Al Williams still remembers the moment he finally got the better of Don Nelson at the jump ball circle.
Williams, a member of Galesburg High School’s 1957 Elite 8 team, faced off against Nelson — then a Rock Island High School standout, later a Hall of Fame NBA coach — throughout their senior seasons. Williams joined WGIL’s Jay Redfern to remember his old rival, who died Sunday at 86.
Williams said Nelson, who stood 6-foot-7 to his 6-foot-1, would step into him at the jump circle to use his size advantage. Williams complained to the referee, he said, but was told to just play ball.
Williams said he eventually turned the tables late in their rivalry, backing away from the circle and beating Nelson to the tip. Williams remembers telling him, “Gotcha, didn’t I?” — Nelson didn’t say a word back.
Galesburg had lost to Rock Island twice that season before the teams met again in the Moline Sectional championship, a game still remembered locally nearly 70 years later. Williams said coach John Thiel laid out a stalling strategy on the drive to the game — hold the ball whenever the score stayed within four points. The plan worked, and Galesburg pulled off the upset, 23-21, on a basket by Elbert Kimbrough with four seconds left.
Williams said he and Nelson stayed in touch over the following decades and would laugh about that game together.
Nelson went on to play at Iowa and then 14 NBA seasons, winning five championships with the Boston Celtics, before becoming the second-winningest coach in NBA history over a 31-season coaching career with the Milwaukee Bucks, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks.
Williams said he wasn’t surprised Nelson became a coach. “He never panicked,” Williams said. “He was just kind of calm and cool at all times.”
Related reading: Streaks Alumni Profile: Al Williams 1957 and Massey Basketball: Streaks Scrapbook — 1957 Elite 8 Glory, both by Evan Massey.
