KU coach exudes loyalty

By Bill Mayer     May 20, 2001

Roy Williams’s devotion to his antique golf putter speaks volumes about the man and what makes him tick. Roy used the ancient offset blade to show well in the recent TD Waterhouse Skins Game in Kansas City. He helped provide a lot of loot for charitable causes.

Roy jokingly comments that the putter is the “only thing I’ve been with longer than my wife”, the charming Wanda.

Such relationships are cultured, nurtured and deeply appreciated and cherished by the 50-year-old coach.

You slice off the top of Roy’s head and after “Wanda,” the two kids and “the team” the first word you’ll read probably is “loyalty.”

He learned firsthand the importance of choosing well and staying the course from his late mother. Lallage worked herself to the bone to provide him and his sister, Frances, with occasional niceties such as a dime or two just to get a soda with the other kids.

Don’t laugh. That was no small feat for a struggling family. I can recall when all it took was a nickel for a Coke and a dime to go to the Home Theater in Kansas City and we flat didn’t have either lots of times.

That tendency to “dance with who brung ya” is the main reason Roy’s still at Kansas rather than at North Carolina. He is wedded to dependables such as Wanda, his kids, his golf clubs, his players and friends, and there’s a particular story that capsulizes the kind of allegiance Roy radiates.

When Williams took over as KU coach for 1988-89, he was an unknown commodity, somebody who’d never held a head job. Endorsement high-rollers weren’t falling down to sign him into the “shoe contract” circuit that has become so enormous. A friend who worked at Converse worked Roy a deal and the struggling coach was deeply grateful.

By 1991, Kansas under Roy beat such notables as Indiana, Arkansas and North Carolina en route to the national title game. Corporate heads were turning. Offers were made by “big name” outfits but Williams turned them all down. Reason: One guy had shown enough faith to sign him when he wasn’t big-time and he vowed loyalty to him and his company.

Well, Converse which is now fading from the scene downsized and Roy’s buddy was let out. All bets off. NOW he could talk to the sugar-daddies. But again, typical Roy Williams with his loyalty to “the company.”

Before he wound up a deal for himself with Nike, the current benefactor of record, Roy stipulated that the firm provide not only his basketeers with shoes, uniforms and such but that it do likewise for all the other sports programs at KU, male and female. Pretty thoughtful, huh? But it went beyond that.

Roy also arranged for all the other coaches to draw down some financial largesse; one year a coach I won’t name got a $2,500 check. He was never alone. Roy’s devotion has done much for many on the KU staff for some time now.

Then about a year ago, Williams was painfully pondering whether he was “stayin'” at Kansas or “goin’ home” to North Carolina. More local people than not were expecting him to leave. Those, however, who knew him personally and were familiar with scenarios such as the Converse-Nike deal and how much he really cares about young men he brings here . . . in the final days, they were declaring it was 60-40 or better he’d remain because of how close he’d become with his recruits and the people he and Wanda enjoyed so much here.

For the final roll call, vintage Williams. Family, putter, players and all.

What a blessing for KU, its athletics structure, the community and the state. With all the other 2001 challenges, difficulties and distractions, if any school has anyone who can be called The Franchise, Kansas has it in Williams, archaic putter and all.

He, too, is built the old-fashioned way.

I’m sure you’ve seen the math: Baseballer Alex Rodriquez got a $25-million-a-year deal for 10 seasons (and his team isn’t even close to .500).

That’s $154,321 per game even if he sits, or $17,147 per inning unless it goes beyond nine and the poor kid’s take gets watered down.

Then there’s that $62 million deal for Virginia Tech quarterback Michael Vick, with Atlanta.

Will Vick ever come close to the career of Joe Namath, who was the most shocking signee of his era?

The sports world was rocked on its heels in 1965 when the New York Jets signed Alabama star Namath to an outlandish $427,000 contract (about three games for Rodriquez).

More buzz when seven days later, the same Jets signed Heisman Trophy winner John Huarte to a $200,000 deal, giving the Jets more than a $625,000 quarterback bill.

Anyone recall how fans were flipping like fresh tuna on a hot metal deck when 23 days after signing with New York, Namath entered Lenox Hill Hospital for surgery to repair ligament and cartilage damage?

Must’ve worked. Joe was named AFL Rookie of the Year with a 164-340 completion mark, 2,220 yards, 17 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.

Then, of course, there was that little matter of Super Bowl III where Namath predicted a Jets victory and led them past Baltimore 16-7.

Think Vick, at any salary, will guide Atlanta to a Super Bowl title in four seasons?

Bill Mayer can be reached at 832-7185 on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons.

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