49ers HB1 Delvin Williams

• Born April 17, 1951, in Houston, Texas.
• San Francisco's second-round choice in 1974, played eight seasons with the 49ers, Dolphins and Packers.
  
• “Speed, Inc. Like trying to catch a jet upon takeoff … Set a 49er rushing record with 1,203 yards as he overtook a Jet—Joe “The Jet” Perry … Had back-to-back games of 194 and 180, the latter against Washington when he scored on 80- and 22-yard runs and on a club-record 85-yard pass … On ensuing Monday night game, he WAS the halftime highlights … ‘I’m not what you would call a thinking man’s runner. Everything I do is by instinct’ … Redskins’ linebacker Harold McClinton says Williams is a better back than Walter Payton.”[1]
• “… Talented track star-football player at Kansas, where he graduated—a rarity in the NFL—in four years … Had a rough life growing up … Someone with a head on his shoulders, Williams attends graduate school while playing for the Dolphins …”[2]
• A knee injury reduced his effectiveness at the end of his 1,200-yard 1978 season for the Dolphins. "In one streak of six straight games, (Williams) was called on 28 times to convert a first down with three yards or less to go—and he succeeded 20 of those times."[3] Williams was leading the NFL in rushing, ahead of second-place Earl Campbell, going into the Dolphins’ Week 12 matchup with the Oilers’ on Monday Night Football on Nov. 20, 1978. His 12- and 19-yard runs helped Miami stake a 7-0 lead. His 1-yard touchdown run near the end of the first half made it 14-14. And his 23-yard reverse on third-and-13 in the third quarter led to another game-tying score, at 21-21. But the Oilers lost 35-30, and Williams lost his NFL-rushing lead to Campbell, for good.
• 
  In the July 27, 1981, Sports Illustrated, John Underwood wrote, "Delvin Williams, the premier running back for whom Shula had traded four years ago and who had gone from the penthouse to the doghouse in record time, said he wouldn't be caught dead in a Dolphin uniform again, and demanded a trade. Last year Williams reportedly fell asleep in team meetings; he was subsequently benched for running as if he were asleep. His agent said the sleeping problem was a 'physical' quirk—that Delvin falls asleep in restaurants, too, and 'when he's talking to you on the phone.'"
  
• The running back on Paul Warfield’s South Florida Sun-Sentinel ballot for Dolphins’ all-time team.
• At a Sept. 18, 2007, Gridiron Greats event in Washington, Williams said he spent more than seven years in court with the NFL pursuing $160,000 in retroactive disability payments associated with 16 surgeries. Williams said the NFL sought reimbursement from him for $1.2 million in legal fees.
  
• Inducted into the African American Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame on Feb. 9, 2009.
• "After retiring," read a Dec. 2, 2008, African American Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame press release, "Williams turned his energy and experience as a professional athlete to helping underprivileged youth by promoting sports and developing drug abuse prevention programs, including founding and running, including founding and serving as executive director of 'Pros for Kids,' which pairs professional athletes and young drug offenders. He organized a consortium of community, private and public sector organizations to create an employment clearinghouse called Jobs for Youth. Williams has also served on the boards of several organizations in San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Contra Costa and Alameda counties."
  

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[1] 1977 Edition The Complete Handbook of Pro Football Zander Hollander, ed. (New York: Signet, 1977) 240.

[2] 1980 Season The Complete Handbook of Pro Football Zander Hollander, ed. (New York: Signet, 1980) 106.

[3] The Pocket Book of Pro Football 1979 Herbert M. Furlow, ed. (New York: Pocket Books, 1979) 10.