Hawkeye "Super" Sam Williams: Iowa Time Machine January 22, 1946

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On January 22, 1946, legendary Burlington Community College and University of Iowa basketball player “Super” Sam Williams was born.

Williams enrolled at Burlington Community College in 1964 after graduating from Northern High School in Detroit. He spent two seasons honing his skills in southeastern Iowa before Ralph Miller offered him a scholarship to Iowa City. The 1967-68 season established Williams as one of the nation's premier players. He led the Big Ten in scoring with 25.3 points per game and scored a career-high 39 points against Northwestern.

The 6-foot-3 forward combined strength, ball-handling ability, and a deadly jump shot that made him nearly impossible to defend. Williams scored at least 25 points in eight consecutive games while carrying Iowa to a share of the Big Ten championship. His dominance earned him the Chicago Tribune Silver Basketball Award as the conference's most valuable player, joining an elite group that included only Murray Wier and Charles Darling among Hawkeyes.

The Milwaukee Bucks selected Williams in the third round of the 1968 NBA Draft, and he played professionally from 1968 to 1970. Williams paved the way for other Burlington junior college stars who followed him to Iowa City. Fred Brown arrived from the same school in 1969 and became part of Miller's legendary Six Pack team that went undefeated in Big Ten play during the 1969-70 season. The University of Iowa inducted Williams into its Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003, cementing his place among the program's immortals. #Iowa #OTD #History #Basketball #Hawkeyes