Thanksgiving Crystal Ball: A Grateful Guru
Published continually since 1994
My friends, THE GURU is thankful.
Thankful that God made men who created football. Thankful that THE CHIEF passed his love of the game to me so we could share memories with my mom, MRS BRAVE, and my sister, MISS SIXPOINTS.
Thankful for my favorite football fan, THE FAIR CLAUDINE, and my favorite football player, THE TRE MAN.
Thankful for the teammates and coaches that continue to influence my life to this day. Thankful for the greats whose passion have inspired me and so many others. The Hall of Famers, the all-timers and, yes, the journeymen whose time on center stage came and went in the blink of an eye.
I’m talking about men like Dave Williams, a long-retired player who never made it to the Super Bowl or a Pro Bowl. Yet, 44 years ago, he gave fans an enduring memory, a play that is, perhaps, the most thrilling moment in the NFL’s illustrious Thanksgiving Day history.
Let’s take it from the beginning.
David Ray Williams was born in Minden, Louisiana, on March 10, 1954, one of eight children raised by Thomas and Lovie. He played ball 20 miles away at Homer High School1, roughly an hour northeast of Shreveport and just a few minutes south of the Arkansas border.
Williams was electric as a prep, earning All-American honors at quarterback while being named team Most Valuable Player. And his greatness wasn’t limited to the gridiron – he was a greaet student and also served as student council vice president.
Baylor won the intense recruiting battle for his services in April 1972, but Williams changed course a month later and signed with the University of Colorado and head coach Eddie Crowder. At the time, freshmen weren’t allowed to play NCAA varsity football but still, Crowder gushed about Williams:
“He has the finest set of tools of anyone we have had here. He’s a very intelligent young man with great characters and ideals and a great athlete.”
Williams excelled during his time in Boulder, culminating in his senior campaign when he accounted for 14 touchdowns, beat two ranked opponents (Missouri and Kansas) and nearly toppled #1-ranked Oklahoma.
Most importantly, he led the Buffs to the postseason for the first time in three years, the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl2 against the University of Texas. For his efforts, Williams was honored by Colorado3 with the Zack Jordan Award as Most Valuable Player, the Balfour Award for outstanding offensive back and the Dean Jacob Van Ek Award in the spirit of academic and athletic excellence.
Next, he was selected by Dallas4 in the seventh round of the 1976 NFL Draft, the 208th overall pick and the team’s eleventh choice. In fact, Williams was one of 12 CU players drafted in 1976, more than any other school, including national champion Oklahoma, which had seven draftees.
As he joined the pros, he was asked to learn a new position – running back – and he balked, joining the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders as a QB instead. That gig lasted for a year and then it was back to the NFL as, yes, he agreed to switch positions.
First up was San Francisco with Williams joining the Niners for the 1977 season, working as a kick and punt returner in limited action though there were flashes of greatness. To wit: against Minnesota, he returned a kick 80 yards for a TD and took a punt back 60 yards, followed by a five-yard rushing TD two plays later.
Unfortunately, new coach Bill Walsh cut Williams in 1979, a move that led the runner to sign with the Bears where he immediately produced. In fact, he turned in his best year as a pro, gaining 755 scrimmage yards, scoring six touchdowns and leading the team with a career-high 42 catches. As a fullback for the injury-riddled Bears, he also played a key role in Walter Payton rushing for 1,610 yards, second in the league, as Chicago made the playoffs for just the fourth time since 1950.
Bears head coach Neill Armstrong, an NFL champion as a player with the Eagles in 1948 and 1949, knew the team was lucky to have the versatile running back and kick returner.
“If it weren’t for (the team’s) injuries, we might never know how good a football player Dave Williams was,” he said.
True words but, sadly, Williams’ contributions didn’t last as regular fullback Roland Harper returned from injury in 1980 and our guy’s playing time and touches decreased dramatically.
Coincidentally or not, the team’s fortunes faded and, by the time Thanksgiving arrived in 1980, Chicago was virtually out of the playoff hunt at 4-8. On the flip side, host Dee-troit led the NFC Central at 7-5, nearing its first postseason appearance in 10 seasons.
As the game entered the fourth quarter, the Lions and Coach Monte Clark held a 17-3 lead and appeared on their way to cementing their stranglehold on the division and earning an elusive playoff berth. But Chicago and QB Vince Evans had other ideas.
Evans, then four years into a 19-year pro career, simply dazzled in the final period. First, he marched the Bears 86 yards in nine plays, hitting Bob Fisher with a 20-yard TD pass to cut the lead to 17-10. Then he drove the team 94 yards and ran four yards for the tying TD as regulation time expired.
The score was 17-17 and, after Bears punter Bob Parsons called “tails” to win the extra period coin toss, Williams stood at the Chicago goal line, ready for his moment.
To that point, the former Colorado star had been quiet with 12 yards of total offense and 53 yards on three kick returns as Lions kicker Eddie Murray had dodged several bullets while kicking away from Williams all day. But, in OT, Murray made a fatal mistake5.
“We wanted to kick to (Bears returner) Matt Suhey,” he said. “But I kicked the ball high and that gives Williams time to move over and take it.”
Williams caught the ball at his own five-yard line and followed his blockers as instructed to the middle of the field before he spotted a crease around his own 30. He quickly split two defenders to his left and headed for the visitors’ sideline. And that’s when the former Colorado sprinter figured he was off to the races.
“I felt like I had a chance. I just had to run, that’s it,” Williams told reporters. “A couple of guys had a good angle on me, and I thought they might have a chance. It wasn’t until I was 15 yards from the end zone that I said, ‘Too late now. It’s over. Touchdown.’”
It only took 12 seconds and remains the fastest end to an NFL overtime game6. Heck, I expect to clear my first plate of turkey, stuffing and mashed quicker than that.
Lions coach Clark summed it up this way:
“It was like watching a nightmare going down the sideline. This is probably the bitterest, most disappointing loss I can remember.”
The Lions faltered from there and missed the playoffs with a 9-7 record, losing the NFC Central tiebreaker to Minnesota. Clark led the team four more seasons, earning two postseason berths (1982-83) and finishing with a 43-63 record over seven years.
Williams’ big play gave the Bears life, at least temporarily, and, the following week, they pummeled Green Bay, 61-7, the largest margin of victory for either team in their lengthy rivalry. Armstrong’s club then split their final two games to finish 6-10.
As for Williams, the game-winning return was the pinnacle of his career. He played one more year with the Bears, missing eight games due to a leg injury7 and his NFL career ended shortly thereafter.
But Dave Williams will always have Thanksgiving Day, 1980. And, as football fans, so will we.
The Week Twelve record was 9-4, moving the season mark to 108-70 (.607). On to the Thursday-Friday games with some quick picks.
TODAY
Bears (4-7, 0-4 away) at Lions (10-1, 4-1 home) could be uglier than a brimming bowl of cranberry sauce. Take Dan Campbell & Co. and catch all the action at 12:30 pm on CBS…
…at 4:30 pm on Fox, I expect the host Cowboys (4-7, 0-5 home) to pummel the Giants (2-9, 2-3 away). Dallas is the league’s only winless team at home but methinks that’s about to change…
…the Thanksgiving night game features the Dolphins (5-6, 2-3 away) visiting Green Bay (8-3, 4-2 home). Miami has won three straight but I’ll go with the Packers in a close, entertaining contest. You can see the game at 8:20 pm on NBC or its money-grubbing offspring, Peacock…
…in the NFL’s first ever Black Friday game, I love the Chiefs (10-1, 5-0 home) to beat the archrival Raiders (2-9, 1-5 away) at Arrowhead. Prime Video has the telecast at 3 pm ET as Bezos counts his billions.
That’s it for today, folks. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours and I’ll be back this weekend. God bless!
The town of Homer, named for the famed Greek poet, is the parish seat in Claiborne Parish and is a racially diverse community with 61% of its residents being African-American and 38% white. Thirty-one percent of the population lives below the poverty line and budgetary constraints even forced Homer High to eliminate its band program a few years back.
In addition to Williams, Homer has produced sports luminaries like former WNBA star Cheryl Ford, the daughter of Karl “The Mailman” Malone; American Football League legend Paul Lowe; and, most famously, sports orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews. Not bad for a town of 3,200 in rural Louisiana.
CU lost, 38-21, but the QB played well with two first-half touchdown passes, including a score to Don Hasselbeck, a star tight end who would enjoy a successful nine-year NFL career. You may know his sons, Matt and Tim, pro quarterbacks for 17 and four years, respectively.
He also earned first team Academic All-Big Eight for the second consecutive season and was eventually named Honorable Mention for CU’s All-Century team.
In becoming a pro, Williams joined a fraternity that once included his older brother Clyde, a St. Louis Cardinals offensive guard and tackle (1967-71) who also played in four (!) additional leagues - the Canadian, Continental, United, and World Football Leagues. Clyde passed away in 2019.
H/T The Shreveport Journal, Nov 28, 1980
Chad Morton of the Jets came close on September 8, 2002, but his 96-yard touchdown return took 14 seconds as New York topped Buffalo, 37-31.
Still, he was productive in limited duty, scoring two touchdowns in 20 offensive touches, and gaining 486 yards on kick returns. He and the Bears couldn’t agree on a contract prior to the 1982 season and, with Harper in decline, new fullback Suhey, and rookie Dennis Gentry got most of the backfield touches that weren’t taken by Payton.