Rudolph Joseph Williams (March 16, 1941 – January 30, 2015) was an American professional

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 for the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division (CFL), West division. They play thei ...

Ottawa Rough Riders The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded on September 19, 1876. Formerly one of the oldest and longest-lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup cham ...

and

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...

in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

. He won the

Grey Cup The Grey Cup () is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested between the winners ...

with Winnipeg in 1962. 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 the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

and also played for the

Toronto Rifles The Toronto Rifles were a minor-league professional American football team active between 1964 and 1967. It was based in Toronto, Ontario. The team's home fields were Maple Leaf Stadium (1965) and Varsity Stadium from 1966 to 1967.http://virology-o ...

of the

Continental Football League The Continental Football League (COFL) was a professional American football Minor league football (gridiron), minor league that operated in North America from 1965 through 1969. It was established following the collapse of the original United Fo ...

. He died in 2015. Raised in

Rahway, New Jersey Rahway () is a city (New Jersey), city in southern Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A bedroom community of New York City, it is centrally located in the Rahway River, Rahway Valley region, in the New ...

, Williams played prep football at

Rahway High School Rahway High School is a four-year public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Rahway, in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as the lone secondary school of the Rahway Public Schools. The ...

."Tigers Sign Joe Williams Of Rahway"
''

Asbury Park Press The ''Asbury Park Press'', formerly known as the ''Shore Press'', ''Daily Press'', ''Asbury Park Daily Press'', and ''Asbury Park Evening Press'', is the third largest daily newspaper in the state of New Jersey. Established in 1879, it has been o ...

'', April 10, 1970. Accessed March 29, 2025, via

Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. It is owned by The ...

. "Joe Williams of Rahway, one of the highest scoring gridders in New Jersey scholastic football history and a pro star for the last seven years, is the first player to sign with the newly formed Jersey Tigers of the Atlantic Coast League. Williams played for Rahway High School, the University of Iowa, and for Winnipeg in the Canadian League."

References

1941 births 2015 deaths People from Rahway, New Jersey Players of American football from Union County, New Jersey Players of Canadian football from New Jersey Rahway High School alumni University of Iowa alumni Iowa Hawkeyes football players Sportspeople from New Jersey Winnipeg Blue Bombers players Ottawa Rough Riders players Toronto Argonauts players Continental Football League players {{Canadianfootball-fullback-stub