Willard Wayne "Twig" Terwilliger, a Michigan-raised three-sport athlete who went on to a half-century-plus playing and coaching career in professional baseball and won two World Series titles on staff with the Minnesota Twins, died Wednesday. He was 95.
Terwilliger died in Weatherford, Texas. He battled dementia and advanced bladder cancer.
Terwilliger was born in Clare, Michigan, and went to Charlotte High School. After a decorated military career, in which he participated in the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II, he went on to play baseball, football and basketball at Western Michigan, then known as Michigan College of Education.