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Hillsborough High Honors Williams

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By NICK WILLIAMS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 4, 2008

TAMPA - A state title at Hillsborough High in 1959. Years later, he became the first University of South Florida men's basketball coach, compiling a 33-42 record from 1971 to 1974.

Those who played for him and knew him loved his mild temperament.

On Saturday, his legacy as a coach, teacher and friend was immortalized at Hillsborough when the administration officially renamed its renovated gym the Don Williams Athletic Center.

"It's a great honor for Coach Williams and his family," Hillsborough principal William Orr said.

The $3.2 million renovated gym was the last phase of a $23 million overhaul of the main building, Orr said.

The Hillsborough County School Board unanimously approved the idea to rename the gym on Feb. 7. Williams, who would have been 85 last Tuesday, died on Feb. 28 from a neurological disorder.

His widow, Margie Williams, said she wished her husband was alive to see it.

"Thank goodness he got to know it was going to be," she said. "When they came and told him they had started the petition to get the gym renamed, he cried.

"When we went home from the school board meeting and I told him, all he did was grin ... just a big grin from ear to ear."

Wayne Williams (no relation) was the proponent of the idea to rename the gym. In December 2006, he initiated talks with school administrators and alumni.

"It's become a permanent part of this facility," he said.

Accompanied by her children and grandchildren, Margie, 84, unveiled the plaque dedicating the gym.

"It's been a wonderful journey and it's still going," she said.

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