By ROBIN CAUDELL
Staff Writer
March 17, 2008 04:55 am
—
PLATTSBURGH -- If there ever was a time Anthony Williams would have given up, it was at age 17, when his mother died from breast cancer.
"At no other time had I thought twice about giving up," said Williams, a Plattsburgh State senior and basketball guard who is SUNYAC Player of the Year.
"I didn't fall under adversity during that time. I would never let nothing keep me from overcoming anything for the rest of my life."
After he graduates in May, Williams hopes to make the roster of an overseas professional basketball team. If not, he will pursue a master's degree. A history major, he aspires to be a social-studies teacher or a school counselor.
His must-do list includes becoming a varsity basketball coach. One day, he hopes to coach his son, Anthony Jr., whom he describes as a "burst of energy."
"He means the world to me. He and my siblings are my motivation."
TOUGH START
Williams grew up in Brooklyn, the oldest of four. His siblings are Edwin, 21; Jessica, 18; and Charles, 16.
Their mother, Barbara, was the daughter of Ruby and Ernest Williams. Ruby was a maintenance worker for years for the New York City Housing Authority. In the last years of her life, Barbara also worked there.
"My mother and grandmother did their best. My grandmother is the backbone of my family to this day."
William Ubiles, father to all but Charles, was incarcerated when Williams was born.
His parents eventually split. It was hard for his mother raising four children on public assistance and harder still while battling breast cancer, which runs in her family.
MOM'S LAST WORDS
Williams was competing in a Christmas basketball tournament when his mother, 37, was hospitalized in Manhattan. A junior at Paul Robeson High School, he was trying to get back to her.
"My grandmother and them told me she wanted to speak to me. Her last words to them was for me to take care of my brothers and sisters. I was 17."
He sent Jessica and Edwin (now a basketball standout at Siena College) to live with an aunt in Poughkeepsie. Charles remained with his father in New York City.
Living with his grandmother, Anthony finished his senior year. Though he had watched his hoopster uncles growing up, he was more into boxing and football and only switched to basketball because Paul Robeson didn't have a football team.
LIVING HIS DREAM'
With childhood pal Marcos Caitano, he ran laps, lifted weights and practiced jump shots.
The summer of Williams's senior year, he scored 63 points in one game at a top basketball tournament. That performance got him a full scholarship to Division I basketball at Morgan State University in Baltimore.
Before becoming a Bear, Williams earned 24 credits at the Brooklyn campus of Long Island University. During that year, he worked out with Caitano.
"He believed in me more than I believed in myself."
Two years ago, Caitano was shot and killed in their old neighborhood.
"Sometimes, I feel I'm living his dream, what he wanted to accomplish in his basketball career."
TOUGH COACH
In Brooklyn, Williams left behind his father-figure coaches, Keith Norris and Jayvron Johnson, and walked into the fierce light of Morgan's Alfred "Butch" Beard Jr., a former NBA player and coach.
A veteran point guard, Beard was hard on Williams. Hard on Williams about being a leader.
"Coming out of high school and with the things happening in my life, it was hard for me to accept the push he was giving me. I never had a male around to push me and show me how to be a leader."
BABY ON THE WAY
During his sophomore year, Williams learned he and his then-girlfriend, Erica Glover, were pregnant. They had known each other since kindergarten. She was a senior at Temple University.
"I wasn't going to be like my father," he said. "I would do what I had to for my child."
Williams left Morgan to work as an Off-track Betting agent. Anthony Jr. was born two weeks before his mother's graduation. Williams planned to return to Morgan the following year. He and Glover parted. He worked another year. He wanted his education. For himself. For his son.
Caitano kept his hoop dreams alive by reminding him of how good he was when watching others compete.
TIME RUNNING OUT
But William's eligibility clock ticked away at Morgan. If he returned, he could play only one year.
"It would have been tough for me."
By fate, Williams played in a summer-basketball tournament refereed by his old high-school coach, Larry Major. He scored 30 points.
Major told him he was going back to school. He tipped Williams off about Plattsburgh State and Curtis Smith. Smith had been a senior on Paul Robeson's varsity team when Williams was a sophomore.
Williams said: "Plattsburgh? I never heard of Plattsburgh."
A NEW COACH
Smith rang up Williams and invited him to hang out. Smith introduced Williams to Plattsburgh State men's basketball coach Tom Curle. They talked about family. School. Life.
"It was the best conversation I had with a coach in my life. It impressed me how he understood my situation with my family, son and things like that."
Williams said his decision to come north was the best of his life.
Ruby, Anthony Jr. and Danika Byrd, a close friend from his Morgan days, cheer him and his teammates on.
"Seeing someone that supports me like that gives me the idea what I'm doing out there is good," Williams said. "I'm making progress. It keeps me working hard and keeps me motivated."
rcaudell@pressrepublican.com
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