James "Froggy" Williams (March 18, 1928 – June 23, 2015) was an American college

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 ...

player. He was elected to the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...

in 1965. Williams was Rice's all-time leading scorer with 156 career points, including 75

extra point Extra, Xtra, or The Extra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * The Extra (1962 film), ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * The Extra (2005 film), ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * Extra (newspaper), ...

Early life

Williams was born in

Waco, Texas Waco ( ) is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and Interstate 35, I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin, Texas, Austin. The city had a U.S. census estimated 2024 popul ...

. He attended and played

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

Waco High School Waco High School is a public high school located in the city of Waco, Texas and classified as a 6A school by the UIL. It is a part of the Waco Independent School District located in central McLennan County. In 2015, the school was rated “ ...

. He starred on the 1945 co-championship team that tied with Highland Park, 7–7, in front of 45,790 fans at the Cotton Bowl.

College career

Williams played as a left end and

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (magazine), sports magazine in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the wor ...

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

from 1946 to 1949 wearing jersey number 84. He stood 6-2 and weighed 197. As a freshman, he played on the 9–2 team that defeated

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

in the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. Played annually since 1935 Orange Bowl, January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in ...

. As a senior in 1949, he was the captain and the most important player in head coach

Jess Neely Jesse Claiborne Neely (January 4, 1898 – April 9, 1983) was an American football player, a baseball and football coach. He was head football coach at Southwestern University (now Rhodes College) from 1924 to 1927, at Clemson University fr ...

's "gridiron machine" team that won the

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference also included schools from Oklaho ...

(SWC) championship. The Owls won nine of ten regular season games and defeated

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

and Hall of Fame back Charley "Choo Choo" Justice in the

1950 Cotton Bowl Classic The 1950 Cotton Bowl Classic featured the Rice Owls and the North Carolina Tar Heels. Background The Owls won the Southwest Conference for the fourth time in 15 years. This was their second appearance in the Cotton Bowl Classic and their first si ...

, 27–13. That same year Williams earned first-team All-America honors after leading the Owls to their first ten-win season in school history and the No. 5 final ranking in the AP Poll. The Owls went 6–0 in SWC play, registering wins over top 10 teams SMU and Texas. Williams was a two-time All-Southwest Conference pick and Rice's all-time leading scorer. His 156 career points came on 13

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

, 75 conversion kicks and a

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. Consequently, ...

. The only field goal he ever made as a collegian was to beat Texas, 17–15. Williams was named one of the 1950 Cotton Bowl Classic's outstanding players and was selected to the Cotton Bowl's All-Decade team for the 1950s. He was inducted into the

Texas Sports Hall of Fame The Texas Sports Hall of Fame recognizes sportsperson, athletes, coach (sport), coaches, and administrators who have made "lasting fame and honor to Sports in Texas, Texas sports". It was established in 1951 by the Texas Sports Writers Association ...

in 1985.

Personal life

Williams took a position with an oilfield service company driving service trucks to oil rig locations upon graduating from Rice. The company moved him into oilfield sales shortly after. He was in the oilfield service industry for 37 years. Williams founded an air conditioning service company in 1987. He was an active alumnus of Rice, as he continued to write and speak extensively about Rice football many years after his graduation."1950 BOB QUIN AWARD James "Froggy" Williams." ''Bob Quin Award Page''. Web. 13 Jun. 2015

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, James 1928 births 2015 deaths American football ends Rice Owls football players All-American college football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Players of American football from Waco, Texas Waco High School alumni