Ray Williams passed away, per Flip Tweet and Star Trib article

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R.I.P. Ray. My favorite player as a young kid.
 

Damn...
RIP Ray.
You were an awesome player.
 




I got to watch him play in person one year at the U. Tremendous athlete. RIP.
 

I was just a little too young to remember Ray, but I grew up hearing my brothers talk about him. Very sad.
 

Great player on a great Gopher Team. Had some good years in the Pros too with the Knick. He also saw some hard times. Good that the Knicks "brought him home" at the end. McHale was a teammate both at the U and later for a year in Boston.

"Ray Williams, who went from being a first-round NBA pick and team captain, to bankruptcy, homelessness, and eventually redemption, has passed away in a New York hospital, according to the Knicks.

After a 10-year career that spanned six teams, including two stints with the Knicks, the star point guard ran into trouble immediately upon retirement in 1987. It wasn't drugs, or drink, or any specific failing—just a series of blows that were too much for a man who didn't know how to do anything but play basketball.

A string of bad investments led him to file for bankruptcy, and Williams applied f"or and received his NBA pension at age 40. The grand total: $200,000, and he quickly lost it in a real estate scam. His wife and kids left him. He bounced around Florida, working alternately as a golf course groundskeeper, a maintenance man in an apartment complex, a mailman, a girls basketball coach, a bakery employee, a deliveryman, an auto shop worker.

When Bob Hohler caught up with him in 2010, he had become homeless, sleeping in shelters or on park benches or in abandoned cars. He fished every day, eating what he caught and selling the rest. He blamed the NBA for not doing enough for its retired players.

“I’m not motivated by anger or revenge,’’ Williams said. “I just believe there’s a better way. Why should guys who are hurting have to wait until they’re on their dying bed before they get the help they need?’’
Williams turned it around towards the end. Larry Bird and Kevin McHale, his teammates for one year in Boston, gave him enough money to get him back on his feet. The mayor of Mount Vernon, NY, where Williams was a high school legend, gave him a job with the city. He reconnected with Linda Crawford, a nurse he had known in his playing days. They married in 2011.

Williams did take advantage of one perk offered by the NBA Retired Players Association: a free colon cancer screening, which earlier this month turned up an advanced tumor. Knicks owner James Dolan paid for Williams to be treated at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where he passed away today."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/199576501.html

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/willira01.html

http://deadspin.com/ray-williams-the-ultimate-post-nba-cautionary-tale-is-458390431
 




A very sad story about a genuinely nice person. I can't find anything about his brother Gus other than he has or used to have a business and his web site with no specific years stated.
 

I think it was in 1976 when Bobby Knight brought in his undefeated Hooisers into Williams. Bobby
Knight had Scott May guard Ray Williams in the first half. Sugar put up 24 in the first half against him.
Knight switched to Keith Wilkerson in the second half and he "held" Ray to 12. I always thought Ray Williams
and Lou Hudson were the best two players I saw at Minnesota. Anybody else remember that game?
 

Sad news indeed. He was a true Gopher legend.

Jim Dutcher was on 1500 this afternoon talking about Ray. He said in the past few weeks the U sent Ray one of today's Gophers jerseys' with his name and number on it, and apparently also sent him some video of Ray from his U playing days that he asked to see.

Go Gophers!!
 

Doc Gopher said:
I think it was in 1976 when Bobby Knight brought in his undefeated Hooisers into Williams. Bobby
Knight had Scott May guard Ray Williams in the first half. Sugar put up 24 in the first half against him.
Knight switched to Keith Wilkerson in the second half and he "held" Ray to 12. I always thought Ray Williams
and Lou Hudson were the best two players I saw at Minnesota. Anybody else remember that game?
Click to expand...

I remember - although the details are sketchy. Ray was my favorite player by far. RIP Sugar.
 



I was in high school at the time and a couple of buddies went to the game. It was on national TV I believe. It wasn't common to see many games on the tube back then. He might have been the best all around player the Gopher ever had. Bobby Jackson would be close and I never saw Lou Hudson so I can't rule him out. Ray was a charismatic personality on the court with a lot of flare.I think he may have been one of three Williams brothers from Mt. Vernon New York who played high level basketball.
 

I remember watching him back in the Dutcher years, he was a heckuva player. RIP Ray.
 


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