In Spartanburg Williams worked hard under team owner and leading citizen R. E. Littlejohn, who was like a second father to the younger man, and honed the promotional skills he had learned from former Cleveland Indian, St. Louis Browns, and Chicago White Sox owner Bill Veeck, with whom Williams had a twenty-year friendship. As a result, the Spartanburg Phillies set a Class A attendance record in 1966, Williams was named Minor League Executive of the Year in 1967, and the Sporting News named the 1966 Phillies one of the 100 greatest all-time Minor League teams.

In 1968 Williams left Spartanburg after City Council refused to spend the money necessary to elevate the Duncan Park facility to the condition required to qualify the Class A Phillies for Class AA status. Still less than 30 years old, the young man had nonetheless made a name for himself, especially in Philadelphia, and so he was offered the chance to move from baseball to basketball to become business manager for the Philadelphia 76ers. His success in that role led to his being offered the job of Manager of the Chicago Bulls, which he  accepted and then moved on to the same position with the Atlanta Hawks and then back to Philadelphia, where he spent a dozen years and brought Julius Erving, Moses Malone, and Charles Barkley to the team and won an NBA title in 1983.

After twelve years with the76ers, Williams became a member of the investment group working to bring an NBA franchise to Orlando, and when that effort succeeded, he became the Magic’s first General Manager. That year Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway led the team to the NBA Finals, and Williams moved up to Senior Vice President of the company which owned the team. He retired in 2019.

In addition to his achievements as a professional sports executive, Williams also excelled in other areas. He was a popular and successful motivational speaker, in demand throughout the country by corporations and civic groups in many fields. He also authored or co-authored more than a hundred books on inspirational topics and spoke to church groups regularly, a calling that stretched all the way back to First Baptist Church in Spartanburg. He was the father of nineteen children, too, fourteen of whom were adoptees from a number of different countries. He died in Orlando in July 2024.

As another feature of their ongoing commemoration of 100 years of baseball at historic Duncan Park Stadium, the Hub City Spartanburgers will sponsor a replica stadium giveaway at their home game against the Bowling Green Hot Rods on Wednesday, July 8th, at 6:35 at Fifth Third Park in downtown Spartanburg. The stadium replicas will be given to the first 1,000 fans to enter the stadium. They will be one hot collectible so make your plans in advance to be there well before game time.

In addition to sponsoring their six Pastimes theme nights this season, the Spartanburgers will donate a percentage of all Pastimes-specific merchandise sales to the Friends of Duncan Park “to ensure this landmark survives another century.” The August 12th game against the Greenville Drive at Fifth Third Park will be American Legion night, and the final Pastimes game of the season, with a theme to be announced, will take place on September 1st against the Jersey Shore Blue Claws. Additional information—including ticket availability and prices, starting times, themes, and giveaways—can be found at the Spartanburgers website: https://www.mlb.com/milb/hub-city 

The Friends of Duncan Park have ambitious plans for the future of Duncan Park and the Duncan Park Stadium, some of which are pretty big projects and will require significant funding. We are hosting a prominent Negro League researcher and stadium preservation consultant later in the summer to help us form long range plans and to give us advice on grant writing and other potential sources of funding. If you would like to donate to this cause, you can find further information at The Spartanburg County Foundation website: https://godonate.akoyago.com/spcf/fund/friendsofduncanpark 

The official City of Spartanburg Centennial Celebration of the stadium will take place at Duncan Park on Saturday, July 11th. Beginning at 10:00 AM with a Major League Baseball Play Ball youth clinic, the festivities will continue with remarks by Mayor Beatty and others and in the afternoon a game between the Blue Ridge League Spartanburg Peaches and the Greenwood Flying Monkeys. Full details can be found at the City of Spartanburg website and at local media outlets, including WSPA-TV, WYFF-TV, WSPG 1400 AM-ESPN Spartanburg, The Post and Courier Spartanburg, and GoUpstate.com. Or email this blog at eepps7@icloud.com. See you there!