SEATTLE – Seventeen years after his retirement, Gus Williams has traded the fast-paced career of professional basketball for the peace and comfort of a quiet life in his longtime hometown of Mount Vernon, N.Y.
Today he sells real estate and works with children too young to remember that he was once one of the most brilliant basketball players in the world. Not that Williams resents the absence of fanfare. He has his memories and, of course, the NBA championship ring he won as a member of the 1978-79 Seattle SuperSonics, but otherwise he finds contentment in the ordinary.
Then, one day a few months back, Wally Walker called.
Walker, Williams’ onetime Sonics teammate and today the franchise’s president, was helping to coordinate a reunion to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the title season. Would Williams be available to participate in the ceremony?
Williams agreed and the two chatted some more. It was then, and in a pointedly off-hand way, Walker dropped the bombshell.
As part of the event, he mentioned, the team wanted to retire the No. 1 uniform Williams had worn with such distinction in his six Seattle seasons.
“That kind of freaked me out,” said Williams the other day, recalling with a chuckle. “I never imagined that would happen. When he talked about the 25th anniversary they were putting together for the guys I got very excited about that. But I never even thought about having my number retired.”
At halftime of tonight’s Sonics-Denver Nuggets game at KeyArena, 11 former players along with coaches and other staffers will gather to remember Seattle’s only major professional sports championship. Among those on hand will be Dennis Johnson, John Johnson, Fred Brown, Lonnie Shelton, Jack Sikma, Dennis Awtrey, Joe Hassett, Dick Snyder, Lars Hansen, Walker and Williams.
The notable no-shows will be head coach Lenny Wilkens, today the head coach of the New York Knicks; Paul Silas, head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers; and Tom LeGarde, who lives on the East Coast and is expecting to be a new father any day.
Williams has been in town most of the week, participating in events that will culminate with tonight’s program. Other players have arrived in recent days, with all of them showing up for a Thursday night team dinner at a downtown Seattle restaurant.
The ‘78-79 Sonics, Williams said, “would do very well” in today’s NBA. The team had defensive tenacity and remarkable offensive balance – Williams, Brown, Sikma, Shelton, LeGarde and both Johnsons all had double-figure scoring averages. The Sonics could execute well in the halfcourt, but were particularly effective when they were running.
And no one was more explosive than Williams.
“He was the fastest player with the ball,” Sikma said. “When he was scooting, he was low to the ground with the ball out front. And if he got his head by you, you had no chance.
“On the court, he made us go. He was our engine, our catalyst. Lenny gave him the green light. He said (to Gus), ‘Your responsibility is to get us into the transition game,’ and that’s when we were at our best.”
In addition, Sikma went on, Williams helped unite the team off the court.
“There was always a lot of laughter around Gus,” he said. “He was the guy on the bus who kept everybody going, giving everybody a hard time. He brought a lot of energy to our team, both on the court and off. I think if you polled all the guys about who they enjoyed as a teammate the most, the majority would say Gus Williams. He was just a blast.”
Most of the players on the championship team were also with the Sonics the season before when they started 5-17. At that point head coach Bob Hopkins was fired and Wilkens took over, and Seattle immediately won six straight games, lost once, then won another five straight. The Sonics went on to finish 47-35 and reached the NBA Finals, losing in seven games to the Washington Bullets.
The next season, Seattle went 52-30 and had a finals rematch with Washington, with the Sonics winning the best-of-seven series in five games.
“It all came together,” Williams said, recalling those two remarkable seasons. “Once Lenny got there and made some personnel maneuvers, it seemed like everything jelled. We were all on the same page, even though it was a mixed bag of personalities.”
Winning a championship, he said, “is the top for any professional player. When you talk to them and ask what their goal would be playing in the NBA, it would have to be winning the championship. So that’s definitely the highlight of my career.”
Another obvious highlight is on tap tonight. Reunited with his teammates, Williams will see his jersey unveiled in the rafters at KeyArena, where it will join those of Wilkens, Brown, Sikma and current Sonics coach Nate McMillan.
It will undoubtedly be an emotional event for Williams. More so, perhaps, because he has about 30 family and friends, including his mother and brother, who will be there to see him receive one of the highest tributes that can be given to any athlete.
Over the years, Williams said, he has watched other sports figures receive similar honors, both in person and on television, and he has wondered what the experience is like.
Tonight he will find out. Because tonight, he said, “I will be that guy.”
Williams has a website (www.guswilliams.com) with pictures and other highlights from the championship season and his entire career. Fans can also purchase various memorabilia, with proceeds to benefit the Boys and Girls Clubs of Seattle and Mount Vernon, N.Y.
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