Feb. 16, 2007

Sidney B. Williams Jr., a native of racially-charged Little Rock, Ark., played his own small part in defeating Southern segregationist ideology during the 1950's by becoming the first African-American starting quarterback in the Big Ten Conference. He recovered from a disappointing start to his athletic career at Wisconsin to make history and lead the Badgers for two and a half seasons.

Williams was born and raised in Little Rock, graduating from Dunbar High School in 1954.  At Dunbar he excelled in football, basketball, and track, earning All-State honors on both the gridiron and the hardwood.  After his stellar high school career, Williams reportedly received scholarships offers from more than 15 colleges. In the end he chose to attend Wisconsin for its top-rated engineering program. Ironically, it was the athletic director at Little Rock's Central High School, (a school which would soon be thrust into the national spotlight of school desegregation), who first counseled Williams to apply to Wisconsin. 

"One of the main reasons I chose the University of Wisconsin was they had a combined course in engineering and law, and I knew I was very interested in that," said Williams.

Once in Madison, however, his trailblazing career was nearly derailed before it began.  Williams suffered through a mediocre season on the freshman football team in 1954, and was not initially invited to varsity practice in 1955. Determined to get another chance, he arrived on campus before his sophomore year began and convinced the UW football coaches to give him another try.

"The most challenging thing for me at that time was not knowing what position I would play other than quarterback," said Williams. "I had always played quarterback. I made up my mind that one way or another I was going to make this football team."

Williams was a late addition to the quarterback position in 1956, but the move paid dividends for the Badgers almost immediately.

He made the roster in 1955 as a substitute but saw no game action.  The following season he found a niche as a hard-hitting safety in the defensive backfield.  In the days before the wholesale adoption of the two-platoon system, however, Williams saw limited action because he had trouble finding a suitable offensive position.

Wisconsin stumbled to a 1-5-1 record at the start of the 1956 season, and UW head coach Milt Bruhn struggled to find an effective leader for his offense.  Disappointed with his choice of quarterbacks, Bruhn installed Williams, who had previously played only 63 minutes, at the helm late in the season.

"At the time our team was doing so poorly Coach Bruhn decided he couldn't do any worse and gave me a shot to play quarterback," said Williams.

Equipped with only a handful of the team's plays, the new quarterback led unheralded Wisconsin to 13-13 ties against Illinois and heavily-favored Minnesota in the team's last two games. The rookie signal-caller scored the game-tying touchdowns in each contest.

Having solved Wisconsin's quarterback problems, Williams returned to lead the team for two more seasons. The Badgers rebounded from their poor 1956 season to post a combined 13-4-1 record under Williams during his junior and senior year. Directing UW's option attack, Williams was equally adept at running or passing the ball. In a victory at Purdue his junior year, Williams romped for a 73-yard touchdown sprint - a run he calls his most memorable experience as a football player a Wisconsin.

The 6-2, 185-pound athlete helped lead UW to a 7-1-1 mark as a senior, including a season-opening 20-0 victory over Miami (Fla.) in the Orange Bowl.  That season, the Williams-led Badgers lost only to the conference and Rose Bowl champion Iowa (20-9). For his career, he completed 50 percent of his passes for 997 yards and six touchdowns. He also gained more than 300 yards on the ground, and, on defense, intercepted two passes.

Three days before the Badgers routed Marquette, 60-6, on Sept. 28, 1957, President Dwight Eisenhower deployed 1,000 troops to Williams' hometown of Little Rock to enforce the desegregation of Central High School.  In the midst of the turmoil, UW's quarterback sent an encouraging letter to the Little Rock Nine, many of whom had attended Williams' alma mater, Dunbar High School, supporting them in their efforts at integration.

After the end of this trailblazing college career, Williams left campus in 1958 for two years of professional football - one year with the National Football League and one season in the Canadian Football League.  Hampered by injuries during his brief professional career, however, he returned to Madison and graduated with a degree in chemical engineering.  A strong student, he received the Ivan Williamson Scholastic Award, given annually to the football player exemplifying high standards of academic achievement and sportsmanship.

Upon leaving Wisconsin, he embarked on a highly successful business career.  He received a law degree from George Washington in 1967 and was, for many years, a highly-respected patent lawyer for the UpJohn Company, where he was appointed Executive Director of Trademarks and Domestic Patents in 1990.

"At Wisconsin, I learned the fine points of chemical engineering," said Williams. "This gave me the ability to obtain any job in the field of chemical engineering. Without the training I received at UW, I never would have got a foot in the door."

He retired from UpJohn in 1995, but Williams has remained active in the affairs of his alma mater, serving on the Board of Directors of the University of Wisconsin Foundation, as well as on the College of Engineering's Industrial Advisory Board.  In 1994, he received the University of Wisconsin's Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Throughout his career, Williams, who currently lives with his wife, Carolyn, in Kalamazoo, Mich., was cognizant of his pioneering role. Knowing that he took the first step of breaking the color barrier, he has now opened many doors to other African-American student-athletes today. However, he still does not take all the credit.

"Naturally, I am kind of proud, but I always let my accomplishments speak for themselves," said Williams. "I had just hoped that it would prove that anybody capable can play quarterback or any other position."