- Sep 8, 2014
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Haven't seen this posted. I remember those 80's teams well. Ronnie was a hell of a player, back when UF basketball wasn't very good:
Ronnie Williams (1962-2021) - Florida Gators
That's what Ronnie Williams usually did with a basketball in his hand, as UF fans would go on to discover. Williams, the Gators' all-time scoring leader with 2,090 points, died Sunday night in his native New York City following a two-year bout with cancer. He was 59.
Williams, out of Queens, was a four-time All-Southeastern Conference selection and the only player in UF history to lead the team in scoring four consecutive seasons. He reached 1,000 career points faster than any Gator — 50 games — and finished his career with averages of 19.0 points (on 58.5 percent shooting) and 8.7 rebounds over 110 games.
"From the day he stepped on campus, Ronnie was getting 20 points a game," Towe said. "He was incredibly consistent from Day 1 to the end of his career and will go down as one of the all-time greats at Florida."
Williams arrived at UF in the fall of the 1980-81 athletic year, after Sloan, who coached Florida from 1960-66, bolted NC State (along with Towe) for a second stint coaching the Gators. By the time he was a freshman, Williams was a robust 6-foot-8, 230 pounds, and possessed remarkable offensive skills in the post that he paired with a large backside that cleared out defenders on the block.
Over his four seasons, the Gators went a combined 46-69 (including 23-49 in SEC play), but he captained the '83-84 team (along with senior Vernon Delancy) to a 16-13 record, highlighted by a stunning upset of third-ranked Kentucky that was the first signature moment in the three-year-old O'Connell Center.
That '84 team got a bid to the National Invitational Tournament, just the second postseason berth in the program's history. UF went to the NIT each of the next two seasons, then made its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 1987.
Ronnie Williams (1962-2021) - Florida Gators
That's what Ronnie Williams usually did with a basketball in his hand, as UF fans would go on to discover. Williams, the Gators' all-time scoring leader with 2,090 points, died Sunday night in his native New York City following a two-year bout with cancer. He was 59.
Williams, out of Queens, was a four-time All-Southeastern Conference selection and the only player in UF history to lead the team in scoring four consecutive seasons. He reached 1,000 career points faster than any Gator — 50 games — and finished his career with averages of 19.0 points (on 58.5 percent shooting) and 8.7 rebounds over 110 games.
"From the day he stepped on campus, Ronnie was getting 20 points a game," Towe said. "He was incredibly consistent from Day 1 to the end of his career and will go down as one of the all-time greats at Florida."
Williams arrived at UF in the fall of the 1980-81 athletic year, after Sloan, who coached Florida from 1960-66, bolted NC State (along with Towe) for a second stint coaching the Gators. By the time he was a freshman, Williams was a robust 6-foot-8, 230 pounds, and possessed remarkable offensive skills in the post that he paired with a large backside that cleared out defenders on the block.
Over his four seasons, the Gators went a combined 46-69 (including 23-49 in SEC play), but he captained the '83-84 team (along with senior Vernon Delancy) to a 16-13 record, highlighted by a stunning upset of third-ranked Kentucky that was the first signature moment in the three-year-old O'Connell Center.
That '84 team got a bid to the National Invitational Tournament, just the second postseason berth in the program's history. UF went to the NIT each of the next two seasons, then made its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 1987.
