Longtime bowl director Williams passes away
Johnny Williams was instrumental of the development of the annual bowl game in Montgomery, this after serving as a football coach and the athletic director for Troy and associate AD at the University of Alabama. He passed away late Tuesday evening. (File Photo)
By TIM GAYLE
Central Alabama Sports Commission executive director and IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl executive director Johnny Williams passed away on Tuesday night after a year-long bout with leukemia. He was 68.
Williams touched lives in all parts of the state over a career that took him from the high school and collegiate coaching ranks to athletic director to bowl executive, settling the last 12 years as the leading sports authority in the Capital City through his role with the sports commission and with the bowl game.
“I was sick when I heard the news,” Montgomery County Commission president Doug Singleton said. “He was sick during the (2024) Salute to Veterans Bowl and he couldn’t be here and really wanted to be here.
“Everybody liked Johnny. He was one of those guys that I never heard anybody ever say anything negative about him. Everybody liked him. He did such a wonderful job for ESPN. He just had so many contacts. Nobody is going to be able to replace Johnny Williams.”
One of his best attributes for the sport was to launch the “Alabama Legends Award” as a part of the bowl game, honoring former coaches Bobby Bowden, Pat Dye, Gene Stallings, Woody McCorvey, Chan Gailey and Larry Blakeney, among others, providing recognition to people who had accomplished so much for this state over the last 50 years.
“He took a turn for the worse when his body began to reject a stem cell transplant and he suffered a lot,” Central Alabama Sports Commission president Dr. Karl Stegall said. “His death was really merciful, but it’s hard to give him up.
“Years ago, I walked in front of a trophy case in Troy and a sign was in it that said, ‘Nothing great was ever accomplished without enthusiasm.’ Boy, I always thought about Johnny. He was enthusiastic. He did a lot for Montgomery. He was an unsung hero that brought a lot of tax dollars into Montgomery that never would have been here without his help. He filled up a lot of restaurants and hotels during the Christmas season.”
Williams’ relationship with ESPN started before he founded the Raycom College Football All-Star Classic in Montgomery in 2013, but the decision by network executives to partner with Williams and launch the Camellia Bowl the following year solidified a relationship that continued for the remainder of Williams’ life.
After leaving his three-year stint as senior associate athletic director at the University of Alabama (2004-07), he founded Creative Marketing Management to do many of the same things he had done for the previous 13 years, first as the athletic director at Troy (1994-2004) and then at Alabama -- securing corporate sponsorships for universities, conducting administrative and coaching searches for athletic departments and helping universities assess their athletic operations.
That led him back to the Capital City in 2013 and a partnership with then-Central Alabama Sports Commission executive director Ken Blankenship to develop a college football bowl game for the Capital City. After the launch of the Camellia Bowl, Williams would team with ESPN vice president for regional television Pete Derzis and help with several other ESPN-operated bowl games in Birmingham, Mobile and Myrtle Beach, S.C.
While at Troy, he helped the Trojans transition from Division II to Division I-AA (now FCS) and Division I-A (now FBS). In 2002, Williams was honored for his progressive leadership by the All-American Football Foundation with its prestigious Gen. Robert Neyland Athletics Director Award.
Before getting into administration, he was a coach for the Trojans from 1985 to 1993. Before that, he served as an assistant coach at his alma mater, North Alabama, from 1979-83 and for a year as the head football coach and athletic director at Pickens County High.
He was a 1980 graduate of North Alabama after a four-year career as a starter on defense. He was a graduate of Holt High.
His death is a huge blow to the Capital City both in terms of directing the sports commission and running the bowl game. As the head of the sports commission, Williams put his stamp on making sure two basketball regionals -- one at Garrett Coliseum, the other at Alabama State’s Dunn-Oliver Acadome -- are organized with help from his company. As the head of the bowl game, ESPN officials made a last-minute change for the projected Fenway Bowl in 2020 and placed it in Montgomery and called it the Montgomery Bowl, certain that Williams could manage two bowls in the Capital City.
“I’ve always wondered what would happen if Johnny wasn’t here,” Singleton said. “Of course, you never anticipate him not being here, but he wore so many hats and did such a great job and he had so much respect from ESPN and so many other people. It’s going to be tough to replace him. I don’t know who will step into that role.”
Services will be held on Monday at Cross Pointe Church in Tuscaloosa. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to noon, with services to follow. The church is located at 4109 University Blvd. East in Tuscaloosa.