis as a recruiter. That’s where everything changed. His singing career took off in the late ’90s when he performed at the Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis, catching the attention of Georgia Frontiere, then-owner of the St. Louis Rams. Two days later, he was singing the anthem at a Rams game.
“She came up to me on a Friday and said, ‘How would you like to sing for the Rams?’ I said, ‘Wow,'” Wilson recalled. “She said, ‘Great, the game is on Sunday.'”
Since retiring from the Navy in 2010, Wilson has worked as a human resources officer at the St. Louis VA Regional Office. The anthem gigs never stopped. He performed during the Kansas City Royals’ back-to-back World Series appearances in 2014 and 2015, at Game 3 of the 2018 NBA Finals, and at the 2016 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship. In 2023, the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame honored him with his own figure, complete with an audio chip of his rendition.
What separates Wilson from the celebrity singers who occasionally fumble through the anthem? He doesn’t embellish.
“You have to sing it like it is written,” Wilson explained.
His approach is straightforward, powerful, and built for crowds that want to sing along. He doesn’t wear in-ear monitors, preferring to hear the stadium respond in real time.
“To hear over 70,000 people singing together in unison on this song? Like, I get jitters. I’m never nervous, but when I hear it, it’s amazing,” Wilson said. “When people listen to or sing the anthem together, you put away your differences for a minute and a half. That’s unity to me.”
The anthem performance will set the stage for a rubber match between NFC West rivals. The 49ers took the Week 1 meeting 17-13 at Lumen Field. The Seahawks returned the favor with a 13-3 road win in Week 18 to clinch the division title and the conference’s top seed.
Now the 49ers arrive in Seattle playing on five days’ rest and without George Kittle, who suffered a season-ending Achilles tear during San Francisco’s Wild Card upset of the Philadelphia Eagles. The Seahawks, meanwhile, are well-rested after their first-round bye and playing in front of a home crowd that hasn’t seen postseason football since a COVID-empty stadium in January 2021. (And the last time it was packed with fans for a playoff game was back in January 7, 2017).
Wilson’s pregame performance kicks off a loaded entertainment lineup. Grammy winner Lil Jon will headline the halftime show. Seattle native Ayron Jones will perform pregame at the Ticketmaster Tailgate, with Lamb of God drummer Art Cruz joining as a special guest.
