A simple pizza motivated him enough to
turn his life around. I do other things to
help them learn how to make good choices
and what things to value. I had a parent to
call me crying and said, “I don’t know what
you told him, he took the trash out without
me asking.” Another one of my kids had
someone steal his shoes. I mailed him some
shoes. His father said, “I don’t know what
happened, he had his best (high school)
game, it made him feel like a VIP, you’re a
man of your word.” Another thing I do is
tell them I like to talk about positive things
and not to bring up anything negative. I
have them do an exercise that requires them
to read Proverbs each day for 31 days and if
something stands out to pray over it, let the
Holy Spirit work with it and watch a miracle
happen in their life. I also bring in people
to motivate them and give them a chance to
ask about their relationship with the Lord.
HimPower: You have a lot of passion
for what you do and it’s quite obvious your
success with mentoring youth has a lot to
do with who you are as a Christian man. One of the things I find most interesting is
how freely you speak about your love for
God and why He needs to be important
in the lives of all of the young people you
work with. I realize you’re very involved
in your church, yet I think we can agree
being involved in the church doesn’t neces-
sarily mean having a close personal rela-
tionship with God. What led you to do the
very thing you are telling these youth they
should do?
Williams: My wife Beverly. I met her the
summer before I went to college. She was a
senior in high school, and her brother and
I graduated high school the same year, but
different schools. It was love at first sight.
My wife had a great relationship with the
Lord when we started dating. It motivated
me and had a big impact on me regarding
my relationship with the Lord.
HimPower: How long have you been
married? To what do you attribute your
success in maintaining a great relationship,
especially during a high profile career in
professional sports?
Byron’s UTA Hall of Fame Alumni April 2017 Byron joined George Foreman, Eric Dickerson and
Awesome group in the 2017 Black Texas Sports Hall of
Fame
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