GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Monte Towe was an assistant coach at North Carolina State when he went to a summer league tournament in Harlem back in the late-1970s. Towe's target that day was Vern Fleming, a New York City standout who eventually signed and starred at Georgia. Fleming was good that day, but he wasn't the best player on the court.
No, that was Ronnie Williams.
Ronnie Williams (25)
"There was hardly anyone else in the gym, other than me," recalled Towe, the former University of Florida assistant and now head coach at Gainesville Oak Hall. "Three minutes into the game, in walks this different-looking kid, about 6-7 and 190. He just took over the game."
That's what Ronnie Williams usually did with a basketball in his hand, as UF fans would go on to discover. Williams, the Gators' all-time scoring leader with 2,090 points, died Sunday night in his native New York City following a two-year bout with cancer. He was 59.
Williams, out of Queens, was a four-time All-Southeastern Conference selection and the only player in UF history to lead the team in scoring four consecutive seasons. He reached 1,000 career points faster than any Gator — 50 games — and finished his career with averages of 19.0 points (on 58.5 percent shooting) and 8.7 rebounds over 110 games.
"From the day he stepped on campus, Ronnie was getting 20 points a game," Towe said. "He was incredibly consistent from Day 1 to the end of his career and will go down as one of the all-time greats at Florida."
Williams arrived at UF in the fall of the 1980-81 athletic year, after Sloan, who coached Florida from 1960-66, bolted NC State (along with Towe) for a second stint coaching the Gators. By the time he was a freshman, Williams was a robust 6-foot-8, 230 pounds, and possessed remarkable offensive skills in the post that he paired with a large backside that cleared out defenders on the block.
Sam Bowie. Melvin Turpin. Charles Barkley. Dale Ellis. Chuck Person. They were the best frontcourt players in the SEC at the time.
Williams worked 'em all.
"There wasn't anyone he couldn't score on. One on one, no one could stop him," remembered former UF teammate Randall Leath, who played alongside Williams for three seasons. "He had the best body control. He couldn't jump very high, but he could hang in the air and use his body so that you couldn't block his shot. We called him 'Big Smooth' because he was effortless. He had all kinds of fakes, great footwork and got shots off any way he wanted."
What Williams did not have, however, was a very good team around him. Over his four seasons, the Gators went a combined 46-69 (including 23-49 in SEC play), but he captained the '83-84 team (along with senior Vernon Delancy) to a 16-13 record, highlighted by a stunning upset of third-ranked Kentucky that was the first signature moment in the three-year-old O'Connell Center.
That '84 team got a bid to the National Invitational Tournament, just the second postseason berth in the program's history. UF went to the NIT each of the next two seasons, then made its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 1987.
Williams started that postseason ball rolling and for his efforts (and statistics) was inducted in the UF Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996.
"Those were some of his fondest memories, playing for the Gators," wife Tatiana Williams said Monday.
Williams was selected 47th overall (the last pick of the second round) by the Boston Celtics in the 1984 NBA draft, but never played in the league. He took a turn playing overseas, as well as runs through the Continental Basketball Association and United State Basketball League before retiring from the game in 1988.
For the last two-plus decades, Williams worked at a juvenile detention center in Brooklyn where he became one of the beloved counselors in the facility.
"He was funny, impactful, very generous and stable. So many people relied in him," Tatiana said. "He was a big teddy bear, but when provoked he would become a grizzly bear and his kids loved him for it. They would kiss him on the forehead before they went to bed. He was like a father figure to them."
Besides his wife of four years, Williams is survived by four daughters (Ashley, Michelle, Melisa, Monet) and two sons (Morgan and Mitchell). Funeral arrangements are pending.
