Mark Williams twice turned his back on basketball, a sport that seemed to be attached to his hip while he was growing up and one he hoped would make his dream of becoming a professional athlete come true.
He still proclaims himself to have been the biggest gym rat in existence when he was a kid in south Denver. His fixation on becoming a pro athlete was fostered by his uncle, Stan Williams, who excelled in baseball at Denver East High School.
Stan Williams went on to join the famed Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitching rotation with Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Johnny Podres.
“Looking back on it, ever since I was in the fourth grade, I wanted to be a pro athlete,” Mark Williams said. “My uncle was my inspiration. But it all goes back to being the biggest gym rat that ever was.”
Williams seemed in pursuit of his goals in 1971 as he completed his sophomore season at the University of Kansas. After his Denver South team won a Colorado state championship in 1969, Williams had gone to one of the most prestigious basketball schools in the country to play for coach Ted Owens.
The Jayhawks went to the Final Four in the Astrodome in Houston but lost 68-60 to UCLA in the semifinals.
“Kansas was my first recruiting trip, and with its basketball history, it made quite an impression on me,” Williams said. “I made up my mind that was where I wanted to go.”
But Williams didn’t go back for his junior year, instead going to Colorado State. After sitting out a year, he played the 1972-73 season for coach Jim Williams.
Gary Rhoades, who came out of Denver West, was CSU’s big gun. Williams averaged double figures in scoring, but he didn’t return for his final season of eligibility.
“I basically decided to get on with my life,” Williams said. “When I left Kansas, I had decided my best chance to continue in basketball was at home. I have some regrets for not finishing out and playing one more season at CSU, but by then, I knew I wasn’t going any further in basketball.”
Williams was a 5-foot-11 guard who played like he was born with a basketball in his hand. His forte was shooting, but even some 35 years ago, there wasn’t a great future for 5-11 guards in basketball. The state championship in 1969 remains his most cherished memory from the sport. The Rebels faced an undefeated and top-ranked Denver Manual team in the title game at the Denver Coliseum.
Williams recalled that his team’s center, 6-8 Jim Ballard, had broken his foot in the final football game in the fall and wasn’t effective in basketball until late in the season. But as state tournament time approached, Ballard was close to 100 percent and the team jelled.
“We were a pretty average team most of the year and barely made it to the state tournament,” Williams said. “Jim Ballard was strong as an ox, and when he got healthy, it was the turning point. Joe Strain was our coach. He was a gentleman but a fierce competitor.”
The underdog Rebels started fast and held off Manual at the end to win 68-59. The outcome triggered some rioting outside the Denver Coliseum after the game.
“We had a police escort when we left the coliseum,” Williams said. “The whole thing was sad. It took some luster off the evening.”
Larry Farmer, who went on to play for UCLA, was on the Manual team. Williams and Farmer met again in the 1971 Final Four in Houston.
When Williams left basketball behind, he went into law enforcement in Jefferson County. He retired in 2000 but still works part time for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department.
He’s not entirely out of sports. Williams was hired by Major League Baseball three years ago to be an authenticator at Rockies games.
His job is to authenticate any historical fact or item to come out of any game.
“We put a hologram on just about everything to verify it’s authentic and the only one of its kind,” Williams said.
It’s not quite the way he wanted, but Williams is in pro sports.
Williams bio
Born: Aug. 22, 1951, in South Bend, Ind.
High school: Denver South
Colleges: Kansas and CSU
Family: Wife Georgiann, sons Michael and Tony, daughters Ronda and Krissa
Hobby: Landscaping
Future: New contracts with Major League Baseball
