Though he rushed for 2,177 yards last season and won the Doak Walker award, Williams preferred to be at home rather than at Radio City Music Hall. After all, he keeps his trophy for being college football’s premier running back on a nightstand in his childhood bedroom. The occasion brought Lancelene and Ervin Williams’ four kids back together under the same roof: Ervin, Jr., 29, a barber in Atlanta; Krystal, 25, a third-grade teacher in New Jersey; and Kareem, 17, a senior at Parkland High School.
Being a guest of honor, though, doesn’t come naturally to Andre. He spent most of the night acting more like a host: picking up cans and bottles, carefully brushing the chicken wings with his special sauce and preparing the mashed potato recipe borrowed from his girlfriend, Carolyn Jay, a senior at Boston College. He kept a white kitchen towel draped over his shoulder the entire night.
But his five high school football teammates who came bursting through the back door were a reminder that he’s living out all of their football dreams. They still couldn’t believe he got to meet Barry Sanders at the Heisman Trophy ceremony. “I went from nobody knew who I was,” said Williams, who only ran for 599 yards as a junior, “to everybody knew who I was.”
