Ivan Andy "Ike" Williams (April 23, 1902 – April 18, 1988) was an American gridiron football player of the 1920s. He played college football for

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

and later had a brief professional career.

Biography

Williams was born in 1902 in Marshall, Oklahoma, and attended

Little Rock Central High School Little Rock Central High School (LRCHS) is an accredited comprehensive public high school in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States. The school was the site of forced desegregation in 1957 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation by ...

in Arkansas. He played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

with his brother, Orval, and

Doug Wycoff Stephen Douglas Wycoff (September 16, 1903 – October 27, 1981) was an American football running back for the New York Giants, Staten Island Stapletons, and Boston Redskins in the National Football League (NFL), the Newark Bears in the fi ...

—all three entered the

Georgia School of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

(Georgia Tech). Williams played for the

Georgia Tech football The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Football Program represents the Georgia Institute of Technology in the NCAA Division 1 Collegiate Competitors in the sport of American football. The Yellow Jackets college football team competes in the Footbal ...

team during the

one-platoon system The one-platoon system, also known as iron man football, is a platoon system in American football where players play on both offense and defense. It was the result of smaller roster sizes in the early days of the game and rules that limited player ...

era, and was a three-time letterman (1923–1925). Williams was primarily a halfback during his sophomore and junior seasons; he was named to the

1923 College Football All-Southern Team The 1923 College Football All-Southern Team consists of American football players selected to the College Football All-Southern Teams selected by various organizations for the 1923 Southern Conference football season. Vanderbilt won the SoCon cha ...

by John Francis of the ''

Courier Journal The ''Courier Journal'', also known as the ''Louisville Courier Journal'' (and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''), and called ''The Courier-Journal'' between November 8, 1868, and October 29, 2017, is the highest circulation newspape ...

'' of

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. Williams played

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

as a senior; he was also a placekicker. In the 1925 Georgia–Georgia Tech football rivalry game, a third-quarter field goal by Williams was the only scoring in the game, giving Georgia Tech a 3–0 victory. At Georgia Tech, Williams was a member of the

Sigma Alpha Epsilon Sigma Alpha Epsilon (), commonly known as SAE, is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. It was founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national social fraternities today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is t ...

fraternity and the

Delta Sigma Pi Delta Sigma Pi () (officially the International Fraternity of Delta Sigma Pi, Inc.) is a coeducational professional business fraternity and one of the largest in the United States. Delta Sigma Pi was founded on November 7, 1907, at the Schoo ...

honorary fraternity; he was selected vice-president of his sophomore class, president of his junior class, and vice-president of his senior class; he also was a member of the school's

glee club A glee club in the United States is a musical group or choir group, historically of male voices but also of female or mixed voices, which traditionally specializes in the singing of short songs by trios or quartets. In the late 19th century it w ...

. Williams played professional football with the 1926

Newark Bears The Newark Bears were an American minor league professional baseball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They were a member of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and, later, the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball. T ...

in the first American Football League (AFL), with several other former Georgia Tech players including

Jimmy Brewster James David Brewster Jr. (January 9, 1902 – August 20, 1998) was an American gridiron football player. Biography Brewster was born in Newnan, Georgia, in 1902. His father was the sheriff of Coweta County, and his mother, Margaret, was a h ...

, Vaughan Connelly, and Wycoff. He later played for the 1929 Staten Island Stapletons of 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). In his season with the Stapleton, he suffered a season-ending injury against the New York Giants. At the time he registered for

the draft Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

, in February 1942, Williams was living in

Wayne, Michigan Wayne is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 17,593 at the 2010 census. Wayne has a long history of automotive and transportation related manufacturing. Ford Motor Company currently has two plants in Wayn ...

, and was working for

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

. In August 1942, he married Charlotte Bell Swingle of

Urbana, Ohio Urbana is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Ohio, United States, west of Columbus. Urbana was laid out in 1805, and for a time in 1812 was the headquarters of the Northwestern army during the War of 1812. It is the burial place ...

. Williams went on to own and operate a seed company in Urbana, and served as president of the Ohio Seed Association. Williams died in 1988 at his residence in Kettering, Ohio; he was survived by his wife and two daughters.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Ike 1902 births 1988 deaths People from Marshall County, Oklahoma Players of American football from Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock Central High School alumni American football halfbacks American football quarterbacks American football placekickers Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players Newark Bears (AFL) players Staten Island Stapletons players Sigma Alpha Epsilon members

Biography

See also

Notes

References