Walk-On
Many people are involved in sports for the
money and fame, but why would you not want to be the person everyone is raving
about. Indeed, Alan Williams grew up with the mindset all children had to
become the world’s greatest player, but he turned out to be even more of an
inspiration than the select few who have become hall of fame basketball players. “I’m always bothered when
I read biographies that only focus on the “success” of a person’s life” (4). Alan
Williams quoted this because he believes anyone can speak on their success stories,
but no one can relate to them as well as one’s stories regarding failure.
Alan
Williams grew up in Memphis, Tennessee as he enjoyed hanging out with friends
and playing basketball to the point where his mother would count down from
three to get him inside. In the summer after Alan’s Sophomore Year of High
School, he attended the Pittsburgh session of the Five Star basketball camp at
Robert Morris College. Alan was 6 foot 2 and 175 pounds throughout high school
and college. He was a strong basketball player, but he was not at the size
Division 1 college’s prefer. Howard Garfinkle was well-known by college coaches
for developing any young basketball players. Garfinkle saw Alan’s potential and
helped him out by telling notable division 1 coaches that he liked the way Alan
played. He saw behind Alan’s athletic skills that he was a well-mannered,
intelligent student as well. After many talks with coaches, Alan would have
thought more colleges would be looking at him, but this was not the case. On
March 5, 2000 Alan decided to walk-on at Wake Forest University. Alan was
excited, but he knew that the chance to play in actual games would be tough as
Wake Forest was a renowned team at the time.
Alan’s life changed in his
freshman year of college on a Saturday in September. Alan was tying his
basketball shoes and about to head onto the Reynolds Gymnasium court when Tim
Duncan came up to him and said “What’s up man?’ At that moment, Alan felt that
he had reached his first goal of becoming a college basketball player and that
someone important acknowledged him. But weeks later, Skip Prosser was named the
new Head Coach at Wake Forest coming from Xavier, which meant Alan still had to
fight for a spot on the team. Garfinkle called Prosser and said, “You gotta
keep Alan Williams on the team.” Prosser responded with “What’s in Alan
Williams?” Garfinkle stated back, “Trust me on this one Skip; you’ll never
forget it.” Alan was driven to succeed and he would work out with Robert
O’Kelly, the ACC Freshmen of the year as often as possible. Alan looked up to
him because; Robert was personable, enthusiastic, caring and presented himself
in a humble manner. He always looked out for Alan and showed him respect. After
weeks of strenuous workouts with early mornings and late nights, the team was
given practice bags. Although, Alan did not see a bag sitting on his locker. He
had gone to every workout, lifted every weight, and ran every mile, but did not
receive a team bag. Alan questioned whether or not he could endure anymore discouraging
situations, but later that night when Alan came to his locker to pack-up, he
found a practice bag with the #4 on his locker. That was not his number. He
looked around the locker room and noticed it was Robert O’Kelly’s. He did not
understand why Robert O’Kelly had given up his bag for him.
Alan was clearly
smaller than anyone else on the team and it affected him at workouts because
the weights were too heavy and it was challenging. A
teammate came up to Alan after a workout and said “Alan, you gonna do this next
year?” Alan responded, “Well, Yeah and his teammate responded with, “Why dude?
You’re never gonna play.” But as a leader would do, he kept putting forth all
of his effort and did not back down. Trying harder than any of the other guys
to make up for his size, Alan was the easy laugh of the basketball team and
people joked around about him commonly. On one occasion, the team was running a
5k race and all of the players cut corners and finished first. Alan followed
the path and finished last. He was laughed at by the team for not playing by
their ‘rules’, but he was not used to cutting corners in life. Another scenario
was when Alan’s professor thought he was on a recreational team and after Alan
told him he was on the basketball team, the teacher thought he was just a
manager. Challenged, tired, exhausted, and the physical aspects of being the
‘joke’ of the team at races, on the court and in the weight room, weighed Alan
down. His grandfather had always told him “God’s hand is in everything.” But
Alan did not see where God’s hand was helping him because, in high school he was
the Student Body President, First Team All-State selection in basketball, and
he was named by USA Today as one of the top twenty players in Tennessee. He was
inconsistent with his religious life, because “he had everything he needed or
at least he thought.” But as he began to trust the Lord during difficult times,
life began to fall into place in a more positive way. He began attending the preaching each week and
followed bible verses. He learned to prepare and stay organized to reduce the
anxiety and stress that would overcome him in the past. His dad had taught him
a lot about success, preparation, and how they go hand-in hand with
opportunities.
When Alan’s first game had come, he entered Maryland’s stadium
and immediately, fans made fun of him and told him he looked like a twelve
year-old boy. But one fan said, “Hey twenty, you’re the man. You gotta love a
guy who is just playing for the love of the game.” Alan appreciated his comment
and felt proud that he had supporters. Alan asked himself questions such as,
“Why am I here? Who am I serving? What is my purpose?” He is honest to himself
and believes the answer to those questions is found in the heart. He came so
far in the season from working out and dedicating the majority of his life to
basketball. Days after his freshman season, Coach Odom informed Alan that he
may not be taking walk-ons the next season. At the moment, Alan learned that in
life, our positions are not guaranteed. He and his parents had faith in the
Lord that great things would come out of this negative situation. His mom and
dad advised him that he should only take one step at a time and he decided to
ask his strength coach from high school to work out with him, since he was
prohibited from working with the team. This displays his determination to keep
going and to persevere past the pessimistic challenges and memories.
After a
summer of great effort and long days of practice, Alan earned a spot back on the
team. He did not receive the new uniforms or practice gear, but he did not
care. Coach Odom resigned and Skip Prosser came in. Alan may not have been the
strongest player, but he improved each day and coach Prosser soon saw his
determination to accomplish his goals. Alan learned as a kid from his dad to
write everything down. Alan hung up his goals and how he would accomplish them
on his bathroom mirror. “Talking about getting better was one thing, but doing
it was another.” Soon after the season, coach Prosser called in Alan Williams
to his office and informed Alan that they were looking for a player who was
much bigger than Alan. He did not know why, once again why he was cut from the
Wake Forest basketball team. He traveled down a side road and parked his car to
think about the entire situation he just endured. He was depressed, but
realized he had been chasing his dream for such a long time and that he was
going to get back on the team. At the preseason opener the next season, Alan
saw his teammates on the court and was absolutely positive he would get back on
the court. He was inspired to work harder and follow his dreams. Days before
the walk-on tryout, Alan encountered coach Battle at Golden Corral and he
inspired Alan by describing how he was a walk-on and then became the team
captain. Alan did great at the tryout and made the team. He felt blessed and
excited to be back with his teammates.
He took two mission trips to Mexico, one
to Romania, and one to Ukraine. He realized how different societies were
because in Ukraine, there were children who attended his one week basketball
camp only bringing two pairs of clothes and shoes with numerous holes in them.
In Mexico, he preached the gospel to young kids for their first time and they
did not understand his reading at first, but then one child said, “If Jesus no
die, then nobody be saved at all.” He inspired a young children whose
grandfather had died in the war and taught him that God has a path for
everyone. Alan described how his parents were encouraging to him and not
critical of anything, which allowed him to achieve things on his own. On July
22, 2001 Alan’s dad was diagnosed with Leukemia and at that moment, Alan took
that weakness is the place we experience God’s strength. He had perseverance to
keep setting out to achieve goals because his dad was determined to beat cancer.
He learned that in life there are no guarantees of where you will go, what will
happen and how long you will live. When Alan’s senior year came, he was excited
about the relationships he had with his teammates and the team they were going
to put together that year. They made it to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA
tournament, but fell short after losing. To St. Joseph’s. The greatest moment
for Alan was getting in the last 11.34 seconds. In his career, Alan played over
4,000 hours of basketball, but only played for 59 minutes and scored 28 points.
120 games and only 10 baskets made. It is unimaginable to put that much work
into something and only receive small results. The results were small for the
terms of basketball, but Alan influenced lives, worked harder than anyone, and
never gave up. Alan stated in his book, “I was just Alan Williams, and a man
chose to take an interest in me that no one else was willing to take.”
I chose this book for multiple
reasons, such as because it deals with sports and not giving up. I also met
Alan Williams in 8th grade and he was inspirational and a great guy.
This book is very simple to relate with because in life, you are never
guaranteed anything. You must work towards everything you want and it takes the
effort and determination to achieve success. I can also relate to this book
because my dad taught me as a young kid to write down everything and I have
quotes, goals, and dreams that I plan on achieving in my life. It takes someone
who is well –organized, dedicated and prompt to achieve their goals, just as
Alan Williams. I also chose this book because it follows the exact path that
happened to me. I made the middle school team and won awards in Georgia and
Cooperstown, New York for baseball just as Alan did and then I did not make the
high school team in my freshman year of high school. I never missed a workout
from September 1st- February 19th and I was much smaller
than anyone else. I had to use the same weights that kids who were much bigger
than me were using, but I managed to do it. I put in double the effort to hang
with everyone else. I was disappointed when I failed to make the team, but I
was determined to make the team sophomore year and I worked even harder than I
did Freshman year. When sophomore year came, I was faster, stronger, and
absolutely better at hitting and defense. Everything had improved tremendously
and once again I did not miss a single workout the entire season. When the time
came in the middle of February, I was not on the roster and I did not know why.
I had done everything the coaches asked for and put in as much work as I could
have possibly put in. I was dispirited, but I was motivated to try new things
and achieve the goals that I had planned. Alan Williams began preaching and
wrote a book. My goals are to publish my essay about My Grandpa and My Life,
publish a quote book, and to build a homeless shelter.
I learned a lot about the leadership
portrayed in this book. This book mentions a lot about equality and how we
should all work together as a team and trusting one another is important. I
also learned that motivation, determination, and goal-setting are key to
achieving anything. Believing and our trust in the Lord is difficult to
remember sometimes when we face challenging issues, but it is necessary to
always believe that God is there to help and that everything is happening for a
specific reason. Hope and faith are discussed numerous times in the book
Walk-On and the bible verses and quotes from people who inspired Alan Williams
are motivating aspects of this story that influence anyone reading this book to
take control of your life and be a leader. Not letting anyone tell you that
you’re not good enough is one of the most important pieces of life. If you have
self-confidence and believe you can do something, why let an opinion dispirit
you. A leader thinks positive and stays on track with their goals so that they
can and will achieve the goals and dreams that they wrote down.
After reading this book, I learned
that I should never let an opinion lead me in the opposite direction in which I
had planned. If people, even my friends tell me I shouldn’t do something
because I am not the ‘right type’ I will set out to find the answer and achieve
what I planned. Also, this book taught me to enjoy the moments I have in life
and take everything I do seriously and also in a positive manner. As a father,
I will not force my kids to practice, or do extra sports work because they are
not represented by how good they are at sports. Life is much more than sports
and the name on the back of your jersey. I hope to listen to other for guidance
and take information that is encouraging as helpful, rather than thinking the
person is being critical. Indeed, I hope to take more charge of what I am capable
of accomplishing and begin to challenge myself to the maximum. Leadership is
not always being the sole person telling everyone what to do. A leader can also
be the smallest person, guiding and providing others with helpful information,
tips, and advice to aid them. A leader is also the one who is using teamwork
rather than independent work. Walk-On
teaches more than just a story about a man who faced multiple challenges and
found ways to overcome them. This book teaches lessons about life; when you are
in troubled times, happy times, and also guidelines of living a determined and
motivated lifestyle.
-Austin McClain Baker
Austin Baker
Twitter: @ABakerPresident
Email: DreamsDriveDetermination@gmail.com
