Remembering Woody Williams

Every time Tim Burroughs saw his old high school basketball coach Woody Williams, he never addressed him as “Coach.”

“I just say Dad. That’s him,” said Burroughs as he briefly broke down. “I’m always going to remember him like that.”

Williams, who died Sunday after a battle with kidney cancer, was a father figure and mentor to hundreds of student athletes at Lake Clifton and Mervo high schools.

Burroughs remembers Williams taking him to the 1976 McCormick Unsung Heroes Award banquet along with Lake Clifton’s Unsung Hero nominee.

“He was showing me things outside of basketball,” said Burroughs, currently City’s girls basketball coach. “He believed in us and we believed in him.”

Williams was Lake Clifton’s athletic director and boys basketball coach from the school’s opening in 1971 until 1987. The Lakers, in just their fourth season (1974-75), claimed the Maryland Scholastic Athletic A Conference and Baltimore City titles.

“We were champions,” said Burroughs, one of two seniors on the 1974-75 Lakers squad.. “It was through his leadership.”

Williams won two more MSA A and city titles at Lake Clifton before departing to the University of Maryland to serve as an administrative assistant under Bob Wade. Wade, who turned Dunbar into a national powerhouse in a stirring decade-long run, left in the fall of 1986 to become the first Afro-American coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Williams first crossed paths with Wade about 20 years earlier at Morgan State University.

“I was a freshman at Morgan and he was going into his junior year and was the captain of the swim team. We used to finish practice and the swim team would still be in the pool,” said Wade, who was among the many players of legendary Morgan State football coach Earl Banks to play in the NFL. “You could stand and look and look through the glass into the pool. I used to marvel at this guy and how he could glide through the water.”

It was Williams, who grew up in Glassboro, New Jersey and captained Morgan’s swim and dive team to several CIAA championships before graduating in 1965. He was inducted into Morgan’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1974.

Williams and Wade, both physical education majors at Morgan, were best friends when Lake Clifton vs. Dunbar became one of the greatest rivalries in Baltimore basketball history.

Their matches were must-see events, with one contest played at the then-Baltimore Civic Center.

“We’d always embrace to show folks that we could go at each other tooth and nail and still be friends,” said Wade, who along with his wife Carolyn, had dinner with Williams and wife Beverly after each meeting. “The tension was so high in the gym and we wanted to diffuse it as much as we could by displaying our mannerism.”

Williams, whose reserved demeanor on the bench was a stark contrast to Wade’s intense and barking style.

Kenny McNeil, a star guard on Williams’ last Lakers team in 1986-87, said Williams would discreetly display his competitive streak.

“He’ll give you a look and you know to tighten up,” said McNeil.

“I called him Mr. Hollywood because he’d sit there quiet, but would rip you apart if you’re not doing your job,” said Kevin McDuffie, a standout forward for Williams in the early 1980s who enjoyed a successful four-year collegiate career at Northeastern. “I love basketball and he helped put that love into it for me.”

Williams’ last game as Lake Clifton coach ended being one of the most memorable in Baltimore basketball history. His undefeated and nationally-ranked Lakers played St. Maria Goretti in the Metro Classic at Civic Center.

Lake Clifton trailed the Baltimore Catholic League champs from Hagerstown by 10 points at halftime. Thomas Jordan, the Lakers’ star 6-foot-9 center, abruptly left the Lakers’ locker room and walked out of the Civic Center.

The area No. 1 Lakers, once down 12 points in the second half, rallied, gaining their final lead with under a minute left in regulation. With three seconds left, Lake Clifton missed the front end of an one-and-one free throw, and Goretti’s Rodney Monroe hit a running 60-foot shot at the buzzer for a 73-72 victory for the Gaels.

The Lakers ended the season 26-1.

“Every time I see a long shot made in a game on television, it flashes back in my mind,” Williams said in a 1993 interview during his first season as Mervo coach.

Williams returned to Baltimore with Wade after a tumultuous three seasons at Maryland, becoming athletic director at Mervo in 1991. He coached the Mustang basketball team for seven seasons (1992-93; 1994 to 2000), reaching the Class 4A state semifinals in 1998.

Wade’s oldest son, Daryl, was Williams’ protege at Mervo.

“Woody was different. He was sharp when it came to basketball, but he wasn’t a rah-rah coach,” said Daryl Wade, who led Mervo to three state semifinal berths after serving as Mustangs junior varsity coach and varsity coach at City. “He didn’t scream or yell, he had looks that he gave his players, but he was stern.”

Daryl Wade, whose sideline demeanor mirrored his legendary father, learned most of his basketball strategy from second father, Williams.

“I sat next to Woody and they (father and Williams) ran the same type of system so I understood it,” said Wade, who led City College to a 27-0 season in 2014, the highlight of a successful two stint run. “I coached like my dad, his demeanor was big…Woody was that parent who didn’t say much, but when they started screaming, you knew you were in trouble.”

“He was very detail oriented and honed in on an opponent’s weakness,” said Bob Wade. “He had a very good mannerism with kids and his team. He might have been low key on the outside, but he was a fierce competitor inside and that gravitated to his kids.”

Williams helped send dozens of players, including Robert Brown (Florida A&M), Arnold Gaines (Wisconsin), Ben Harlee (Northeastern), Marcus Hatten (St. John’s), Lance Hill (Kansas), Eddie Johnson (Xavier) Jordan (Oklahoma State), Ronald Lucas (Kansas State ), Melvin Mathis (Drake), McNeil (Northern Oklahoma), McDuffie, Rodney Wright (Drake), to college. Williams served as a counselor at the prestigious Five Star camps for many years.

Damien Jenifer, a longtime Mount St. Joseph assistant who starred for Williams at Mervo, didn’t realize Williams’ stature in basketball circles until attending the Five Star Camp in Pennsylvania the summer following his sophomore year.

“The only thing he told me was to tell Garfinkel (legendary Five Star camp director Howard Garfinkel) that you’re my guy and tell him I said hello. I caught the Greyhound up there and I was scared the first two days to go up to Garfinkel,” said Jenifer, who led Mervo to its first state semifinal in 1998 and played collegiately at Loyola. “I finally went up to him and told him what Coach said and he was like ‘why didn’t you come up to me the first day and tell me you was Woody’s guy.’ I was like ‘wow, he knows some people.’”

Williams won more than 350 games between Lake Clifton and Mervo, but his legacy will be the student-athletes he mentored in his quiet, yet effective style.

“He was the first person I went to get insight from when I decided to get into coaching,” said Burroughs. “He gave me information about offense, how to manage a game and how to keep your players working hard. I appreciate everything he did and the things he told me that I carry to this day and made me the man I’m today.”

“I think the world of him…He was truly my brother, someone I could confide in and get constructive criticism,” said Bob Wade, his voice trailing off. “I respected him immensely and loved him.”

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