Howard Earl "Howie" Williams (October 29, 1927 – December 25, 2004) was an American

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 ...

player who competed in the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

. Williams played collegiately at

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

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 The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

in Free Throw Percentage (85.7%) for the 1948–49 season. He was a 3rd Round pick of the Minneapolis Lakers in the 1950 NBA draft but chose instead to sign a contract with the Peoria Caterpillars of the American Athletic Union and the National Industrial Basketball League. The Caterpillars finished 4th in the NIBL but won the National AAU title (the first of three consecutive titles), knocking off the regular season champions, the Phillips Oilers in the semi-finals on Williams last second bucket. 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

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

in 2004; following a 35-year career with the Caterpillar Corporation.

References

External links

Indiana Hall of Fame bioPeoria Hall of Fame bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Howie 1927 births 2004 deaths Basketball players at the 1952 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Indiana Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics Minneapolis Lakers draft picks Olympic gold medalists for the United States in basketball Peoria Caterpillars players People from Montgomery County, Indiana Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball players United States men's national basketball team players American men's basketball players Guards (basketball)