Alfred Hamilton Williams (born November 6, 1968) is a former
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
player. He was a
linebacker
Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...
and
defensive end
Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football.
This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...
in the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
(NFL) for the
Cincinnati Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...
,
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...
and
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...
. His nicknames include "Big Al", "Hot Plate", and "the Condor".
College career
Williams played linebacker at the
University of Colorado at Boulder
The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sys ...
. He was a unanimous
All-America
The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...
n pick in 1990, a consensus All-American in 1989 and the 1990
Butkus Award
The Butkus Award, instituted in 1985 by the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando, is given annually to the top linebackers at the high school, collegiate and professional levels of football. The award, named in honor of College Football Hall of Fame ...
winner.
[ ] Williams was also the Captain of the 1990 Colorado National Championship Team. He ended his career with the
Colorado Buffaloes
The Colorado Buffaloes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Colorado. The university sponsors 17 varsity sports teams. Both the men's and women's teams are called the Buffaloes (Buffs for short) or, rarely, the Golden Buffalo ...
with 263 tackles and 35 sacks.
In 2008, he was included on the
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...
ballot.
Then in 2010, he was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.
Professional career
Williams was selected by the Bengals in the first round (18th pick overall) of the
1991 NFL Draft. He was a part of the
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...
champion Denver Broncos in
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
and
1998. He was selected as an
All-Pro
All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list th ...
defensive end in 1996.
He retired from the game after the 1999 season.
In media
From 2006 to 2019, Williams served as an on-air personality for Denver sports radio station
KKFN
KKFN (104.3 FM, "Denver's Sports Station 104.3 The Fan") is a commercial radio station serving the Denver-Boulder market. Owned and operated by Salt Lake City–based Bonneville International, KKFN airs a sports radio format. The station is ...
. In February 2019, Williams left the station and signed with
iHeartMedia
iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...
, where he began hosting
KOA's new afternoon drive show ''Big Al & JoJo'' beginning September 3, 2019.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Alfred
1968 births
Living people
All-American college football players
American Conference Pro Bowl players
American football defensive ends
American football linebackers
Cincinnati Bengals players
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Colorado Buffaloes football players
Denver Broncos players
People from Houston
San Francisco 49ers players