Bob Williams (quarterback)
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Position: | Quarterback | ||||||||
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Born: | Cumberland, Maryland, U.S. | January 2, 1930||||||||
Died: | May 26, 2016 Timonium, Maryland, U.S. | (aged 86)||||||||
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College: | Notre Dame | ||||||||
NFL draft: | 1951 / Round: 1 / Pick: 2 | ||||||||
Career history | |||||||||
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Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
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Robert Allen Williams (January 2, 1930 – May 26, 2016) was an American football quarterback who played collegiately for Notre Dame and in the National Football League (NFL) for the Chicago Bears.
A two-time
Biography
Early years
Williams graduated from Loyola Blakefield High School in Towson, Maryland in 1948.
College career
Williams attended Notre Dame on an athletic scholarship, where, as a nineteen-year-old junior quarterback, he guided Notre Dame to an undefeated season with 10 wins and no losses. Williams won the National Championship for Frank Leahy's 1949 team.
Williams finished fifth in voting for the Heisman Trophy in 1949 and sixth in 1950.
Bob Williams holds the school mark for highest passing efficiency rating for a season (minimum 50 completions) with a 159.1 rating in 1949, when he was 83 of 147 for 1,374 yards and 16 TD's. Williams was first team on the 1949 College Football All-America Team and the 1950 College Football All-America Team. He was awarded the Nils V. "Swede" Nelson Award in 1950.
Professional career
Williams was the second overall selection in the
Williams saw action in 8 games during the 1951 Chicago Bears season, going 11-for-34 with one touchdown pass, against two interceptions.[1]
In 1952, his second year in the league, Williams moved into a starting role for the Bears, starting 7 of he team's 11 games.[1] He won 3 and lost 4 of these contests, going 45-for-87 passing (a 51.7% completion percentage), with 6 touchdowns and 5 interceptions.[1]
Unfortunately for Williams, he was drafted into the US Navy in 1953, which caused him to be unavailable for the 1953 and 1954 Bears seasons.[2]
By the time Williams returned from military service, the Bears had moved along to a new starting quarterback. A return was made to the team for the 1955 season, with Williams seeing action in 10 games in a reserve role.[1] Williams' year was statistically unmemorable, going 15-for-40 passing (37.5% completion rate) with 3 touchdowns, against 5 interceptions.[1] Williams retired from the professional game following the 1955 season.
The
Life after football
Following his NFL career, Williams became the sales manager for the Opfer-Dickinson Company, a real estate development firm in Maryland.[2]
Death and legacy
Bob Williams died on May 26, 2016, at a retirement home in Timonium, Maryland from Parkinson's disease, aged 86.[3]
Baltimore sportswriter
Williams was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1988.
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e "Bob Williams," Pro Football Reference, www.pro-football-reference.com/
- ^ a b c d e f John Steadman, The Best (and Worst) of Steadmand: A Collection of Stories by the Sports Editor of the Baltimore News American. Baltimore, MD: Press Box Publishers, 1974; pp. 10–11.
- Yahoo.com. June 1, 2016. Archived from the originalon June 7, 2016. Retrieved June 1, 2016.