Willie Williams (September 12, 1931 – February 27, 2019) was an American sprinter who set the 100 metres world record in 1956 with a new time of 10.1s, one-tenth of a second faster than the record held jointly by 8 men.

Biography

Williams grew up in

Gary, Indiana Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city has been historically dominated by major industrial activity and is home to U.S. Steel's Gary Works, the largest steel mill complex in North America. Gary is located along the ...

, attending Roosevelt High School where he played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and was first in the state in the 100m as a senior. He attended the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

, from which he gained a degree in physical education. He was in the U.S. army in special services when he broke the world record at the International Military Track Meet in

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

in August 1956. He left the army later that year, and became athletics director at

Ogden Park Ogden Park, also known as Ogden Skating Park, was a recreational facility on the near north side of Chicago around the 1860s and 1870s. It was home to the Ogden Skating Club. It was on a piece of land east of where Ontario Street (at that time) T-ed ...

, Chicago, before teaching and coaching sports in his home town. He became head track coach at West Side High School, then in 1982 returned to the University of Illinois to coach track. Although he trained the Saudi Arabian Olympic track team in the summer of 1988 for the

Seoul Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

, he declined the opportunity to move to

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

and stayed with Illinois, becoming associate head coach in 1997 before retiring in 2000. He resided in

Urbana, Illinois Urbana ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. As of the 2010 United States Census, Urbana is the List of municipalities in Illinois, 38th-most pop ...

. Williams died on February 27, 2019, at the age of 87.Illini legend passes away
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References

External links

on FightingIllini.com American male sprinters World record setters in athletics (track and field) Sportspeople from Gary, Indiana 1931 births 2019 deaths Track and field athletes from Indiana University of Illinois alumni African-American male track and field athletes Athletes (track and field) at the 1955 Pan American Games Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States Medalists at the 1955 Pan American Games 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people {{US-sprint-athletics-bio-stub