Clarence "Clancy" Williams Jr. (September 24, 1942 – September 21, 1986) was an
American football
American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...
defensive back
In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...
who played eight seasons in the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
(NFL), all with the
Los Angeles Rams
The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
. Williams was raised in suburban
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
and graduated from Renton High School in 1961, where he was all-state in
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
and
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
, and earned all-state honors on the track team. He helped Renton to a Puget Sound League football championship. Williams was the only black player on his team. While some players bullied him for this, his mother encouraged him not to allow them to degrade him.
The City of Renton made March 27, 1965, Clancy Williams Day. Williams is among seven legendary Renton athletes depicted on a mural at Liberty Park in the back of Giannini Stadium in Renton.
College football
He played
college football
College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...
at
Washington State University
Washington State University (WSU, or colloquially Wazzu) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington, United States. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest Land-grant uni ...
(WSU) in Pullman, and was its star running back and a defensive back from 1962–64. He was a first team
All-American
The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...
at defensive back as a senior in
1964
Events January
* January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved.
* January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...
. In 1964, he rushed for 783 yards in 147 attempts, and had 17 receptions for 210 yards. In his three years of varsity football, he had 1,456 rushing yards, 332 receiving yards, and 719 yards on kickoff returns. In 1964, he also led the
Athletic Association of Western Universities
The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...
in rushing yards per attempt (5.3).
Williams played on both sides of the ball: on offense at halfback and defense at cornerback. WSU sports historian Dick Fry made the case Williams was the finest two-way player in Washington State history. He played in the 1965 Hula Bowl,
East-West Shrine game
East West (or East and West) may refer to:
*East–West dichotomy, the contrast between Eastern and Western society or culture
Arts and entertainment
Books, journals and magazines
*'' East, West'', an anthology of short stories written by Salm ...
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...
. He was inducted into Washington State's Hall of Fame in 1986.
His most famous college play came in WSU's 1964 opening game against Stanford. With little more than one minute left in the game, WSU was down 23–22. A Stanford receiver caught a pass, and when he turned to run up field, Williams stripped the ball away and took it to WSU's 37 yard line. WSU scored a touchdown, winning the game 29–23.
Professional football
He was selected in the first round of the
1965 NFL draft
The 1965 NFL draft was held at the Summit Hotel in New York City on Saturday, November 28, 1964. The first player selected was Tucker Frederickson, back from Auburn, by the New York Giants.
The draft was marked by the failure of the St. Loui ...
(ninth overall) by the
Rams
In engineering, reliability, availability, maintainability and safety (RAMS) Williams played his entire eight-year NFL career as a defensive back with the Rams. In the five years from 1966 to 1970, he started 68 or the team's 70 games at left
cornerback
A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...
, with 28
interception
In Ball game, ball-playing Competitive sport, competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for ...
s, two of which he returned for touchdowns. In 1966, his eight interceptions were tied for second most in the NFL, and his seven interceptions in 1968 were tied for fourth best in the NFL.
At the time Williams retired after 1972, he had 28 interceptions for the Rams, two returned for touchdowns. His 28 interceptions for the Rams were second most in team history when he retired, behind teammate Eddie Meador (46). Through 2024, he is tied for fifth all-time on the Rams interception list, while Meador still remains first. He also returned kickoffs for the Rams, chiefly from 1965 to 1967; averaging over 25 yards per return.
He finished his professional football career in the
World Football League
The World Football League (WFL) was an American football league that played one full season in 1974 in sports, 1974 and most of its second in 1975 in sports, 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a w ...
.
Personal life
After football, Williams worked in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
in banking and at the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' newspaper.
His son Clarence III also played football at Washington State for four years at
tight end
The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...
, and in the NFL for one year with the Cleveland Browns.
Williams had three first cousins from Beaumont who played in the NFL, Mel Farr, Miller Farr, and Jerry Levias.
Death
He died of cancer in Seattle at age 43 in 1986. and was interred at Greenwood Memorial Park in Renton.