Denver Native (Carol)
06-27-2010, 07:41 AM
http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_15385678
On a cloudless, 90-degree, late June summer day, your world isn't as sunny as Alfred Williams'. It couldn't be.
He corners the market on smiles. He is seemingly the inventor of effervescence. If 41 years of life have taught him anything, it's a spoonful of sugar beats vinegar every second of every day. "In my world, it's rose-lens glasses for me," Williams said.
How could it not be?
He has left the many worries of his youth behind. It was recently announced he would be in the next class inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He co-hosts one of the most popular sports talk-radio shows in Denver. He is married, and his oldest son, Dominique, just graduated from Grandview High School. And though Williams did not grow up in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, he is fully invested in Colorado, his permanent home.
"This place is magical to me," Williams said. "I've lived in different parts of the country and visited several places, and I always come back."
Football at CU a turning point
Williams had to grow into his sunny self.
When he hit the University of Colorado campus as a freshman in 1987, he was admittedly a moody individual. At any given moment, he was just as liable to be cantankerous as jovial.
"When things didn't go my way, I would show my emotion," Williams said. "That was kind of the way that it went while I was adjusting to becoming my own man."
He grew up in the South Park development of Houston, a rough-and-tumble, post-World War II neighborhood where many of the streets are named after battle sites and key figures in the war.
"I had a lot of heartaches when I was growing up, like most teenagers do," Williams said. "It was a tough neighborhood, and it continues to be a tough neighborhood. I've seen so many flights for life, heard so many police sirens and ambulance sirens and understood the violence from a young age, that it was at times overwhelming.
"And when I got a chance to leave, I left."
It was there that then-CU coach Bill McCartney plucked Williams, bringing him and highly regarded linebacker Kanavis McGee, to Boulder. Oddly enough, Williams and McGee — who attended Phillis Wheatley High School in Houston — became fast friends on the summer basketball circuit. They connected in earnest when each learned of the other's intention to attend CU.
"We reached out to one another," McGhee said. "We were both hoping they made us roommates, and they did. We got really close our freshman year because we had to use each other as a support system. Some days would be hard for him, and I had to be the support system. Some days would be hard for me, and he was my support system."
The duo, along with defensive tackle Art Walker, became the 'H-Boys,' a Houston-area trio that plugged the line of scrimmage and relentlessly got after the quarterback.
Chasing down signal callers was Williams' signature. Roland Rogers, his coach at Jones High School, drilled into Williams a hunger for sacking the quarterback and dropping ball carriers for losses.
"I don't care how often I play a snap," Williams said. "The opportunity was not just to make a tackle, but to make it for a loss."
Never was he better at that than at CU. He still holds school records for career sacks — 35 for 242 yards in losses — and career tackles for loss — 59 for 303. By the time his college career ended, Williams was a two-time Big Eight defensive player of the year, a two-time All-American and a Butkus Award winner.
McCartney, who did not respond to several calls to talk about Williams, told CUBuffs.com the linebacker/defensive end "just had a sense about him. He basically knew before they snapped the ball if they were running, throwing or coming at you with the option, and you can't coach that."
On game days, McGhee recalled Williams being a cool customer.
"He was reserved, focused before he hit the field," McGhee said. "In control of his emotions, but loose."
And yet early on, then-linebackers coach Mike Hankwitz realized an attitude-adjusted Williams was more beneficial to the player and the team.
During Williams' freshman season, Hankwitz pulled him aside.
"Alfred, when you're happy, it seems to make everyone else around you happy," Hankwitz said. "You have the choice every day to make your mind up and have a good day or bad day. That's your decision."
Almost inexplicably, that small piece of advice changed Williams.
"It made so much sense to me then," Williams said. "I don't even know if he knows how much it impacted me.
"He said: 'I'm not telling you that every moment in a day is going to be a great moment. And there may be some bad moments in a day. But certainly you can find something to smile about in that day.' "
Williams has been smiling ever since.
Big Al made for airwaves
The connection between Williams and radio wasn't easy at first. Tim Spence, then-program director at KKFN, had worked with the former player and saw a big personality and tons of potential, but when he approached Williams to do a daily show after his retirement from pro football in 1999, the athlete hedged.
"I told him 'No, thank you,' " Williams said. "Like most players that leave the NFL, I was angry. I was injured and disgruntled. So I did not want to jump on the radio and do what I thought would have been a disservice to many people who had followed me."
So he started, and sold out of, a business. He moved to Arizona, then back to Colorado. It was a couple of years before Williams developed a taste for the media. And while Spence was persistent enough to finally get him on air, it was Scott Hastings, a former NBA player, who stoked the flames.
The two had worked together on a show for Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke's cable station, Altitude Sports and Entertainment. Hastings pushed for Williams to be his partner on the radio.
"So when Tim came to me and asked me to do it, I said, 'This time, yes,' " Williams said. "I told him: 'Look, I don't quit. I want to work.'
"This is fun. It keeps me in the game without having to have the bumps and bruises, and it became the reason I woke up in the morning. The drive that was displayed in football could be transferred to another profession where I knew I could compete."
"Scott and Al" quickly became one of the most popular shows in Denver sports radio.
"It was fun," Hastings said. "We were two ex-athletes doing a show. There's probably journalism majors across the country that teach people how to be in that position that cringed every time we opened our mouths. But we genuinely liked each other. We weren't afraid to poke fun at each other. We weren't afraid to poke fun at ourselves. Our goal on the show is we wanted to have a good time, because we knew if we had a good time, then whoever was listening was having a good time too."
What's next? More of the same — at a higher level, Williams hopes. Now co-hosting a drive time show with Darren 'D-Mac' McKee, Williams takes his position at FM 104.3 "The Fan" as seriously as he did making a game-saving tackle.
"I don't want to do negative radio," Williams said. "Negative radio, anybody can do it. I can tell you what's wrong with every part of every sport that I'm covering. But how about let's work on some of the things that are right? I don't want to beat up the guys that participate, because I know how tough it is."
Those who know radio see limitless potential in Williams, as long as he's willing to keep working. But everyone who mentions Williams comes back to one point.
"When you wipe away all the talent and the personality and attitude and opinions and stuff like that, which he has plenty of, he's really a nice guy," Spence said. "Anyone that meets him, anyone that listens to him, he's real and he's a nice guy. And that is the most important thing."
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
Alfred Williams through the years
1987: Signed letter of intent to play for the University of Colorado out of Jones High School in Houston.
1990: Was Big Eight defensive player of the year, named AP first-team All-American and received the Butkus Award, given to the nation's most outstanding linebacker.
1991: Selected 18th by the Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL draft; played four seasons and recorded 26 1/2 sacks.
1995: Played for the San Francisco 49ers for one season.
1996: Joined the Broncos, whom he helped win back-to-back Super Bowls in 1997 and 1998. He was named an all-pro in 1996. He finished his Broncos career with 28 1/2 sacks. 2002: Joined KKFN 950 AM as a sports talk-show host.
2010: Named to the College Football Hall of Fame. Will be inducted Dec. 7, then enshrined in the Hall in the summer of 2011. He is a sports talk-show host for KKFN 104.3 FM.
On a cloudless, 90-degree, late June summer day, your world isn't as sunny as Alfred Williams'. It couldn't be.
He corners the market on smiles. He is seemingly the inventor of effervescence. If 41 years of life have taught him anything, it's a spoonful of sugar beats vinegar every second of every day. "In my world, it's rose-lens glasses for me," Williams said.
How could it not be?
He has left the many worries of his youth behind. It was recently announced he would be in the next class inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He co-hosts one of the most popular sports talk-radio shows in Denver. He is married, and his oldest son, Dominique, just graduated from Grandview High School. And though Williams did not grow up in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, he is fully invested in Colorado, his permanent home.
"This place is magical to me," Williams said. "I've lived in different parts of the country and visited several places, and I always come back."
Football at CU a turning point
Williams had to grow into his sunny self.
When he hit the University of Colorado campus as a freshman in 1987, he was admittedly a moody individual. At any given moment, he was just as liable to be cantankerous as jovial.
"When things didn't go my way, I would show my emotion," Williams said. "That was kind of the way that it went while I was adjusting to becoming my own man."
He grew up in the South Park development of Houston, a rough-and-tumble, post-World War II neighborhood where many of the streets are named after battle sites and key figures in the war.
"I had a lot of heartaches when I was growing up, like most teenagers do," Williams said. "It was a tough neighborhood, and it continues to be a tough neighborhood. I've seen so many flights for life, heard so many police sirens and ambulance sirens and understood the violence from a young age, that it was at times overwhelming.
"And when I got a chance to leave, I left."
It was there that then-CU coach Bill McCartney plucked Williams, bringing him and highly regarded linebacker Kanavis McGee, to Boulder. Oddly enough, Williams and McGee — who attended Phillis Wheatley High School in Houston — became fast friends on the summer basketball circuit. They connected in earnest when each learned of the other's intention to attend CU.
"We reached out to one another," McGhee said. "We were both hoping they made us roommates, and they did. We got really close our freshman year because we had to use each other as a support system. Some days would be hard for him, and I had to be the support system. Some days would be hard for me, and he was my support system."
The duo, along with defensive tackle Art Walker, became the 'H-Boys,' a Houston-area trio that plugged the line of scrimmage and relentlessly got after the quarterback.
Chasing down signal callers was Williams' signature. Roland Rogers, his coach at Jones High School, drilled into Williams a hunger for sacking the quarterback and dropping ball carriers for losses.
"I don't care how often I play a snap," Williams said. "The opportunity was not just to make a tackle, but to make it for a loss."
Never was he better at that than at CU. He still holds school records for career sacks — 35 for 242 yards in losses — and career tackles for loss — 59 for 303. By the time his college career ended, Williams was a two-time Big Eight defensive player of the year, a two-time All-American and a Butkus Award winner.
McCartney, who did not respond to several calls to talk about Williams, told CUBuffs.com the linebacker/defensive end "just had a sense about him. He basically knew before they snapped the ball if they were running, throwing or coming at you with the option, and you can't coach that."
On game days, McGhee recalled Williams being a cool customer.
"He was reserved, focused before he hit the field," McGhee said. "In control of his emotions, but loose."
And yet early on, then-linebackers coach Mike Hankwitz realized an attitude-adjusted Williams was more beneficial to the player and the team.
During Williams' freshman season, Hankwitz pulled him aside.
"Alfred, when you're happy, it seems to make everyone else around you happy," Hankwitz said. "You have the choice every day to make your mind up and have a good day or bad day. That's your decision."
Almost inexplicably, that small piece of advice changed Williams.
"It made so much sense to me then," Williams said. "I don't even know if he knows how much it impacted me.
"He said: 'I'm not telling you that every moment in a day is going to be a great moment. And there may be some bad moments in a day. But certainly you can find something to smile about in that day.' "
Williams has been smiling ever since.
Big Al made for airwaves
The connection between Williams and radio wasn't easy at first. Tim Spence, then-program director at KKFN, had worked with the former player and saw a big personality and tons of potential, but when he approached Williams to do a daily show after his retirement from pro football in 1999, the athlete hedged.
"I told him 'No, thank you,' " Williams said. "Like most players that leave the NFL, I was angry. I was injured and disgruntled. So I did not want to jump on the radio and do what I thought would have been a disservice to many people who had followed me."
So he started, and sold out of, a business. He moved to Arizona, then back to Colorado. It was a couple of years before Williams developed a taste for the media. And while Spence was persistent enough to finally get him on air, it was Scott Hastings, a former NBA player, who stoked the flames.
The two had worked together on a show for Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke's cable station, Altitude Sports and Entertainment. Hastings pushed for Williams to be his partner on the radio.
"So when Tim came to me and asked me to do it, I said, 'This time, yes,' " Williams said. "I told him: 'Look, I don't quit. I want to work.'
"This is fun. It keeps me in the game without having to have the bumps and bruises, and it became the reason I woke up in the morning. The drive that was displayed in football could be transferred to another profession where I knew I could compete."
"Scott and Al" quickly became one of the most popular shows in Denver sports radio.
"It was fun," Hastings said. "We were two ex-athletes doing a show. There's probably journalism majors across the country that teach people how to be in that position that cringed every time we opened our mouths. But we genuinely liked each other. We weren't afraid to poke fun at each other. We weren't afraid to poke fun at ourselves. Our goal on the show is we wanted to have a good time, because we knew if we had a good time, then whoever was listening was having a good time too."
What's next? More of the same — at a higher level, Williams hopes. Now co-hosting a drive time show with Darren 'D-Mac' McKee, Williams takes his position at FM 104.3 "The Fan" as seriously as he did making a game-saving tackle.
"I don't want to do negative radio," Williams said. "Negative radio, anybody can do it. I can tell you what's wrong with every part of every sport that I'm covering. But how about let's work on some of the things that are right? I don't want to beat up the guys that participate, because I know how tough it is."
Those who know radio see limitless potential in Williams, as long as he's willing to keep working. But everyone who mentions Williams comes back to one point.
"When you wipe away all the talent and the personality and attitude and opinions and stuff like that, which he has plenty of, he's really a nice guy," Spence said. "Anyone that meets him, anyone that listens to him, he's real and he's a nice guy. And that is the most important thing."
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
Alfred Williams through the years
1987: Signed letter of intent to play for the University of Colorado out of Jones High School in Houston.
1990: Was Big Eight defensive player of the year, named AP first-team All-American and received the Butkus Award, given to the nation's most outstanding linebacker.
1991: Selected 18th by the Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL draft; played four seasons and recorded 26 1/2 sacks.
1995: Played for the San Francisco 49ers for one season.
1996: Joined the Broncos, whom he helped win back-to-back Super Bowls in 1997 and 1998. He was named an all-pro in 1996. He finished his Broncos career with 28 1/2 sacks. 2002: Joined KKFN 950 AM as a sports talk-show host.
2010: Named to the College Football Hall of Fame. Will be inducted Dec. 7, then enshrined in the Hall in the summer of 2011. He is a sports talk-show host for KKFN 104.3 FM.