Ricky Williams

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Ricky Williams
Date of birth	May 21, 1977 (age 29)
Place of birth	San Diego, California
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight	226 lb (103 kg)
Position(s)	Running back
College	Texas
Career Highlights
Pro Bowls	2002
Awards	2002 Pro Bowl MVP 1998 Heisman Trophy 1998 Maxwell Award 1998 Walter Camp Award 1998 Doak Walker Award 1997 Doak Walker Award
Stats
Statistics	Pro Football Reference NFL.com CBS.com DatabaseFootball
Team(s)
1999-2001 2002-2003 2005 2006	New Orleans Saints Miami Dolphins Miami Dolphins Toronto Argonauts (CFL)

Errick Lynne Williams, Jr. (born May 21, 1977 in San Diego, California) is a gridiron football running back for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League, whose NFL rights are held by the Miami Dolphins. He played college football for the Texas Longhorns, winning the 1998 Heisman Trophy; held the NCAA career rushing yardage, rushing touchdowns, and scoring records; and was the first round draft pick of the New Orleans Saints in 1999.

He was suspended from the NFL under its drug policy for the 2006 season and played the 2006 season for the Toronto Argonauts, since at the time the CFL did not honor NFL suspensions.^[1]

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Personal life 1.2 College career 1.3 Early professional career 1.4 Early retirement from football 1.5 Return to football 1.6 Canadian Football League 2 2007 3 Trivia 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Personal life

Williams was born, along with his twin sister Cassandra, in San Diego, California. Williams was born to relatively young parents, who ultimately separated when Williams was six years old. Although the mother was awarded custody of Ricky and his siblings, Williams still has a close bond with his father.^[2] In San Diego's Patrick Henry High School, Williams primarily played baseball and football, but also ran track and wrestled. On the football field, Ricky gained 2,099 yards and scored 25 touchdowns. He was named "Offensive Player of the Year" by the San Diego Union-Tribune.^[3]

Ricky Williams has admitted being very shy and was diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, which he struggled to cope with during his football career. Williams was treated with therapy and medication. To alleviate his symptoms, he smoked marijuana during the NFL football season and was consequently penalized. Williams was briefly a spokesperson for the drug Paxil as treatment. He worked with the drug company GlaxoSmithKline to educate the public about the disorder.^[4] Williams later quit Paxil saying the drug didn't agree with his diet.

Ricky Willams said marijuana had been a better treatment since it produced fewer side effects (than Paxil).^[5] In an interview with ESPN, Williams stated, "Marijuana is 300,000 times better for me than Paxil."

Williams admitted in a 60 Minutes interview that one of the main reasons for his retirement was to avoid the humiliation of his marijuana use being made public (with his third failed drug test).^[6] After his retirement he quickly went to California to get a prescription for medical marijuana (which he had no problem securing). He now claims he does not need marijuana, but doesn't criticize others' choices on the matter.^[7]

Williams is a qualified yoga instructor. He has stated that one of his main reasons for joining the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts is for the opportunity to teach free yoga lessons at a local Toronto yoga facility.^[7]

Williams has four children, and a fifth, with his fiancee, is on the way as of 2006. Ricky is a supporter of PETA.^[8]

[edit] College career

A tremendous athlete, he was selected out of Patrick Henry High School in the 8th round of the 1995 baseball amateur draft by the Philadelphia Phillies, and played four years at the Class A level with the Batavia Muckdogs of Batavia,New York. He was then taken in the 1998 Rule V Draft by the Montreal Expos, who sold his rights to the Texas Rangers. He played college football for The University of Texas at Austin and was backed up by Chiefs running back, Priest Holmes. Williams holds or shares 20 NCAA records, and became the NCAA career rushing leader in 1998 with 6,279 yards (broken one year later by University of Wisconsin-Madison's Ron Dayne). He also broke the NCAA division 1A career rushing touchdowns and career scoring records in 1998 with 73 and 452 respectively (topped one year later by Miami University's Travis Prentice), and rushed for 200 or more yards in twelve different games (an NCAA record he shares with Dayne and USC's Marcus Allen). Williams won the 64th Heisman Trophy, becoming the second Texas Longhorn to win this honor, joining Earl Campbell.

Williams was sometimes known as the "Texas Tornado".^[9] Sports Illustrated ran a cover (pictured) featuring Williams and that nick-name. The cover photo depicts Ricky rushing against Texas Tech University, a team that happened to also feature a player named Ricky Williams.^[10]

[edit] Early professional career

Williams was selected as the fifth pick of the 1999 NFL Draft by the New Orleans Saints. Head coach Mike Ditka traded all of the Saints' 1999 draft picks to get Williams, the first time one player was the only draft pick of an NFL team. Williams and Ditka posed for the cover of ESPN Magazine as a bride and a groom with the heading "For Better or for Worse." Rapper Master P's (a.k.a. Percy Miller's) organization No Limit Sports negotiated his contract, which was largely incentive-laden in exchange for an $8M-plus signing bonus with salary incentives worth a range of $11 million to $68 million should he hit all of his incentives, with most of them requiring higher than top-level production to attain. Williams later made Leigh Steinberg his agent. Ditka was later fired for the team's poor performance, and Williams was traded after 3 seasons to the Miami Dolphins on March 8, 2002 for two first-round picks. In his first season with the Dolphins, he was the NFL's leading rusher and a Pro Bowler with 1,853 yards.

Williams was noted for his dreadlocks, but shaved them off during a solo trip to Australia. His shyness also makes Williams somewhat of an odd ball. "Ricky's just a different guy," Saints receiver Joe Horn explained. "People he wanted to deal with, he did. And people he wanted to have nothing to do with, he didn't. No one could understand that. I don't think guys in the locker room could grasp that he wanted to be to himself, you know, quiet. If you didn't understand him and didn't know what he was about, it always kept people in suspense." Besides keeping to himself, Williams was also known for conducting post-game interviews with his helmet on and avoiding eye contact. Williams was later diagnosed with depression and social anxiety disorder and was able to overcome most of his conditions through medication and therapy.

[edit] Early retirement from football

It was announced on May 14, 2004 that he tested positive for marijuana in December 2003 and faced a $650,000 fine and a four-game suspension for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy. He previously tested positive for marijuana shortly after he joined the Dolphins; shortly before training camp was to begin in July 2004, Williams publicly disclosed his intent to retire from professional football.

Rumored to have failed a third drug test before announcing his retirement, Williams made his retirement official on August 2, 2004, was ineligible to play for the 2004 season and studied Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of holistic medicine at the California College of Ayurveda that autumn in Grass Valley, California. He has recently converted to Hinduism.

During that year he retired, the Miami Dolphins finished the season in second to last place with a 4-12 record and the second pick of the 2005 NFL draft, in which they would select Williams' successor Ronnie Brown. This was one of the events of the final year of Dave Wannstedt's coaching tenure before his resignation.

Williams maintains (to this day) that he doesn't regret the retirement decision. He feels that it was the "most positive thing" he has ever done in his life, allowing him time to find himself.^[11]

[edit] Return to football

Williams officially returned to the Dolphins July 24, 2005 and completed his four game suspension for substance abuse. At his return press conference, Williams expressed his apologies for leaving the team two days before the start of training camp, which had contributed to the Dolphins' having their worst season in years, only winning 4 games in the 2004 season. Ricky Williams finished with six touchdowns and a 4.4 yards per carry average on 168 carries and 743 yards this season. In week 16 he had 172 yards, and in Week 17 he had 108 yards.

Williams has paid back a percentage of his signing bonus as part of his return.

On February 20, 2006, it was announced that Williams had violated the NFL drug policy for the fourth time. His mother reportedly said she doesn't think it was another marijuana violation and that he may have been in India when he was supposed to be tested. Nevertheless, on April 25, 2006, Williams was suspended for the entire 2006 season for testing positive for a drug other than marijuana. It has been suggested that the substance may have been an herb related to his interest in holistic medicine.^[12] Williams can apply for reinstatement for the 2007 season and return after approval from the NFL commissioner.

[edit] Canadian Football League

With Williams suspended for the entire 2006 NFL season, the CFL's Toronto Argonauts decided to put Ricky on the negotiation list for the 2006 season.^[13] This guaranteed the Argos Williams' CFL rights, should Williams' NFL contract be terminated at any point in time.^[14] The Dolphins have allowed Williams to play for the Argonauts after they ensured that Williams would play for the Dolphins in 2007, which Williams has stated he has every intention of doing.^[15]

Williams signed with the Argonauts on May 28, 2006 for a reported salary of close to C$240,000, the highest salary, by far, for a CFL running back, and wears number 27.^[16] Reportedly, Williams could make up to C$500,000 CDN when incentives are factored in, although both the Argos and the CFL have denied this larger figure is accurate.^{[citation needed]}

The signing drew the ire of former Argonauts quarterback Joe Theismann. On May 30, 2006, Theismann was interviewed by Toronto radio station The Fan 590 whereupon he criticized the Argonauts for signing the suspended Williams. Theismann claimed he was disgraced to be associated with a team that would knowingly sign "an addict" such as Williams. The CFL has no substance-abuse policy currently in place, nor did it prohibit its teams from signing players suspended from other leagues, despite Williams being under contract with the Dolphins for the 2006 season. (Click here for an audio download of the interview). In part because of the controversy around Williams' signing, the CFL has barred suspended NFL players from signing in the CFL, beginning with the 2007 season.^[17]

Argo ownership responded to Theismann's criticism, noting Theismann's son, Joe, pleaded guilty in 2002 to a felony charge of possessing drug paraphernalia. He received a 10-year suspended prison term, was placed on five years of probation and fined. "It's really a delicate subject for him to attack someone if he has that in his own family," Argo co-owner Cynamon said. "If I was his son and he's calling (Williams) a drug addict and he should quit and he's a loser, I'd be shattered. This thing is really bothersome."^[18]

Williams made his official CFL debut on June 17, 2006 in a home game against the Tiger-Cats at the Rogers Centre. In that game, he rushed for 97 yards on 18 carries, with his longest carry for 35 yards in the fourth quarter. Williams also caught two passes for 24 yards as the Argonauts defeated the Tiger-Cats 27-17.

On July 22, 2006, Williams suffered a broken bone injury in his left arm in a game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Regina, Saskatchewan.^[19] He underwent surgery on July 23, 2006^[20] to repair the broken bone. Shortly after injuring his arm, Williams' suffered yet another injury after a door at the Argonauts' practice facility swung behind him and clipped the running back on his left achilles tendon requiring 16 stitches to close the gash.^[21] During his recovery, Williams received hyperbaric oxygen therapy in St. Catharines, Ontario to expedite his return from injury.^[22] In all, Williams missed two months of game action because of the injuries, returning on September 23, 2006 against the Calgary Stampeders.

Williams' short CFL career was less than stellar. In the 11 games that he played during 2006 CFL regular season, Williams rushed 109 times for 526 yards, scoring 2 TDs and his longest run was 35 yards. He also caught 19 passes for 127 yards.^[23] This has led to speculation that the caliber of the CFL game has been greatly underestimated, a statement echoed by Williams himself.^[24] However, it would not be first time that the differences between Canadian and American football have resulted in a player who was an NFL star not succeeding north of the border. This season, Williams has averaged just 40 yards rushing per game, compared to 90 yards per game by league leader Joffrey Reynolds. Williams also averaged 4.8 yards per carry, versus 5.9 by Reynolds. Of the top twelve leaders in rushing yardage in 2006, only Ricky Williams and Robert Edwards averaged under 5 yards a carry (both were NFL 1st round picks).^[25]

Williams has stated his love of Toronto, and the Canadian game, saying that after his contract with the Dolphins expires, a return to the CFL is a distinct possibility. "I was thinking it wouldn't be bad to come back up here and kind of follow the same steps as Pinner -- play here a couple years and maybe get a chance to coach up here," Williams said. "Because I really like Toronto, I really like this organization ... you can live here, you know? You feel like you have a life. I come to work, I go home, play with my kid, walk to the store. It's really nice. I get to teach. It's wonderful here."^[26] In another interview, he expressed further desire to remain in the CFL, "If I came back here, you can put me anywhere," he says. "Up here, I can play offense, defense, special teams. I can do everything. I can block, play tight end, running back, receiver — even play the line. The NFL is so structured — 'You do this.' Here I can do so much."^[27]

The controversy over the Argonauts signing Williams prompted outgoing CFL commissioner Tom Wright, in his final state of the league address, to introduce a new rule that would come in effect before the start of the 2007 CFL season that would prevent a player under suspension in the NFL from signing with a CFL club. This rule has been informally known as "The Ricky Williams Rule".

The new rule, however, will be grandfathered so that players still playing in the league, such as Argonaut tackle Bernard Williams, who was also suspended by the NFL for drug abuse and did not seek reinstatement when the ban ended, can continue playing.[1]

[edit] 2007

Williams is currently adhering to multiple drug tests per week in order to attempt to be reinstated by the NFL. He is currently residing in Nevada County, California teaching and studying yoga (which he claims has weaned him off of marijuana), though he plans to return to the NFL and to the Dolphins for the 2007 season. [2]

[edit] Trivia

• A cut-scene of Williams is shown in NCAA Football 2006.
• In 1998, the year he won the Heisman Trophy, he was also a member of the All-Time Team.
• Cedric Benson, another star running back out of Texas who is currently with the Chicago Bears was widely compared to him during his college career due to similar running styles and Benson's dreadlocks. However, Benson says he wants to separate himself from Williams and be a better player and because of this he decided to cut off his dreadlocks before the 2005 NFL Draft.
• Williams appeared in a wedding dress on the cover of ESPN Magazine (pictured above).
• He is one of the few players to have been contracted to both an NFL team and CFL team at the same time.
• He appeared in an infomercial for Natural Golf alongside Mike Ditka.^[28]
• HBO's Inside the NFL had a skit about Ricky trying to return to the Dolphins. It featured him trying to raise 8.6 million dollars, avoiding drug tests, and even asking Dan Marino to return with him.
• His likeness appeared on the cover of the original NFL Street.

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

• Miami Dolphins Bio
• ESPN.com Ricky Williams Profile
• Ricky Williams warming up video
• Heisman Trophy Ricky Williams Profile
• Current Stats
• Toronto Argonauts profile
• Video clip of the Toronto Argonauts announcing Ricky Williams' signing
• Press release and audio clips of Ricky Williams at the Toronto Argonauts' press conference
• Ricky Williams Q&A with the Toronto Star
• "The Unbearable Lightness of Being Ricky" (Toro Magazine feature on Ricky Williams)
• Video of Ricky Williams' philosophical differences with a reporter on playoff intensity

Preceded by Charles Woodson

Heisman Trophy Winner 1998

Succeeded by Ron Dayne