Reginald Williams (born September 19, 1954) is a former professional

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 is a member of the Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame, the Greater Flint Afro-American Hall of Fame, and 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 ...

. Williams served three years on the Cincinnati City Council.

Early life

Williams was born on September 19, 1954 in

Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city and seat of Genesee County, Michigan, United States. Located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region known as Mid Michigan. At the 2020 census, Flint had a population of 8 ...

. The son of Elijah and Julia Williams, he overcame a hearing disability as a child. Williams was a star athlete and student at Flint Southwestern High School. He played competitive football and also wrestled. As a junior, he played

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 ...

, but switched to

fullback Fullback or Full back may refer to: Sports * A position in various kinds of football, including: ** Full-back (association football), in association football (soccer), a defender playing in a wide position ** Fullback (gridiron football), in Americ ...

his senior year. The recipient of an academic scholarship, Williams was a three-time All-

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

linebacker in football and Ivy League heavyweight wrestling champion in 1975 at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

, graduating in 1976 with an A.B. in psychology. He also took courses there in tai chi and ballet.

NFL career

In 1976, Williams was drafted in the third round by 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 ...

, for whom he played 14 seasons, (including two

Super Bowls 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 ...

, XVI (1981) and XXIII (1988)). Williams recorded 16 interceptions and 23 fumble recoveries, still a franchise record. During his career Williams amassed 62.5 sacks, the second most in the team's history. In his final two seasons with Cincinnati, he was appointed to an open seat on the Cincinnati City Council in 1988 and was elected for a second term in 1989 on the Charter Party ticket. Williams has received numerous honors, including selection to the NFL All-Rookie Team (1976), the Byron "Whizzer" White Award for Humanitarian Service (1985), and the NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year Award (1986). He was also named Co-Sportsman of the Year in 1987 by

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

Post-NFL life

After retiring from the NFL, Williams joined the

World League of American Football NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

as the Vice President/General Manager of the

New York/New Jersey Knights The New York/New Jersey Knights was a franchise in the World League of American Football for the 1991 and 1992 seasons. They played in the North American East division, which they won in the 1991 season. They were coached by Mouse Davis, an archit ...

. He later rejoined the NFL, where he conceived and opened the NFL's first Youth Education Town (YET) in Los Angeles. Williams was hired as director of sports development for Disney on April 19, 1993. In the mid-1990s, he oversaw the creation of

Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex The ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex is a multi-purpose sports complex located in the Walt Disney World Resort, in Bay Lake, Florida, United States, near Orlando. The complex includes nine venues and hosts numerous professional and amateur s ...

, a state-of-the-art multi-sport facility that opened on March 28, 1997 and hosts more than 180 athletic events annually in some 30 sports. By 1998, he had become Vice President of Disney Sports Attractions, where he oversaw a newly created sports and recreation division that merged Walt Disney World Resort Recreation, Water Parks, and Disney Sports Attractions. The latter included Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex, the Walt Disney World Speedway, and Walt Disney World Golf. Williams retired from Disney in November 2007, stepping down to focus on rehabilitating his legs from damage sustained during his playing NFL career. Although he was a starter for 14 seasons, Williams played most of his career on a bad right knee. He has had 24 knee surgeries since his career ended. He had the first surgery in 1979, plus knee replacements as well as multiple infections. In 2008, when he was diagnosed with the bone infection

osteomylitis Osteomyelitis (OM) is an infection of bone. Symptoms may include pain in a specific bone with overlying redness, fever, and weakness. The long bones of the arms and legs are most commonly involved in children e.g. the femur and humerus, while the ...

, he had eight surgeries in five months. His right leg is now 2 5/8 inches shorter than his left one, and he has struggled to avoid having it amputated. Williams uses

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: ''Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternatively ...

to treat the pain and inflammation present in his knee, which he says has allowed him to walk without crutches again. In December 2007 Williams was elected to the

. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws from Dartmouth College in 1990 and is a member of

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved int ...

fraternity. Williams now lives in Sarasota, Florida. Reggie is the author of the book ''Resilient by Nature'', released in September 2020 and published by Post Hill Press.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Reggie 1954 births Living people American football linebackers Charter Party politicians Cincinnati Bengals players Cincinnati City Council members Dartmouth Big Green football players Dartmouth Big Green wrestlers NFL Europe executives Walt Disney Parks and Resorts people College Football Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from New Rochelle, New York Players of American football from Flint, Michigan African-American players of American football Disney executives National Football League replacement players