You think of Georgetown Hoya basketball and you think of the coach, John Thompson, and Ewing, Mourning, Iverson and Mutombo. And you think more, and there is Sleepy Floyd, Craig Shelton, Freddie Brown and Mike Sweetney.
Then stop a
nd think even more and your thoughts settle on Reggie Williams. Call Reggie Williams the "forgettable" Hoya great.
As personalities, Patrick Ewing offered that ever-embracing smile, Alonzo Mourning the beat-down toughness, Allen Iverson the homeboy defiance and Dikembe Mutombo the earnest dignity. Williams was just a back-of-the-room quiet and unassuming kid from Baltimore who spoke loudest in big games on the court. Lest we forget, it was none other than Reggie Williams who sparked the Hoyas to their only NCAA basketball national title 25 years ago.
Williams memories abound on the recent news of his selection as men’s head basketball coach at Chesapeake College in Wye Mills on Maryland’s picturesque Eastern Shore.
Williams took a circuitous route to the Skipjacks job, but Chesapeake Athletic Director Frank Szymanski says the school lucked out big time. "Not only has he played at the highest possible level, he has also shown the ability to build winning programs everywhere he has coached," Szymanski said.
As coaching jobs go, Chesapeake is hardly the Big East, but Williams clearly will take it. He seems to be itching to coach. "I viewed this as a great opportunity for me," Williams said in a Chesapeake news release to announce his hiring. "I just want players who love the game, want to work hard and do well in school."
Chesapeake is a community college founded in 1965 as Maryland’s first regional community college to meet the educational and training needs of residents on the upper and middle Eastern Shore.
Before taking the job, Williams had signed on during the summer to coach at Baltimore’s illustrious Towson Catholic High, the school that recently sent Carmelo Anthony and Donte Greene to Syracuse and then the NBA and counts Gene Shue, an all-time great NBA player and coach, as another alumni. But before Williams could get settled in, Towson Catholic closed because of declining enrollment.
Williams got the TC job after leaving Jericho Christian Academy in Landover, MD after three seasons when it closed, too.
Chesapeake was the last man standing, and Szymanski made his pitch, knowing he was getting a true baller who has won at every level.
Growing up and playing ball on the hard streets of East Baltimore in the early 1980s, there was one word for the 6-7 Williams – his nickname "Silk" for his smooth, all-around game. Certainly, John Thompson took notice.
Williams led his Dunbar Poets high school team to a 60-0 record in his junior and senior seasons in a group that included Muggsy Bogues, the late Reggie Lewis and soon-to-be Hoya teammate David Wingate. In 1982-83, USA Today awarded Dunbar the nation’s "mythical" national championship and Williams was named a coveted McDonald’s High School All-American.
Old school Baltimore basketball still debates today whether it is Williams or Allen "Skip" Wise, the first freshman to be named All-ACC while at Clemson in the mid-1970s, who was the city’s greatest basketball prodigy.
At Georgetown, the 1984 championship team belonged rightfully
to Ewing. But the championship game belonged to Williams – an 84-75 victory over the University of Houston and Hakeem Olajuwon. Williams, a freshman, led all scorers with 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds. (Wingate, also of Baltimore, scored 16.).
By the time Williams reached his senior season at Georgetown in 1986-87 season, he had the Hoyas contending again as the leader of a young team – leading the club in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots as a consensus All-Big East and All-America selection. So smitten was Thompson at Williams' numbers and leadership that he dubbed that Hoya team "Reggie and the Miracles."
That big senior season propelled Williams to the No. 4 pick in the 1987 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Clippers. He went on to enjoy 10-year NBA career with the Clippers, Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers and New Jersey Nets, logging a career total of 7,508 points and 2,393 rebounds while averaging 12.5 points per game.
But when you think of all the Hoya greats, the unassuming Williams doesn’t immediately come to mind. Yet, the Georgetown Basketball History Project, which chronicles Hoya basketball history, saluted Williams, now 45, as No. 3 behind Ewing and Floyd on its list of the 100 leading names of Hoya basketball. Among others, Mourning was No. 4, Iverson No. 5, and Wingate No. 11.
In February, Williams and the Hoyas celebrated the 25th anniversary of the 1984 championship team.
Williams’ ultimate legacy might be the "bridge" he was between Baltimore and Washington sports.
Despite the mere 40 miles of separation, sports in two towns could not be farther apart. DC is the nation’s sophisticated capital city; Baltimore remains a blue-blooded port town. Baltimore will call Redskins football soft; Washington scoffs at the antics of the haywire Ravens.
Then stop a
nd think even more and your thoughts settle on Reggie Williams. Call Reggie Williams the "forgettable" Hoya great.As personalities, Patrick Ewing offered that ever-embracing smile, Alonzo Mourning the beat-down toughness, Allen Iverson the homeboy defiance and Dikembe Mutombo the earnest dignity. Williams was just a back-of-the-room quiet and unassuming kid from Baltimore who spoke loudest in big games on the court. Lest we forget, it was none other than Reggie Williams who sparked the Hoyas to their only NCAA basketball national title 25 years ago.
Williams memories abound on the recent news of his selection as men’s head basketball coach at Chesapeake College in Wye Mills on Maryland’s picturesque Eastern Shore.
Williams took a circuitous route to the Skipjacks job, but Chesapeake Athletic Director Frank Szymanski says the school lucked out big time. "Not only has he played at the highest possible level, he has also shown the ability to build winning programs everywhere he has coached," Szymanski said.
As coaching jobs go, Chesapeake is hardly the Big East, but Williams clearly will take it. He seems to be itching to coach. "I viewed this as a great opportunity for me," Williams said in a Chesapeake news release to announce his hiring. "I just want players who love the game, want to work hard and do well in school."
Chesapeake is a community college founded in 1965 as Maryland’s first regional community college to meet the educational and training needs of residents on the upper and middle Eastern Shore.
Before taking the job, Williams had signed on during the summer to coach at Baltimore’s illustrious Towson Catholic High, the school that recently sent Carmelo Anthony and Donte Greene to Syracuse and then the NBA and counts Gene Shue, an all-time great NBA player and coach, as another alumni. But before Williams could get settled in, Towson Catholic closed because of declining enrollment.
Williams got the TC job after leaving Jericho Christian Academy in Landover, MD after three seasons when it closed, too.
Chesapeake was the last man standing, and Szymanski made his pitch, knowing he was getting a true baller who has won at every level.
Growing up and playing ball on the hard streets of East Baltimore in the early 1980s, there was one word for the 6-7 Williams – his nickname "Silk" for his smooth, all-around game. Certainly, John Thompson took notice.
Williams led his Dunbar Poets high school team to a 60-0 record in his junior and senior seasons in a group that included Muggsy Bogues, the late Reggie Lewis and soon-to-be Hoya teammate David Wingate. In 1982-83, USA Today awarded Dunbar the nation’s "mythical" national championship and Williams was named a coveted McDonald’s High School All-American.
Old school Baltimore basketball still debates today whether it is Williams or Allen "Skip" Wise, the first freshman to be named All-ACC while at Clemson in the mid-1970s, who was the city’s greatest basketball prodigy.
At Georgetown, the 1984 championship team belonged rightfully
to Ewing. But the championship game belonged to Williams – an 84-75 victory over the University of Houston and Hakeem Olajuwon. Williams, a freshman, led all scorers with 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds. (Wingate, also of Baltimore, scored 16.).By the time Williams reached his senior season at Georgetown in 1986-87 season, he had the Hoyas contending again as the leader of a young team – leading the club in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots as a consensus All-Big East and All-America selection. So smitten was Thompson at Williams' numbers and leadership that he dubbed that Hoya team "Reggie and the Miracles."
That big senior season propelled Williams to the No. 4 pick in the 1987 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Clippers. He went on to enjoy 10-year NBA career with the Clippers, Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers and New Jersey Nets, logging a career total of 7,508 points and 2,393 rebounds while averaging 12.5 points per game.
But when you think of all the Hoya greats, the unassuming Williams doesn’t immediately come to mind. Yet, the Georgetown Basketball History Project, which chronicles Hoya basketball history, saluted Williams, now 45, as No. 3 behind Ewing and Floyd on its list of the 100 leading names of Hoya basketball. Among others, Mourning was No. 4, Iverson No. 5, and Wingate No. 11.
In February, Williams and the Hoyas celebrated the 25th anniversary of the 1984 championship team.
Williams’ ultimate legacy might be the "bridge" he was between Baltimore and Washington sports.
Despite the mere 40 miles of separation, sports in two towns could not be farther apart. DC is the nation’s sophisticated capital city; Baltimore remains a blue-blooded port town. Baltimore will call Redskins football soft; Washington scoffs at the antics of the haywire Ravens.
The great Reggie Williams eclipsed both worlds.
More: Reggie Williams bio, stats, Georgetown History Project Top 100, Chesapeake College men's basketall
Reggie Williams Photos: hoyabasketball.com
