Men's Basketball: WVU Great Fritz Williams Dies
April 05, 2004 08:28 PM | General
April 5, 2004
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Ron “Fritz” Williams, one of West Virginia University’s all-time basketball greats, died Sunday in San Francisco of a heart attack. He was 59.
Williams, a native of Weirton, joined Ed Harvard, Norman Holmes and Jim Lewis in becoming the first African-American basketball players at West Virginia University in 1965. Williams was recruited to WVU by Coach George King and played for Bucky Waters.
After playing on the freshman team in 1965, Williams averaged 19.7 points and 5.5 assists per game for the varsity in 1966 to lead the Mountaineers to a 19-9 record. Williams played a part in West Virginia’s memorable upset win against No. 1-ranked Duke at the Charleston Civic Center on Feb. 7, 1966 – even today considered one of the school’s greatest basketball triumphs.
Williams upped his scoring average to 20.1 points per game as junior in 1967, leading WVU to another 19-win season and the Southern Conference championship. West Virginia lost its NCAA tournament first round game to No. 5 Princeton, 68-57 in Blacksburg, Va.
As a senior in 1968, he averaged a team-best 20.4 points per game to finish his career with 1,687 points, ranking seventh on the school’s all-time scoring list. Williams also handed out 504 assists to rank third.
He was named a second team Converse All-American in 1968 and was one of 30 players invited for the U.S. Olympic Trials. Williams was the ninth overall player selected in the 1968 NBA draft by the San Francisco Warriors and played a total of six years with that organization. He was also a 14th round draft selection by the Dallas Cowboys of the NFL to earn the rare distinction of being drafted by two different professional sporting teams.
Williams’ best NBA season came in 1969-70 when he averaged 14.8 points and 5.3 assists per game teaming with Jeff Mullins in the Warriors’ backcourt. Williams also averaged 14.4 points per game the following season and lost the league free throw shooting title on the final game of the season to Oscar Robertson and Chet Walker. Williams finished the 1970-71 season making 331 of 392 free throw attempts for 84.4 percent. In eight NBA seasons with the Warriors, Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers Williams was an 83.3 percent free throw shooter.
His final season came with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1975-76, appearing in nine games. He tallied a career-high 34 points against the Detroit Pistons on Jan. 27, 1971.
Williams’ eight-year NBA totals include 4,797 points and 1,818 assists. He remains the last WVU player to spend more than five seasons in the NBA.
Following his professional career Williams coached all levels of basketball including college assistant stints at Cal-Berkley and Iona.
Williams was inducted in the West Virginia University Sports Hall of Fame in 1993. He is survived by a son Eric and a daughter Rayna.
