When the Houston Rockets’ plane touched down Thursday at Denver International Airport, John Lucas III wasn’t thinking about the bone-chilling cold or the Rockets’ current 7-3 hot streak.
“The minute we landed, all I could think about was D-Will,” Lucas said.
D-Will. Darrent Williams. The promising young Broncos cornerback who was murdered in a drive-by shooting in Denver in the early morning hours of Jan. 1.
“It’s a tragedy, but you can’t help but smile when you think about him, because he always made everyone else smile,” Lucas said. “Every time we went out together, we had a blast.”
They hooked up at Oklahoma State, where the 5-foot-8 Williams was a mighty-mite football player and Lucas was a 6-foot basketball scoring machine, finishing his college career among the top five in Big 12 history in points (1,877), 3-pointers (281) and assists (535).
“I knew Darrent my junior and senior seasons, after I transferred from Baylor,” Lucas said. “He lived right around the corner from me, in the same apartment complex. We’d always be hanging out, kicking it, playing video games or basketball.”
During his stopover in Denver, Lucas had planned to get together with Williams and Broncos running back Tatum Bell, another Oklahoma State product.
“We were going to hang out, talk about old times, go out,” Lucas said.
Lucas and Williams, who had kept in touch through e-mails and occasional phone calls, were looking forward to a little OSU reunion.
“He was just 24, same as me,” Lucas said. “It makes you think.”
Lucas first heard about Williams’ death on the televisions in the Toyota Center weight room.
“I was devastated. I couldn’t believe it when the news came across,” Lucas said. “Every time he was around, he was full of smiles, full of jokes. We were always together. If I had a bad game, he’d say, ‘Don’t worry about that. Next game you’ll get eight 3s.’ He always wanted to keep everybody’s spirits up. Everybody was in a good mood when he was around. To see this happen, it hits home.”
Because of his travel schedule, Lucas was unable to attend Williams’ memorial service in Fort Worth last week, but he sent flowers to Williams’ family and left tickets for a Rockets game for Williams’ brothers.
When Lucas takes the court tonight against the Nuggets at the Pepsi Center, he’ll pay tribute to his friend.
“I write his name on my shoes,” Lucas said.
Staff writer Marc J. Spears contributed to this report.
Patrick Saunders can be reached at 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com.
