Sam “Supe” Williams, Jr. was born Aug. 4, 1951 to Sam and Louise Williams Sr. He had four siblings, one sister and three brothers. His sister Hannah was the oldest and he was the oldest boy. Willie (Bill) was after him, then Joe, and Edward was the youngest.
Williams loved sports and spent several years playing catcher for his youth league baseball teams. His high school football career began when he was in the ninth grade, where he was a 4-year letterman as a defensive end for the Blue Devils of U. S. Jones High School graduating in 1969.
Basketball is where Williams really excelled. His high school basketball career began as a tenth grader where he earned 3 varsity letters. Williams was a natural leader on the basketball court and had a good understanding of the different positions on the floor as he had played guard through the ninth grade. Between his ninth and tenth grade year he grew an additional five inches and became a 6-5 forward. Williams led the 2A U. S. Jones Blue Devils into Tuscaloosa to play the 4A Druid Dragons and ended Druid’s 33 game home winning streak. Early in the game Williams blocked a Dragon shot and pinned it to the backboard and raked it down with one hand and threw a perfect strike to Will Moore Jr. (MCSHOF 2022) for a layup at the other end. The Druid bench erupted shouting, “Supe-R-Sam.” That night Williams came away with the victory and a nickname, “Supe.” He collected numerous MVP trophies from the many tournaments the team played during his junior and senior years. His senior year, Williams led the Blue Devils all the way to the State finals where they finished as the runner-up to Section (77-58). For his outstanding play in the state tournament, Sam “Supe” Williams was named to the All-Tournament Team.
Williams had many college offers to continue to play basketball and chose to sign with Iowa. In 1969, the NCAA did not permit freshmen to play and he soon discovered that his coach had taken another job and he would be playing for someone that did not recruit him. Williams was excited to join his Iowa teammates, future NBA greats John Johnson and “Downtown” Freddy Brown, who were both first round draft choices in consecutive years. He played two seasons for the Hawkeyes, earning a letter his sophomore year appearing in 23 games, scoring 180 points, including 74 field goals, 32 free throws and 96 rebounds. His junior year, he appeared in 9 games, scoring 8 points, including four field goals and 16 rebounds. He left the school to return to Demopolis and went to work for the cement plant.
“Supe” played semi-pro basketball for the Demopolis Hawks, founded by Thomas “Slop” Watters and Leroy “Big Red” Mitchell, for twenty years from 1972-1992. Williams ended his basketball career as player-coach for the Hawks.
Williams served as a volunteer as an assistant coach for the Demopolis High School Girls Basketball team for several years.
He worked for the cement plant for over 30 years and had plans to retire before he passed away. He left seven children, five boys and two girls. Zach, Louise, Sam III, Lee Arthur, Darius, Dominique, and Samantha.
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