Reginald Williams (born September 19, 1954) is an American former

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 ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

who played for the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

of 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). He is a member of the Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame, the Greater Flint Afro-American Hall of Fame, and the College Football Hall of Fame. Williams served three years on the Cincinnati City Council.

Early life

Williams was born on September 19, 1954, in

Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city in Genesee County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. Located along the Flint River (Michigan), Flint River northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the Central Michigan, Mid Michigan region. Flin ...

. The son of Elijah and Julia Williams, he overcame a hearing disability as a child. Williams was a star athlete and student at Flint Southwestern High School. He played competitive football and also wrestled. As a junior, he played

, but switched to fullback his senior year. The recipient of an academic scholarship, Williams was a three-time All-

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

linebacker in football and Ivy League heavyweight wrestling champion in 1975 at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

, graduating in 1976 with an A.B. in psychology. He also took courses there in tai chi and ballet.

Professional career

In 1976, Williams was selected in the third round by the

, for whom he played 14 seasons, (including two

Super Bowls The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

, XVI (1981) and XXIII (1988)). Williams recorded 16 interceptions and 23 fumble recoveries, still a franchise record. During his career Williams amassed 62.5 sacks, the second most in the team's history. In his final two seasons with Cincinnati, he was appointed to an open seat on the Cincinnati City Council in 1988 and was elected for a second term in 1989 on the Charter Party ticket. Williams has received numerous honors, including selection to the NFL All-Rookie Team (1976), the Byron "Whizzer" White Award for Humanitarian Service (1985), and the NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year Award (1986). He was also named Co-Sportsman of the Year in 1987 by

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

Post-NFL life

After retiring from the NFL, Williams joined the

World League of American Football 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 ...

as the Vice President/General Manager of the New York/New Jersey Knights. He later rejoined the NFL, where he conceived and opened the NFL's first Youth Education Town (YET) in Los Angeles. Williams was hired as director of sports development for Disney on April 19, 1993. In the mid-1990s, he oversaw the creation of Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex, a state-of-the-art multi-sport facility that opened on March 28, 1997, and hosts more than 180 athletic events annually in some 30 sports. By 1998, he had become Vice President of Disney Sports Attractions, where he oversaw a newly created sports and recreation division that merged Walt Disney World Resort Recreation, Water Parks, and Disney Sports Attractions. The latter included Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex, the Walt Disney World Speedway, and Walt Disney World Golf. Williams retired from Disney in November 2007, stepping down to focus on rehabilitating his legs from damage sustained during his playing NFL career. Although he was a starter for 14 seasons, Williams played most of his career on a bad right knee. He has had 24 knee surgeries since his career ended. He had the first surgery in 1979, plus knee replacements as well as multiple infections. In 2008, when he was diagnosed with the bone infection osteomylitis, he had eight surgeries in five months. His right leg is now 2 5/8 inches shorter than his left one, and he has struggled to avoid having it amputated. Williams uses

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

to treat the pain and inflammation present in his knee, which he says has allowed him to walk without crutches again. In December 2007 Williams was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws from Dartmouth College in 1990 and is a member of

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the ...

fraternity. Williams now lives in Sarasota, Florida. Reggie is the author of the book ''Resilient by Nature'', released in September 2020 and published by Post Hill Press.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Reggie 1954 births Living people American football fullbacks American football linebackers Charter Party politicians Cincinnati Bengals players Cincinnati City Council members Dartmouth Big Green football players Dartmouth Big Green wrestlers NFL Europe executives Walt Disney Parks and Resorts people College Football Hall of Fame inductees Players of American football from New Rochelle, New York Players of American football from Flint, Michigan Disney executives NFL replacement players