Trending
Williams was special talent at Saint Francis
Reading the Mirror sports pages on Thursday, Aug. 26 brought back memories from years ago.
I was saddened by the news of Sandy Williams' death, but remembering how his basketball skills impressed me as a 19-20-year-old young man brought back many good memories of Saint Francis basketball in the early 1960s.
I hadn't really seen many basketball games above the high school level in the early '60s. I had seen Cal Fowler play quite a few games, and I had never seen anyone that could handle the ball, pass or shoot like he could.
Williams was a different talent. He was taller, worked the outside and the inside, and just seemed to be everywhere on the court.
A good friend from Ebensburg, Vone Jones, who also happened be the Dauntless Fire Chief at the time (as I was a new recruit into the volunteer fire service) was a referee and worked many of the preliminary games for the Frankies, as they were then known.
Jones would take me along to the home games, which were played at the Jaffa Mosque. We would stop in Cresson and pick up Hugh Conrad Sr. and Bob Sheehan, also referees.
I learned much about the game from these gentlemen.
Anyway, up to that time I never saw anyone with more talent on the basketball court. Williams was always working hard to control the game. His ability to score, rebound, and still be so smooth set him apart from the others.
In his career at Saint Francis, he scored over 1,500 points and had over 750 rebounds. Also, if I recall correctly, he set the record his senior year for points per game, averaging over 27. I believe that record was held by Maurice Stokes.
I recall that Jones would be talking about him on the way back up the mountain. He would be pointing out this play or that play. He had a quote that I will never forget about Sandy after almost every game, "He did everything but drive the bus!"
RIP Sandy Williams. Thanks for all the good memories.
Charlie Moyer
Ebensburg