Kids have options.
Gary has nine charter schools and a public high school.
Its population is under 70,000, according to the 2020 census.
Building a high school basketball program in Gary is about making connections and fostering relationships.
No one did it better than former 21st Century boys basketball coach Rodney Williams.
Williams and Ricky Haskins, his long-time assistant, were why some of the best in the city gravitated to 21st Century.
Williams, 68, died of cancer on July 18.
Williams was the quintessential Black role model for male teenagers.
He graduated from Horace Mann and Northwestern University with a degree in education and then returned to Gary, where he lived his entire life. Williams came back in 1977 to work for his father’s insurance agency before running a branch of the Indiana lottery. He played football at Northwestern, according to his son Rodney Jr. Northwestern’s archives show he played defensive end from 1973-75.
In a city where basketball is a religion for young males, and the competition for talent is cutthroat for the best players, Williams had an advantage.
He had lived in their shoes and come out on ahead of the game.
Williams wasn’t a poser or huckster.
He was a bona fide native who was deeply committed to Gary and the kids.
Eugene German, who was one of his first stars, said Williams knew how to relate to his players. German led the state in scoring in 2016, averaging nearly 33 points per game. German played at Northern Illinois University. He has spent the last few years playing overseas.
German started at Andrean and played at Roosevelt before settling at 21st Century.
Williams’ player-centric style was perfect for German. Williams used to say that “Geno had the green light (to shoot) as soon as he stepped across half court.”
Williams meant it. He had an immediate connection with Williams.
“He was my guy,” German said. “He got on you but he always brought positive energy and he always kept it real. The kids that didn’t have father figures and didn’t have homes to go home to, he always made sure they were straight. He made sure they were Okay.”
Williams started coaching AAU basketball and at Holy Angels Cathedral School when he returned to Gary, according to Rodney Jr.
In 2005, when 21st Century opened, Williams and Haskins started all the athletic programs. They were essentially co-athletic directors. It wasn’t just about boys basketball.
They launched all the girls and boys sports programs. The school named its athletic complex the Haskins Williams Athletic Center in 2020 to honor both coaches..
On the basketball bench, Williams was the head coach and Haskins was his assistant but Williams always said the two were co-coaches.
Williams rarely stood during games, instead preferring to sit calmly on the bench. He often deferred to Haskins or Larry Upshaw, who followed him as the coach, to talk to his players in timeouts.
Unlike many high school coaches, who call plays and orchestrate the action while pacing the sidelines, Williams trusted his guys to figure it out on their own.
“He was more of a practice coach,” German said.”He could really turn it up in practice. When the game came, he felt like we were prepared and he put it all in the player’s hands.”
Williams coached 21st Century to five sectional and two regional titles in 11 seasons.
There is no doubt he took the 2019-2020 season to his grave.
Led by Johnell Davis, who helped get Florida International to the Final Four this year, the Cougars were loaded. They were ranked No. 1 in Indiana for Class A.
The pandemic wiped out the post-season. It was a team that had state title written all over it.
Williams knew it was his best team. He had announced his retirement before the season, knowing how good they were. Williams graciously allowed Upshaw, who was his successor, to do almost all of the bench coaching that season.
“We just wanted to finish the year,” Davis said. “He wanted to win a state title before he left.”
Davis said he talked to Williams “all the time.”
“I called him the week before he died,” he said. “We talked about everything.”
21st Century President Kevin Teasley, who lives in Indianapolis, said that Williams was his go-to guy if he wanted to get the pulse of what was happening at the school.
“We talked every week,” he said.
Teasley said that Williams was a “good role model and straight shooter for the kids. He didn’t take any guff from anyone either.”
Williams’ death comes three years after Haskins died unexpectantly.
Upshaw was replaced by Gary Hayes, the former Griffith and Lake Station basketball coach, after this season ended.
With those three gone, it’s the end of an era for 21st Century basketball.
Mike Hutton is a freelance reporter and columnist for the Post-Tribune.
