Williams is larger than life

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/07/2009 (5932 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The task was to pick a member of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and find out about his life away from football. Looking around the locker-room there was one player that kept coming to mind — defensive lineman Tyrone Williams.

The difficulty, however, was approaching Williams, who is by far the most intimidating athlete in the Bombers locker-room, then asking him to spend a little time with a reporter away from the field. The player happily agreed to the arrangement and negotiations for a time and place were made. Williams was one minute late for our 6:45 a.m. meeting.

The first thing we figured out about the 36-year-old Williams is that he has star power. People flock to him. We walked into the Falafel Place on Corydon just before 7 a.m. and the handful of customers in the joint all turned their heads and it wasn’t to check out the balding, middle-aged sports writer. Soon, a waitress and both owners of the restaurant were at our table showing Williams the menu and telling him they would make him whatever he wanted. I’m lucky I got a piece of toast out of the deal. And the bill, well, it somehow magically disappeared. Oh, to be a pro athlete.

At 6-foot-4 and just under 300 pounds, Williams is huge. And not Jolly Green Giant big like Doug Brown or offensive lineman chubby. We’re talking comic book villain, biceps popping, sized triple extra large.

Born in Philadelphia and a five-year veteran of the NFL before coming to the CFL and spending seven productive seasons with the B.C. Lions, Williams is in his first season with the Blue Bombers. Here are some of the highlights of our chat with the deep-voiced but soft-spoken defensive tackle:

FREE PRESS: Have you ever been a bodyguard?

WILLIAMS: "I get asked all the time but I’ve never done it. I was a bouncer at a nightclub back in college but that’s about it."

FREE PRESS: Does anyone ever say you look like the actor Michael Clarke Duncan from The Green Mile?

WILLIAMS: "I get it all. The Green Mile guy and also the guy from Next Friday. It’s an urban comedy with Chris Rock and Ice Cube and Tiny Lister. Tiny Lister is the guy I get all the time."

FREE PRESS: What’s growing up in North Philadelphia like?

WILLIAMS: "Philly is Philly. You have to be from that city to really appreciate it. It can be hard. It looks hard. But the people there, they’re really nice. Believe it or not. It’s hard to wrap your brain around it. It’s an old city and it isn’t the cleanest city. But at the same time I appreciate it because it’s where I’m from. That’s my roots. To walk down the street there, I feel safe."

FREE PRESS: At 6-foot-4 and 300 pounds, where don’t you feel safe?

WILLIAMS: "At the same time, you can be a target. People want to try you. And I’ve never felt that way there. I feel a calmness when I walk down the street there."

FREE PRESS: Have you always been big?

WILLIAMS: "I guess I was for my age. In comparison to the kids now, no. I was only 5-8 in eighth grade but I grew four inches before the ninth grade. I was always bigger than my friends but I was skinny. A lot of this is from work. I credit my best friend for a lot of this. In eighth grade we went to his apartment and he had a weight bench. Up until then I had never messed with weights. He was muscular. I got on the bench and took the bar off and I wasn’t able to get it off my chest. From then on I started to work with weights. Funny thing, now I can’t get him to touch a weight. The irony of it is, he’s a general manager of a fitness club. But he doesn’t work out."

FREE PRESS: What’s your favourite Michael Jackson song?

WILLIAMS: "I don’t have one favourite. I like, You Are Not Alone, Dirty Diana and The Way You Make Me Feel."

FREE PRESS: Can you moonwalk?

WILLIAMS: "I can do all the Michael Jackson moves… No. Not without making myself look like a fool. In my mind I can but I would look foolish trying."

FREE PRESS: Jackson was an American icon, do you wish you were in the U.S. for his death and the aftermath?

WILLIAMS: "Being here, it amazes me how it affects the rest of the world. When you’re at home, you wonder if anyone else cares about what your country is going through at that time, but this showed me that he touched everyone. Everyone cared about him in some aspect. That’s what I saw. Michael Jackson is bigger than America. And things do happen outside America. I wasn’t so vain or narrow-minded that I thought things didn’t happen outside America, but I wondered if people cared. Turns out they do. Just like Obama. Canadians were telling me after the election that they thought it was so great. That made me feel so good."

FREE PRESS: How do you feel about Obama?

WILLIAMS: "It’s great for mankind. Period. It exemplifies that adage, if you believe, you can achieve. I mean, come on, 20 years ago, this never would have happened. That recently you wouldn’t have said, this guy is going to be president."

FREE PRESS: The best golfer in the world is black (Tiger Woods) and now so is the President of the United States.

WILLIAMS: "At first it’s a novelty. Tiger is amazing and he’s been doing it for awhile. But it’s not the same as Obama. When I see him on TV, I’m still in awe. Not just because he’s black but because of his aura. He’s so calm, cool and collected in his demeanour. He’s so composed. He’s a handsome gentleman. He talks so well. When he talks, people listen."

FREE PRESS: When’s the last time you bought a dress shirt?

WILLIAMS: "I guess, in April. My suits are custom-made. My neck is 20 inches, my chest is 56 inches. My arms are extra long and my biceps are, I don’t know, 22 inches. My waist is 36 inches. So, when they give me a 56 chest jacket, the pants that go with it are like a 50 waist. There’s too much material for them to just take it in. So I have to order them special."

FREE PRESS: Do you have a family?

WILLIAMS: "My wife and four kids. Three boys and a girl. I haven’t seen them since I came to training camp. Actually we have Skype. So I see them every day."

FREE PRESS: Do you scold them over the phone? What’s your trademark discipline line?

WILLIAMS: "Every day. They listen. They’re good kids. Probably, just kind of a loud and deep, ‘hey.’ I don’t know if it works. It does for a minute anyway. But they’re not afraid of me. They shouldn’t be. You want them to respect you. I think we’re all a little scared of our dads. I was scared of my grandfather, too. He had that deep, booming voice."

FREE PRESS: You must have a strong wife?

WILLIAMS: "She’s amazing. I leave her with the kids for almost six months every year. She’s in charge. Sometimes I think she might get a little overwhelmed and that makes me feel bad. It’s tough. Especially now with my oldest son. He’s an alpha male. He wears on her sometimes."

FREE PRESS: What do you like most about football?

WILLIAMS: "I like the fact that we’re able to be violent and not get in trouble. We can take out aggression. The stuff that we do, you get locked up for."

FREE PRESS: Do you get whipped up before a game?

WILLIAMS: "I do. I get real excited. I think the day that stops, that’s when to call it a career. That and as long as my body holds up."

FREE PRESS: How is your body?

WILLIAMS: "Really good. I take good care of myself. I work hard at it."

FREE PRESS: Lions coach and GM Wally Buono cut you this off-season presumably because you’re getting old and your game is about to slip off. Is Wally Buono wrong?

WILLIAMS: "Wally Buono, wrong? Wally Buono is never wrong. Do with that what you want. You know, I had a good run there and I established something but that’s what it is, I guess… It’s a business and it’s bigger than me. It always will be. I figure I’m at a place now where I can help somebody or they can help me. I think it’s working out just fine. My biggest regret about not being in B.C., my family was just a few hours away in Washington state. But I can’t dwell on it. There’s a reason why I was sent here. There’s a reason."

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca