He attended the now defunct Alcee Fortier High School, where he played football on a team with three future
NFL
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the maj ...
players:
Maurice Hurst,
Kevin Lewis, and
Ashley Ambrose. In 1985, the Fortier Tarpons went undefeated through 10 games and won the District 10-4A championship and proceeded to the Class 4A semifinals.
Aeneas was selected to the all district team as a strong safety that season.
College career
Williams was not offered a scholarship when he graduated high school. He attended
Southern University
Southern University and A&M College (Southern University, Southern, SUBR or SU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is the largest historically black college or university (HBCU) in Louisiana, a ...
, the same school his brother Achilles attended, planning to simply get his accounting degree. "Our parents always expected that we would go to college and get our degree," he explained. "(Playing football) never crossed by mind, I was preparing for the rest of my life."
At Southern, he concentrated on his academics, not playing football until his junior year. Eventually, after being encouraged by his old high school teammate
Maurice Hurst, he decided to join the team as a walk-on. He started out playing mostly on special teams, but made the starting lineup in the 5th game. Williams kept his involvement with the football team a secret from his family until he made the travel squad for the 2nd game of the season. In the following season, Williams was named to the All-Southwestern Athletic Conference team after leading the conference with seven interceptions. In 1990, Williams stayed on the team as a
graduate student
Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree.
The organization and st ...
and fifth year senior in order to improve his draft status. He made the ALL SAC team again and tied the
Division I-AA, (now known as the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision) record for most interceptions with eleven.
Williams finished his college career with 20 interceptions and 28 pass deflections.
Professional career
Williams's numbers impressed the then-Phoenix Cardinals enough that they selected him in the third round of the
1991 NFL Draft
The 1991 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 21–22, 1991, at the Marriott ...
, Williams quickly established himself with an exceptional rookie season, tying the NFC lead for interceptions. In 1994, he led the NFL in interceptions with 9. By
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
, Williams had already notched four
Pro Bowl
The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players.
The format has changed thro ...
appearances and had established himself as the Cardinals' top cornerback, routinely covering the opponents' lead receivers. In the 1998 season, Williams helped the Cardinals win their first playoff game since 1947 by intercepting two passes from
Troy Aikman
Troy Kenneth Aikman (born November 21, 1966) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. After transferring from Oklahoma, he played college football at UC ...
in a 20–7 win over the
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...
, and added another interception in the Cardinals 41–21 loss in the divisional round. Despite playing mostly for bad teams (1998 was the only time he played on a winning team during his 10 years in Arizona), Williams was recognized as one of the best cornerbacks in the league, making six Pro Bowls in all as a Cardinal. He is regarded as one of the best defenders and players in Cardinals history, as well as one of the greatest shutdown corners of all time. In 2000, he tied an NFL record, held by Jack Tatum of the Oakland Raiders, by returning a fumble (caused by
Mark Maddox) 104 yards for a touchdown in a game against the
Washington Redskins
The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...
.
In Week 3 of the
1999 season, in a game played at
Sun Devil Stadium
Sun Devil Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium in the southwestern United States, on the campus of Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, Arizona. It is home to the ASU Sun Devils football team of the Pac-12 Conference. The st ...
and nationally televised on
Monday Night Football
''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, A ...
, Williams delivered the hit which ultimately ended Hall of Fame
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...
' quarterback
Steve Young
Jon Steven Young (born October 11, 1961) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. He also played for the Tampa Bay Buccan ...
's career. Williams came in on a cornerback blitz from Young's blindside and scored a vicious helmet-to-helmet hit on Young.
Running back
A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball,
and block. The ...
Lawrence Phillips
Lawrence Lamond Phillips (May 12, 1975 – January 13, 2016) was an American gridiron football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for three seasons. A highly touted collegiate prospect, Phillips' professional career wa ...
was supposed to block Williams, but missed. This left Young unconscious on the field for several minutes. Young suffered a severe concussion that effectively ended his career; he didn't play again for the rest of the season, after which the 49ers all but forced him to retire.
In 2001, Williams was traded to the St. Louis Rams on draft day in exchange for picks in the second and fourth rounds. Due to roster concerns, Williams switched to free safety. As one of the leaders of a much-improved defense, Williams got a chance to play in the postseason for only the second time in his career. In the Rams' divisional playoff game against the
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the th ...
prior to the Super Bowl, he returned two interceptions from Packers quarterback
Brett Favre
Brett Lorenzo Favre ( ; born October 10, 1969) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Favre had 321 consecutive starts from 1992 to 201 ...
for touchdowns and recovered a fumble. Then in the NFC title game, he intercepted a pass from
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...
quarterback
Donovan McNabb
Donovan Jamal McNabb (born November 25, 1976) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for thirteen seasons, primarily with the Philadelphia Eagles. Before his NFL career, he played football a ...
, with 2 minutes left in regulation, clinching the game and ensuring the Rams' berth in
Super Bowl XXXVI
Super Bowl XXXVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion St. Louis Rams and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champio ...
. However, the Rams lost that game to the
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...
.
After a lackluster season, in which he ended on the
injured reserve
The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...
list, Williams quietly retired during the 2005 offseason. Over his career he accumulated a staggering 12 defensive touchdowns (9 interceptions returned for a touchdown, and 3 fumbles recovered for touchdowns), and 55 career interceptions, cementing his place as one of the most dominating defensive backs of his era. He also recovered 23 fumbles and gained 1,075 total defensive return yards (807 from interceptions and 268 from fumbles). He was also a 4-time
All-Pro
All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list t ...
selection.
Although Williams only played on a playoff team four times in 14 years (three of which were with the Rams), he made the most of his postseason opportunities when they occurred, intercepting 6 passes and recovering one fumble in his first four playoff games.
Post-playing career
Williams was inducted into the Arizona Cardinals' Ring of Honor during the 2008–2009 football season during halftime of the Monday Night Football game against the San Francisco 49ers November 10, 2008. On January 18, 2009, he was chosen to present the
George Halas Trophy to the Arizona Cardinals after their victory in the NFC Championship game, resulting in the Cardinals first trip to the Super Bowl. He made his final appearance in a football videogame in
NFL Street 2
''NFL Street 2'' is an American football video game developed by EA Tiburon and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports BIG label. It was originally released for the PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox on December 22, 2004. It features t ...
, which was released in 2004.
Williams is currently the founding pastor of Spirit Church in
St. Ann
According to Christian apocryphal and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's name and that of her husband Joachim come o ...
, a suburb of St. Louis. He and his wife Tracy have three daughters Saenea (Aeneas spelled backwards), Tirzah, Cheyenne, and a son, Lazarus.
Williams was a finalist for the
Pro Football Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coac ...
classes of 2012 and 2013 but did not get voted in on the final ballots both times.
He was elected to the
Pro Football Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coac ...
on February 1, 2014, and inducted on August 2.
On September 24, 2014, Williams was inducted into the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame.
References
Further reading
*
External links
Ex-Cardinals defensive back Aeneas Williams a finalist for Pro Football Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Aeneas
1968 births
Alcee Fortier High School alumni
African-American Christians
American football cornerbacks
American football safeties
Arizona Cardinals players
Living people
National Conference Pro Bowl players
Phoenix Cardinals players
Southern Jaguars football players
St. Louis Rams players
Players of American football from New Orleans
African-American players of American football
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
21st-century African-American people
20th-century African-American sportspeople
Ed Block Courage Award recipients