Wichita community leader, mentor and Shocker super fan Billy Williams dies at age 74

Wichita community leader, mentor, activist and Shocker super fan Billy Williams died at the age of 74 in Wichita on July 3.

Born in Marion, North Carolina and raised in Johnson City, Tennessee, Williams brought his own unmistakable brand of Southern charm to Wichita. His combination of jovial personality and booming laughter never allowed him to meet a stranger.

Whether it was his work in the community with the Northeast Optimist Club and Wichita NAACP, or driving his wife of 50 years, Lavonta, around during her time on the Wichita City Council from 2007-17, or being the father of two Division I basketball players who played at KU and Wichita State, or selling programs at Koch Arena before WSU basketball games, Williams never failed to leave an impression.

Services for Williams will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at St. Mark United Methodist Church at 1525 N. Lorraine.

“I know a lot of people will recognize him from selling programs at Wichita State, but that was really second fiddle to the work he did within the community,” said B.J. Williams, Billy’s oldest son. “Seeing the outpouring of support has really put things in perspective for me. I didn’t know he was this well-known and well-respected around the community, but it’s really special to see the impact he has had on so many people.”

“Community is who he was,” Lavonta Williams said. “Helping out in the community in any capacity that he could, that’s what he did. He was always trying to make sure our youth were coming up in a way that was going to be a positive in our community. Billy loved kids and he loved mentoring. It was very important to him to bring up that next generation.”

One of the biggest ways Billy connected with youth was through sports. He used to coach his sons in Biddy Basketball on a team called the “Xpress,” sponsored by the former Shocker star himself Xavier McDaniel. He continued coaching basketball and baseball, later with League 42, after his sons grew up.

“He would always find kids who weren’t in the best situations and show them a different side of the community,” B.J. Williams said. “He would work with kids from single-parent homes or who maybe had a hard upbringing and showing them what they could do in a team environment and working toward a common goal.”

Billy, a former basketball player himself, was proud both of his sons became accomplished players in their own right. Both were star players for South High under coach Steve Eck during the Titans’ dynastic run in the 90s, then B.J. Williams went on to play for Roy Williams at Kansas from 1993-97 and later played professionally, while Darrin Williams started 83 games for the hometown Shockers from 1996-00.

“My friend just sent me a message from one of the guys who played Biddy basketball with us and he was talking about, ‘Coach passed away’ and he was talking about my dad,” Darrin Williams said. “That’s the way a lot of people still think of him. He’s still their coach. And he is still teaching us. Teaching us to be good people.”

Following Darrin’s playing career, Billy started selling the official game programs before WSU men’s basketball games. He continued to do so for 20 years before his health prevented him from doing so as frequently this past season. Out in the community, he was almost always spotted wearing some kind of black-and-yellow attire to support the Shockers.

His gregarious personality made him a popular fixture in the main lobby of Koch Arena.

“Everybody wanted to come and buy his programs, even though they were the same every week,” Lavonta Williams said. “He put his humor into it. It became a ritual for some fans to come see him before games and give him a high five. He enjoyed it because he enjoyed people. He always enjoyed people.”

Billy, who had retired from his job as a mail carrier for the post office, began the job after lobbying WSU president Don Beggs to give the work to his club, Northeast Optimist. He recruited members who were retired or needed work and the job became something to look forward to for them. And the money left over, he made sure to donate right back into the community.

He always tried to make sure he gave the work out to those in need and his wife is forever grateful for that.

“My brother never had a bank account until he worked with Billy up at Wichita State,” Lavonta Williams said. “He didn’t have a job and he needed work, so by working up there he finally started earning money and set up an automatic deposit in a bank account. He was always trying to help.”

Billy’s passion for helping others was also seen in his work with the Wichita NAACP office.

“He would work with the city and he would work a lot with USD 259 and it was not always a people-of-color issue,” Lavonta Williams said. “We had caucasians who would call and they would feel like their kids were not being treated the way they should, so he fought for anybody who called. Anybody. He fought to make sure that those who felt like they had no voice suddenly had a voice and were able to use it.”

It’s not a coincidence that Darrin Williams became a Wichita police officer, his own way of trying to help people just like his father.

In his time with the WPD, Darrin has created the Second Chance program, which helps members of the community potentially expunge traffic warrants — such as driving with a suspended license, no proof of insurance, speeding and parking violations — from their driving records. He also spearheaded an initiative to bring Christmas presents to children in a domestic violence shelter.

Darrin still remembers when he was a kid and his father had to drive the family’s only car to Hamilton Middle School, where his mother was a teacher, and take the bus back home. On the way back, Darrin was so tired that he fell asleep and his father carried him all the way from the bus stop to his bed on his shoulders.

That’s the role model and father figure he always had.

“I’ve always been proud of my dad,” Darrin Williams said. “He has built me into who I am today. Now as a police officer, I try to help my community as much as I can. I want to see people flourish in their lives. My dad taught me that it takes everyone to get involved with kids and to be able to change a life.

“I still don’t believe that he’s gone. To me, he’s not. And he never will be.”

Although the family did not specify the cause of death, his wife did note that Billy had complications with diabetes later in life.

“The thing I would really stress to those in our community is taking care of yourself if you are diabetic,” Lavonta Williams said. “It is not something to joke with or to play around with. Educate yourself on what you need to be doing because I don’t think we did enough or made Billy do enough to take diabetes seriously. And our community has a lot of this disease within it, so that’s something I’m going to be really working on.”

Even in his final years, Billy never lost the charisma that had led to memorable interactions with everyone from former KU coach Roy Williams to former Wichita police chief Gordon Ramsay all the way to the King of Ghana.

And that charm is exactly what won over Lavonta more than five decades ago when they were both on the campus at Emporia State: Billy on a basketball scholarship following a stint in the Air Force and Lavonta in the teaching school.

“He had never been to Kansas before, but he took a chance at Emporia State because they were giving scholarships to some of the military,” Lavonta Williams said. “I remember the first time I ever met him, I was in the student union and at the time Emporia State was known for playing the card game bid whist. I didn’t know who he was, but he sat down to play and that’s how we met.

“I told my grandparents I wouldn’t marry until I got out of college and as soon as I was done, that was it (in August 1971). And we’ve been married for 50 years. I’m going to have to learn how to adjust.”

One of those adjustments that left Lavonta with a bittersweet feeling was learning how to pump gasoline into a car, something she never had to learn because Billy always drove her around everywhere.

He always wanted to help.

“That was my best friend. That was my partner for 50 years,” Lavonta Williams said. “He was always there for me.”