Marcus A. Williams Jr. (born December 12, 1977) is an American former 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 ...

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 ...

who played 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) for one season with the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

. Signed to the Raiders' active roster in 2002, Williams' career came to an abrupt end due to injuries sustained from being punched by teammate

Bill Romanowski William Thomas Romanowski (born April 2, 1966) is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker for 16 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Nicknamed "Romo" and "RomoCop", he spent the majority of his career wit ...

during the 2003 training camp. Williams subsequently sued Romanowski and won over $300,000 in damages.

Early life and college career

Born in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

, Williams graduated from Berkeley High School in nearby

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California *George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer to ...

. He began his college football career at the junior college level at

Laney College Laney College is a public community college in Oakland, California. Laney is the largest of the four colleges of the Peralta Community College District which serves northern Alameda County. Laney College is named after Joseph Clarence Laney. ...

in Oakland in 1997. After two seasons at Laney, Williams transferred to

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 ...

, where he majored in

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

and played for the

Washington State Cougars The Washington State Cougars (known informally as the Cougs) are the sport, athletic teams that represent Washington State University. Located in Pullman, Washington, WSU is a member of the Pac-12 Conference in NCAA Division I. The athletic pr ...

in 1999 and 2000 under head coach

Mike Price Michael Bruce Price (born April 6, 1946) is an American former college football coach. He was the head football coach at Weber State College from 1981 to 1988, Washington State University from 1989 to 2002, and the University of Texas at El Pas ...

. At Washington State, Williams played at wide receiver and had 61 receptions for 1,086 yards and eight touchdowns.

Professional career

Williams was not selected in the

2001 NFL draft The 2001 NFL draft was the 66th draft annual of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible professional football players. The draft, which is officially referred to as the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at the Th ...

. The

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

signed Williams as a free agent on April 27, 2001, and released him on August 27. On December 5, 2001, the

signed Williams to the practice squad. The Raiders designated Williams to the

Amsterdam Admirals The Amsterdam Admirals were a professional American football team based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, playing in the NFL Europe. History The Admirals were formed in 1995 as part of the NFL's plan to restart the World League of American Football, t ...

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa) was a professional American football league that functioned as the List of developmental and minor sports leagues, developmental minor league of the Nati ...

on February 11, 2002. Due to a back injury, Williams sat out the first two weeks of the NFL Europe season. On week three, Williams was reassigned to the Frankfurt Galaxy, and he made his debut on April 27 against the

Scottish Claymores The Scottish Claymores, were an American football team based in Scotland. The franchise played in the World League of American Football (later renamed NFL Europe) between 1995 and 2004, initially playing all home games at Murrayfield Stadium, ...

. Williams played five games off the bench at tight end, during which he had one reception, a two-yard touchdown. On September 28, 2002, Williams signed with the

, playing 14 games off the bench and making 11 special teams tackles during a season when the Raiders won the AFC title. His season ended on January 23, 2003, when he was placed on injured reserve. During training camp on August 24, 2003, teammate

took Williams' helmet off and punched him in the face, breaking his left

eye socket In anatomy, the orbit is the cavity or socket/hole of the skull in which the eye and its appendages are situated. "Orbit" can refer to the bony socket, or it can also be used to imply the contents. In the adult human, the volume of the orbit is ...

and chipping a tooth. Williams was again placed on injured reserve, and he filed a civil lawsuit against Romanowski in

Alameda County Superior Court The Alameda County Superior Court, officially the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda, is the California superior court with jurisdiction over Alameda County as established by Article VI of the Constitution of California. It functions ...

in October 2003. On March 22, 2005, a jury awarded Williams $340,000, specifically $300,000 for the salary that Williams would have made in 2003 and $40,000 for medical expenses. Romanowski paid Williams an additional $75,000 settlement on May 27 that year.

References

External links

NFL.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Marcus 1977 births Living people Players of American football from Oakland, California American football tight ends Berkeley High School (Berkeley, California) alumni Washington State Cougars football players Oakland Raiders players Players of American football from Berkeley, California Laney Eagles football players Frankfurt Galaxy players American expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands American expatriate sportspeople in Germany American expatriate players of American football