Rosalind Williams traveled from Fort Worth, Texas, to Denver to be at the Broncos’ first seven home games this season. On Sunday, she didn’t think it right to go to the season finale. Not on New Year’s Eve.
She stayed home, wanting her 24-year-old son Darrent to have time to be a young man.
“I was thinking that I didn’t want him to hang out with an old woman,” she said Monday night in a phone interview. “I wanted him to go celebrate with some young people.”
After a night of partying, Darrent Williams was shot and killed in downtown Denver while riding in a limousine. The Broncos informed his mother in the early-morning hours at her Fort Worth home. She was flown into Denver on Monday morning and later met with Broncos coach Mike Shanahan and owner Pat Bowlen.
“The Broncos have been outstanding, very outstanding,” Rosalind Williams said. “I don’t want for anything. They even had a car waiting for me on the tarmac today. I didn’t have to go through the airport.”
Williams kept her composure during a 10-minute interview. She said she has kept her strength, knowing that her son was “happy” in his time before his death.
“He had a great smile and a heart of gold,” she said. “‘D’ just wanted to give to people in need of help. He did more in 24 years than people 50, 60, 70 years old.”
Williams said her 5-foot-8 son fought to overcome his lack of size throughout his athletic career.
“He was a little guy, but you wouldn’t know it,” Williams said. “He thought he was 6-2 or taller. I read that he said that if he was 6 feet it wouldn’t be fair to receivers. He had a lot of heart. He was always the smallest kid, even in Little League, but he was faster than everyone, and he made up for his lack of size with his heart.”
Keeping their pregame ritual, Darrent Williams called his mother Sunday morning, the last time the two talked.
“We talked before every game,” she said. “I said, ‘Talk to you later.’ Later never came.”
Bill Williamson can be reached at 303-954-1262 or bwilliamson@denverpost.com.
