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Hometown Report: Coach Of Honor

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By JOEY JOHNSTON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 16, 2008

Former Hillsborough High School and University of South Florida basketball coach Don Williams, 84, has been in declining health since breaking his hip nearly five years ago. Never a verbose man, he has lost his ability to talk, but he remains in good spirits at a Zephyrhills nursing home.

But Williams still communicates well.

When his wife, Margie, announced that the renovated Hillsborough gymnasium will soon be renamed the "Don Williams Athletic Center," he reacted in a way that spoke volumes.

He cried.

"Dad understands everything we tell him," said Williams' son, Dane. "This means a lot to him. It means a lot to all of us."

Williams coached the Hillsborough Terriers from 1955 through 1962. His 1959 team won the Class 2A championship in Gainesville and remains the last public-school program from Tampa to capture a state title in boys basketball.

Names of the key Terriers players - Taylor Stokes, John Pellegrino, Mike Copen, Albert Julian and Jim Sumner - might spark memories of a long-ago era. But in recent years, they have meant more than old news to Williams. He has stayed in touch. And invariably, players flock to see him.

Williams rarely raised his voice. He never showed outward emotion. If displeased with the on-court action, he would gently stand up - and his players immediately responded.

In all his years of coaching - from Hillsborough to Millikin University to USF - he received exactly one technical foul (and that was because he accidentally stepped onto the court while instructing a player).

"But everything he said to us had meaning," said former Hillsborough point guard Ralph Lazzara. "I think about him every day. He was a father figure. He taught us things you carry for a lifetime."

When Hillsborough's new gym was being constructed, a former student, Wayne Williams (class of 1958, no relation), got the idea to name the facility in the former coach's honor. On Feb. 7, the Hillsborough County School Board gave its unanimous approval.

"We're still on Cloud Nine," Margie Williams said. "Don has always been a quiet man, quick to smile, quick to give encouragement, always friendly to everyone. And he's still that way. He has a way of drawing people in and making friends.

"To know that so many people wanted to honor him like this, it's overwhelming."

It's enough to make you cry.

Williams, the son of a Methodist minister, wasn't just intent on winning. He insisted on winning the right way. He instituted a Basketball Terrier Creed, a code of ethics for the program, and everyone followed.

"The Hillsborough years were great years," Dane Williams said. "I still remember winning the state title in 1959, getting trampled on by the excited fans and cheerleaders. I think I was the luckiest kid alive. I was the coach's son. More importantly, I was Coach Don Williams' son."

Dane Williams remembers his father, even in the early years of coaching USF's inaugural program (1970-74), still being able to dunk a basketball in pickup games, even though he neared age 50. He recalls the players listening intently and following his direction.

The coach was an upright man, about 6-foot-4, who had the look of a leading man and commanded respect.

When the Don Williams Athletic Center is formally dedicated, it will provide more evidence that the respect has never gone away.

Reporter Joey Johnston can be reached at (813) 259-7353 or jjohnston@tampatrib.com.

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