The man who kept Southern athletes competing for 43 years with expert training practices and advice has snared one of the Southwestern Athletic Conferences most significant honors.
Carl “Doc” Willimas, the Jaguars athletic trainer from 1963-2006, will be honored later this month with the SWAC Alumni Association’s Roscoe Nance Lifetime Achievement Award.
The award will be presented at the Association’s 21st annual Legends Awards and Roast on May 18 in Baton Rouge.
Williams, a Houston native, began his career at Yates High School before coming to Southern, where he served seven athletic directors, 11 head football coaches and dozens of other coaches.
“Doc played an outstanding role for us,” longtime coach Pete Richardson said. “Football is a contact sport and people get hurt. Doc had the respect of not only the coaches but the players as well. He got injured players back on the field, and everybody appreciated that.
“He’s an outstanding individual, a true professional. He had really high standards and he upheld them.”
Former Southern volleyball coach Nathaniel Denu lauded Williams for his affection for all athletes on campus.
The football team had a training table, and their meals were quite different from the rest of the teams, Denu said.
“Our teams ended practice about the same time, and it was Doc who vehemently insisted the volleyball team eat the same meals as the football team. The rest is history," Denu said. "That’s just one example of how Carl Williams impacted my sport and all sports at Southern.”
Williams won numerous honors for his long years of dedicated service. He was inducted into the SWAC Hall of Fame (2008); the Southern University Hall of Fame (1996); and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame (1988).
He received the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) President’s Award in 2104; the NATA Professional Service Award in 2001; and the SWAC Distinguished Service Award in 1988.
Williams turned down multiple opportunities to leave Southern including one from the San Diego Chargers with a chance to become the first Black assistant trainer in 1965.
“After I had been at Southern for a while, I felt like I had a mission,” Williams said. “I felt like I could do more here than somewhere else.”
Williams also worked for a time on the Dallas Cowboys’ training staff and is a member of numerous professional organizations.