Howie Williams (basketball)

Howie Williams
Personal information
Born	October 29, 1927; Guard
Career history
1950–1954	Peoria Caterpillars
Career highlights and awards
	2× First-team All-Big Ten (1949, 1950);
	Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Men's basketball
Representing the United States
Olympic Games

Howard Earl "Howie" Williams (October 29, 1927 – December 25, 2004) was an American basketball player who competed in the 1952 Summer Olympics.^[1] Williams played collegiately at Purdue University where he was a 2x All-Big Ten guard (1948–49, 1949–50); he was selected as the Purdue team MVP in his junior and senior seasons and as Team Captain in 1949-50; posting a career total of 735 points (10.0 game avg). He led the Big Ten Conference in Free Throw Percentage (85.7%) for the 1948-49 season.

He was a 3rd Round pick of the

Phillips Oilers in the semi-finals on Williams last second bucket.^[3]

Williams and the rest of the Caterpillar team defeated the NCAA Champion Kansas Jayhawks in the AAU Title game. Following the title game, the Los Angeles Times named Williams the AAU Player of the Year; Williams then led Peoria to another AAU National title in 1953.

The 1952 win placed Williams as well as Peoria teammates; Ronald Bontemps, Marcus Freiberger, Frank McCabe and Dan Pippin on the U.S. Olympic squad. That team, led by fellow native Hoosier Clyde Lovellette won the gold medal. He played all eight games and finished #8 in scoring for the squad.

Williams spent four seasons playing for the Caterpillars and finished with 1,235 career points, eighth on their career scoring list.

He was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame in 1991. He died in

Caterpillar Corporation

.

References

^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Howie Williams Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
^ "1950 NBA draft".
^ "1952 CATERPILLAR BASKETBALL Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on 2008-10-11. Retrieved 2009-01-13.

External links

[SportsRef-1] Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Howie Williams Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2018.

[2] "1950 NBA draft".

[3] "1952 CATERPILLAR BASKETBALL Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on 2008-10-11. Retrieved 2009-01-13.

[1]

[3]