In November of 2009, Mike Williams was about to call it quits.
He had done this gig long enough and his money was good. The club in Atlanta where he provided security would not see him any more after this last Thanksgiving weekend. Suddenly, with his back to the action, shots rang out, first one, then three, followed by several more. Big Mike, as he had been known since high school, went down amidst the commotion, he was hit. At that moment, his life was shattered. He was severely wounded, wounds that would only heal with time, tender loving care and multiple operations.
Lying on the floor numb, yet in pain, Williams was pleading for pain relief and instructing the paramedics to make his trip to the hospital a matter of urgency as he sensed the sands of time quickly running out of his hour glass. Big Mike went into a coma for two months and woke up to news that he was paralyzed from the waist down. His mom made the preparations for him to come back home to Chicago.
In December of 2010, my text message buzzer sounded. The message was from a high school alumni association member telling me that Big Mike, (also an alum) was in rehab on the far north side of Chicago recovering from being shot eight times.
By Tony Brooks
While visiting Big Mike in his room at the Glencrest Nursing Rehabilitation Centre in Chicago, we laughed about a phone call he received. The voice on the other end started out, “Mike, I’m still mad about that.” Big Mike replied, “Give it up Zeke, that was thirty years ago.”
In 1979, as a senior, Isaiah Thomas and his St. Joseph Chargers were destined to win the Illinois State Class AA Boys Basketball Championship after a heartbreaking second place finish in 1978. Mike Williams and the De La Salle Meteors stepped in the way of destiny and eliminated Isaiah “Zeke” Thomas and the Chargers with a 59-58 victory in the sectional championship game.
In 1987, after Thomas’ Detroit Pistons lost to the Boston Celtics on a Thomas turnover to Larry Bird in game 5 of the NBA’s Eastern Conference playoffs, a reporter said to Thomas, “This had to be your toughest loss.” On national TV, Thomas let the reporter know that the greatest defeat in his basketball career came at the hands of De La Salle, who crushed his dream of winning a state championship in his last year of high school.
At 6’8 and 255 pounds, Mike Williams would go on to lead De La Salle to three straight Catholic League titles and make it to the state tournament’s Elite Eight twice. Big Mike’s star would continue to shine at Bradley University and in the NBA playing with the Atlanta Hawks and the Sacramento Kings. Of all the basketball friendships Williams has made, he now has a special bond with a former back-in-the-day all-star teammate now known as Dr. Dan Ivankovich, a world class orthopedic surgeon. Big Dan who stands nearly seven feet tall has teamed up once again with Big Mike as the repairman working diligently on getting his basketball buddy back up on his feet through the use of bionic legs.
Big Mike carries a heavy emotional load; lonely at times in moments of quietness, but he is not forsaken. In fact, sometimes the attention is overwhelming with media interruptions, movie producers calling, cameras in his room and he even appeared in a four minute segment on the Today Show in mid February. His road to a walking comeback is tough, a weariness to his flesh, an emotional full court press in his mind with long hours of therapy. I have witnessed the rehab of this warrior of the hardwood; he is sometimes in tears, trying to understand it all.
He indeed has dark days, but then there are the friends, the family, the calls, the notes and musical CD’s of encouragement that fuels his fire to never give up this battle, never give in to the demons of negativity that war daily against his mind. Big Mike Williams is shattered, but he is not broken, and through teamwork, he’ll be put back together again.
Tony Brooks is a new contributor to The Sports Bank. He is a regular contributor to “BSTM the sports magazine,” and has also been featured writing Where Are They Now articles for The Bear Report and The Chicago Sports Review.