Former UNC star Williams 'living a dream' as basketball takes him back home

By Ryan Bisesi, WRAL multiplatform producer

Raleigh, N.C. — This story is one in a series as WRALSportsFan catches up with former Triangle-area college athletes.

All roads return to Wake County for Donald Williams in his journey through life and basketball.

That’s where the former Final Four MVP finds himself, guiding young women at Wakefield High School through the game’s highs and lows. Decades ago, his love for the sport started from watching his dad take on strangers at the playground courts.

That passion blossomed when Williams got to learn from two of the area’s most beloved and accomplished coaches – Eddie Gray at Garner High School and college basketball legend Dean Smith at UNC.

Now he’s implementing those teachings with his teams, guiding them through life lessons and on-court tactics.

Williams was an Extra Effort Award winner in 1991, when he averaged 37 points a game at Garner High under Gray.

The only child who grew up with a father whom he didn’t get to see much in his early days is big on gratitude nearly three decades after fans watched him help the Tar Heels win one of the more memorable national championship games.

“I’m, like, living a life’s dream now because everything that happened in my life, I prayed about it as a youth and it’s come to life,” he said.

As a boy, Williams would watch his father, who passed away last March, play. He started playing with the grownups himself when he was 13.

There were international basketball stops all over the world in the 90s and 2000s for the former UNC star. Now in his fifth year as the Wakefield girls’ coach, Williams is grateful to still be involved in the game that gave him the confidence and sense of accomplishment.

His dad was a truck driver and worked a lot, so watching him play on the neighborhood courts on the weekend was cherished time. With mom working as a cook in a restaurant and sometimes having to leave for work at 4 a.m. Williams said he would have to get up himself and get to school on his own.

“I learned how to be disciplined at an early age because it was just me,” he said.

He committed to UNC early during his junior year at Garner. Williams said Gray helped him get his academics in line, which involved overcoming struggles with reading comprehension.

But Williams almost never became a hero on Franklin Street because of other reasons.

After a freshman season that saw him get lost on a roster that included now-UNC coach Hubert Davis along with household names Eric Montross and George Lynch, Williams grew frustrated. He played in 29 games but averaged just 4.3 minutes played.

He said it was tough to look at the notoriety and praise ‘The Fab Five’ was drawing at Michigan and not be envious. However, Smith did a little politicking with Williams’ parents to boost morale.

“I was upset and I was ready to transfer,” Williams said. “Coach Smith, being the guy he was, he had already gotten to my parents,” he said laughing. “I didn’t go to [Smith] first, I went to my parents and he had got in their heads … he was so smart.”

Thanks to that, there would be ample opportunities to stack up against Jalen Rose and Chris Webber, who Williams viewed as equals after facing them in summer camps.

Previously, there was a recruiting battle, as there usually is for players of Williams' stature. UNC’s Phil Ford latched on to Williams early in the process, but N.C. State’s Jim Valvano took advantage of the local connection and reached out to Williams first when he was just an eighth grader.

The UNC/NCSU rivalry notwithstanding, Williams had so much respect for Valvano that he invoked his name at the highest point of his basketball life. Williams told the media his championship game performance was dedicated to Valvano, who, weeks before had made his famed ‘never give up' speech at the ESPYS.

Rarely has a player dedicated a game to a rival team’s coach, but the circumstances showed the gesture was sincere. Valvano died the same month as the championship game.

“He was energetic,” Williams said of the charismatic, quick-witted Volvano. “He was one of the first ones to recruit me because I was a local guy.”

Williams said he even became friends with NCSU’s ‘Fire & Ice’ team of Rodney Monroe and Chris Corchiani, sometimes playing pickup games with them. Valvano resigned after the 1989-1990 season in light of pressure from the university, effectively ending Williams' interest in playing there.

“Even though, in my heart, I still gave [State] a chance, I knew it was going to be tough to go there,” said Williams.

That quintet of heralded Michigan players would come into play again in 1993. In December of that season, Michigan beat UNC on a late basket in the Rainbow Classic. As most everyone who follows college basketball in the Triangle knows, the Tar Heels got the last laugh that season.

“I think the best thing to happen that season was when we lost to Georgia Tech in the ACC Tournament. I think that got our focus back and re-energized us for the [NCAA] tournament. That’s when we went on that run,” Williams said.

Williams, then a sophomore, was definitely a new man that March. His tournament performances saw him average 19.6 points a game and score at least 20 points in each contest from the Sweet Sixteen onward. He scored 25 points and hit five 3-pointers in both Final Four games.

Williams remembered Chris Webber hitting a big shot in the final seconds of the McDonald’s All-American game for the West squad to beat the East squad in 1991. Jalen Rose had tipped in a shot in the final seconds in the Rainbow Classic. Revenge was on his mind for the championship game in New Orleans.

“I was not going to lose to them this time,” Williams said.

He drew a charge against Virginia his junior year, leading to a shoulder injury on his right side. Williams said he didn’t feel as comfortable on the court after that. It was his first significant injury, and his confidence took a hit.

Despite that, Williams was still able to hit 87 three-pointers during his senior year, good enough for second-best in UNC history. The Tar Heels made the Final Four again that season, this time losing in the national semifinal to Arkansas.

NBA stardom wasn’t in the cards for Williams, but he didn’t want to give up the game. He played overseas until he was 35.

Since then, Williams has started his own basketball academy, where he helps out with camps, clinics and various youth teams. There was a short stint back with Gray at Garner as an assistant, where he helped the boys’ team win a state championship in 2015.

His Wakefield Warriors went 27-2 in 2019 with several players who went on to become college athletes. Williams said he wants to coach at the college ranks at some point.

For now, he boasts about the community surrounding the school and the willingness of his players to be coachable. He now has three daughters, two in college (one at UNC, one at NCSU) and one at Broughton High School. At Wakefield, he tries to instill everything he learned from Gray and Smith.

“They all buy into my system,” Williams said. “The parents really support me. They’re behind me 100 percent. The school’s behind me 100 percent…I tell ya, my life is blessed, man.”