The Iconic Marcellus Boo Williams

By: Melo Williams

Marcellus Boo Williams Jr starred in basketball at Hampton’s Phoebus High School. Williams, Jr. attended Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia where he became a college basketball legend.

Boo averaged double figures in scoring all four years at Saint Joseph’s. Williams ranks 14th all-time in scoring with 1,554 points and 12th in rebounds with 838.

Boo Williams earned NABC All-District honors for three consecutive years and was named to the All-Big 5 First Team in 1980.

Boo was a member of the Hawks’ team that pulled the memorable upset over then top-ranked DePaul Blue Demons that had college National Player of the Year Mark Aguirre and Terry Cummings who later won Rookie of the Year both from Chicago.

The Blue Demons were considered the high favorites to win the national championship.

That 1981 Saint Joseph’s upset over Depaul has been named one of the top moments in NCAA Tournament history that was featured at the 75th-anniversary celebration of March Madness along with two other great moments that happened within minutes of each other that same tournament.

U.S. Reed made a halfcourt shot to lift Arkansas over defending National Champion Louisville Cardinals.

Then, Rolando Blackman hit a jumper at the buzzer to give Kansas State a win over top-seeded Oregon State moments later.

After that Saint Joseph’s, John Smith converted the layup to give the Hawks the upset over DePaul.

NBC’s coverage allowed viewers to see all three finishes and people acknowledged that day, March 14, 1981, as the birth of “March Madness.”

Saint Joseph finished as the runner-up in the 1981 NCAA Mideast Regionals.

Boo Williams was inducted into both the SJU Basketball Hall of Fame and the Big 5 Hall of Fame in 1987.

Williams played professionally in Europe. After retiring from basketball, Boo envisioned returning to Hampton to give back to the community that helped him.

Williams was inspired by a Philadelphia youth basketball league and in 1982 he created the Boo Williams Summer League.

The league, now known as the Boo Williams Nike Invitational, has grown to more than 200 teams and more than 2,000 male and female players from across the country. Over the years his teams have won multiple national Amateur Athletic Union Championships and many players have played in college, NBA, and the Olympics.

“Made in the Boo Williams Summer League” birthed by Hall of Famers Allen Iverson and Alonzo Mourning. Naismith College Players of the Year Joe Smith and J.J. Redick. J.R. Reid, Bryant Stith, Jarrett Jack, Kent Bazemore and more represent Boo Williams NBA Alumni.

Envisioning a major youth sports facility for Hampton, in 2008 Williams opened the Boo Williams Sportsplex, a 135,000-square-foot, 4,000-seat, $13.5 million facility with eight basketball courts, twelve volleyball courts, eight indoor hockey fields, and an indoor track and field.

Operating what the Philadelphia Inquirer has called “the nation’s premier youth organization,” Williams has been the AAU chairman of Boys Basketball and a member of the USA/ABA Cadet Committee for Development of Future Olympians. A member of Saint Joseph’s Hall of Fame, Williams was the Walt Disney Wide World of Sports Volunteer of the Year in 2001, and a member of the inaugural class of the Hampton Roads Sports Hall of Fame. In 2013 the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame named Williams one of its three winners of the Mannie Jackson–Basketball’s Human Spirit Award.

In partnership with US Elite Basketball Boo Williams will host the 2023 HBCU Experience at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton, Virginia on Sunday, April 23, 2023, from 3 pm to 7 pm.

The HBCU Experience event will allow unsigned high school senior boys and girls from the South Atlantic states (Delaware, Maryland, DC, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia) an opportunity to showcase their basketball talents in front of HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) NCAA Division II, III, NAIA, NCAA Junior Colleges, and Post Grad coaches from the MEAC, CIAA, SWAC, SIAC, and other conferences.

Check out the Boo Williams Sportsplex at https://www.boowilliamssportsplex.com/

Follow Melo on Twitter and Instagram: @_MeloWilliams