OCEAN SPRINGS RECORD
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Williams remembers shocking kick
Former Yellowjacket's 67-yard field goal tied NCAA record in 1978
By Terrry Dickson
News Editor
Oct. 21, 1978. While that date probably doesn't resonate with most people, it's one that Ocean Springs
businessman Joe Williams will never forget.
On that date, Williams, then placekicker for the Wichita State Shockers, booted a 67-yard field goal from a
tee against Southern Illinois, tying a NCAA record already shared by Russell Erxleben of Texas and Steve
Little of Arkansas.
Almost 28 years to the date that Williams kicked his way into the record book, he remembers the moment
like it happened yesterday. And, should he forget, he has a video of the actual kick to remind him. But,
Williams is asked to tell the story so often that the video is hardly necessary.
"There were six seconds left to play. The coach called time-out, the ball was spotted on the 50 yard line. I
lined it up and kicked it and the cannon that goes off at the end of the game went off," said Williams. "The
ball was still n the air after the cannon went off. It took forever to get down there. Once it went through, it
went through by five or six yards. "
The Shockers would have won handily even had Williams missed the kick, because they were already
leading the Salukis 30-7 when Williams was sent out to attempt the monster kick. But one would have thought
that the Shockers had just won the national championship after witnessing the mob of fans who gravitated
towards Williams after his kick sailed through the uprights.
"They tried to pick me up and carry me off the field, but I wouldn't let them" said Williams. "I was too excited"
There were some who felt that Wichita State coach Jim Wright was running up the score by sending
Williams out to attempt the record-tying field goal, but Williams is grateful that Wright gave him the
opportunity.
"Coach Wright took some slack from the Southern Illinois coach after the game because it was kind of the
like rubbing it in. But I'm glad he decided to go for the kick, " said Williams. "I was pumped up. It was a home
game. All of my buddies on the sideline were telling coach, 'Field goal, coach. Let Joe kick it.' I think he
heard that. He called timeout and said 'Go. Field Goal.' His comment afterwards was why deny somebody the
opportunity to do something special. So he made the decision to go for it, and I thank him for it."
YELLOWJACKET DAYS
Williams, who graduated from St. Martin High School in 1976, was never given the opportunity to kick the
football for the Yellowjackets.
"Coach Arlin Batia would never let me kick, even though I had kicked soccer style and was pretty good at
it." said Williams. "They had a guy who was straight-on kicker who had been there forever. They let him do
all the kicking, and they let the quarterback do all of the punting. SO I played wide receiver. I was pretty fast,
but I never got to kick in high school at all."
Batia, who is back at St. Martin as defensive coordinator, called Williams shortly after the kick.
"When I came home for Christmas vacation to visit with my wife, he called me at my house and said, 'Man, I
always knew you could do it.' I said, 'Come on, coach. If you always knew I could do it, why didn't you let me do
it in high school?" Williams said.
"I could have gone to Mississippi State because, back then, soccer style field goal kickers weren't that big.
But I never got the chance.
He got his chance at Perkinston, where he played for two years as a walk-on defensive back and backup
kicker and punter for coach GeorgeSekul.
"He's the only one who actually gave me the opportunity to start kicking and punting and to do everything
for him, " said Williams.
Sekul said it's been tool long for him to remember why he gave and unproven player such as Williams the
opportunity to kick. However, he did say that Williams was good enough to have played several positions.
"He was an excellent, all-around player," said Sekul.
"He played defensive back but he could have been a wide receiver or have played any position in the
secondary. He had good speed and was a very smart player. He had good range and wasn't afraid to hit."
QUITE THE SHOCKER
It was while he was at Perkinston that Williams came to the attention of Wright.
"I played in an all-state football game," said Williams. "I was an all-state punter, kicker and defensive back
for Coach Sekul at Perk. We represented the south in an all-star game against the north. While I was there, a
Wichita State recruit contacted me. That's the way they recruit a lot of people. A lot of the major colleges
pick up junior college players to fill the spot of somebody that left. They wanted you to step in right away and
start. So you don't get red-shirted. You go in and start. So coach Wright recruited me, and I went on a
recruiting trip to Wichita State."
Williams also visited Tulane and Northeastern Louisiana, but settled for a career as a Shocker.
"I liked it up in Wichita because they only wanted me as a kicker and punted," said Williams.
"Everybody else wanted me as a kicker, punted and defensive back. At the time, I kind of made a decision.
I said, 'OK, I've got good legs. I've never been hurt. I've never had surgery. I'm tired of tackling people.
And kicking and punting sounded very appealing."
Williams entered Wichita State in the spring of 1978 and kicked the record-tying field goal that same
season. Prior to that, Williams' longest kick was a 51-yarder that he booted while at Perk.
On the day of the record-tying kick, it was sunny but windy.
"Wichita is obviously known for wind," said Williams. "We had a 16mph wind that was behind us. It's a good
wind. When you kick from that far, you have to have the wind behind you. It's kind of like in the pros. Tom
Dempsey's 63-yard record was tied by Jason Elam in Denver. Well, in Denver, Solo., the air is so thin that the
ball flies forever. You have to have those kinds of conditions to establish something like that."
Both Erxleben and Little kicked their 67-yarders in 1977.
"In college, 1977 was the year of the kickers. You had major kickers who went to the pros," said Williams.
"They used to draft kickers back then, real good ones. Russell Erxleben, from Texas, kicked a 67-yarder off a
tee against Rice. Three weeks later, Steve Little, from Arkansas kicked a 67-yarder against Texas. Those
were the two premier kickers. Then, you had Tony Franklin, who played for Texas A&M. He was a barefooted
kicker, who actually ended up playing with the Philadelphia Eagles forever. Little got drafted by the St. Louis
Carddinals. Erxleben was drafted number one by the New Orleans Saints and was a big flop. All he could do
was punt. He couldn't kick. The big adjustment you had to make going into the pros from college was that
you had to go from kicking off of the tee to kicking off of the ground and Erxleben could never make that
adjustment. Then, you had Uwe Von Schamman, who played at the University of Oklahoma for Barry Switzer.
And you had Eddie Murray, from Tulane University, who played for the Detroit Lions. You had five kickers
that were drafted in the top five rounds. In 1978, I kicked my field goal and tied Little and Erxleben for the
longest field goal."
After 1977, the NCAA established some rules changes that directly affected kickers.
"Up to 1978, if you attempted a 50-yard field goal and you missed it and it went into the and zone, it came
out on the 20 yard-line like a punt. So you had some free shots on three points, " said Williams.
"After that year, when Erxleben and Little kicked their field goals, they made changes. After that, if you
missed a field goad, the ball went back to the line of scrimmage. So, when you're talking about field position
moving from the 20 yard line to the 50 yard line, not a lot of coaches are going to attempt such a long field
goal, unless it's right before halftime or a game winner at the end. You don't want to lose that field position. If
I had missed my field goal, even though it was the end of the game, the ball would have been moved back to
the 50 yard line. It's a big difference. Coach Wright would have never attempted that field goal had there
been five minuted left to play instead of six seconds because of the field position."
Williams said he felt good about the kick because he had kicked successfully from even further out in
practice.
"I had a good leg, being soccer style and all of that" he said. "I kicked them 60,70 and 75 yards in practice."
Mike Berendes, another junior college transfer from Dubuque, Iowa, played wide receiver for the Shockers,
but also served as Williams' holder during practices.
"I used to hold for Joe. We were really good friends. I saw him kick four or five field goals from at least 70
yards out during practices." said Berendes, who now lives in Wisconsin.
Berendes vividly remembers when Williams nailed the record-tying kick.
"I knew he had a leg. It was pretty exciting. I don't think we realized what it was until afterwards." he said.
Another thing Berendes remembers about Williams is how he would send kickoffs sailing through the
uprights.
"He was definitely the shining star on our team." said Berendes.
NOT A FOOTBALL SCHOOL
Williams said Wichita State was not really considered a 'football school'. The school's football team did
make national headlines in 1970, but for tragic reasons. One of the team's two charter flights crashed int eh
Colorado Rocky Mountains en route to a game at Utah State. Twenty-nine of the 36 passengers and
four-person crew died on impact. Two others died later, as a result of injuries sustained in the crash.
Williams' kick would put the Shockers back into the national spotlight eight years later. However, the school is
known mostly for its basketball and baseball programs.
The school has won several NCAA baseball championships. In 1986, th school eliminated its football
program.
"It costs a lot of money to operate a football program and they just weren't winning games," said Williams.
"So they just decided to do away with it, which is kind of sad. They even sold the bleachers out of the stands.
The stadium is still there, though. They use it for track and field meets, concerts and things like that. They
talked about maybe bringing it back. But it would be a start up program.
Who does Williams root or since the Shockers no longer have a football program?
"I don't have any favorite teams. I really don't" he said. "Since I didn't attend any of the Mississippi
colleges, I just watch different games and change teams during the game.
GOING PRO
After leaving Wichita State, Williams made a stab at professional football but didn't enjoy the same degree
of success that he experienced in the collegiate ranks.
"I was called by the Dallas Cowboys and asked to sign with them. At the same time, i was asked by the N.Y.
Giants to fly out to New York and sign with them" said Williams. "I actually had plane reservations for the day
after the draft to fly out to New York to kick a little bit for them and stuff like that. The Seattle Seahawks met
me at the airport in Wichita two hours before I was supposed to fly out to New York and gave me an offer I
couldn't refuse. I signed a contract right there at the airport to go to Seattle."
Williams went to Seahawks training camp in 1980 and competed with several guys for the starting kicker's
job.
"They were an expansion team. I think they wee in their second year. I was in the Kingdome. They didn't
have a lot of domes back then. It was a kicker's dream to participate and play football inside of a dome." said
Williams.
"I was highly recruited by the Seahawks and figured I had a good chance to make it. The kicker I tried to
beat out was Efren Herrera, who used to play for the Cowboys. He wanted more money. But (Cowboys
Coach) Tom Landry said, 'See you later'. So they sent Herrera over to the Seahawks, and I was trying to beat
him out for the starting job. "
Williams wasn't the only one who was attempting to wrestle the starting job from Herrera.
"They had seven or eight other kickers in camp," said Williams. "It was me, seven other kickers and Efren.
I also tried out as a punted. I think I was the only guy there who played dual roles as a punter/kicker."
Said Berendes, "Joe was just as good a punted as he was a kicker."
Williams beat out every body with the exception of Herrera.
"We were there till the last," said Williams, who played in Seattle's first exhibition game in the Kingdome
against the Atlanta Falcons.
"We played on Monday Night Football with Howard Cosell, and I got the starting job," said Williams, who is
searching for a tape of that 1980 telecast.
"I played the whole game, and we beat the Falcons 14-10" he said.
"That was the highlight of my career."
The next week would bring a low light.
"We played the Miami dolphins at home the next game and Efren Herrera's picture was on front of the
program," said Williams.
"I kind of felt like the writing was on the wall. They let me go right after that game."
Afterwards, Williams had a tryout with the Los Angeles Rams. He also tried out with the San Antonio
Gunslingers and the Arizona Wranglers of the new defunct United States Football League. In fact, Williams
was about to sign a contract with the Wranglers, but the team went bankrupt.
"I went to numerous tryouts with great success. I got there close, but never made it." said Williams.
At 49 year of age, Williams hasn't lost the desire to kick.
"I haven't missed a field goad in my living room yet." he said.
"I still go out and kick. I'll go out there with the high school kids and help them out. When The schools call
me, I'll go out there for free and help them out. I can still kick it from 40 to 50 yards. "
FAMILY MAN
Williams was born and raised in Berlin, Germany.
"That's where I learned by soccer skills," he said.
He came to the United Stated in 1971.
"I was adopted by an air force family," he said. "I didn't speak a whole of English. I went to St. Martin Junior
High there and that's where I actually met my wife, Tammy. Her dad was air force and had just gotten back
from Germany. They went over to Germany for three years. She spoke a little German and introduced
herself. That' s kind of when we kind of hit it off. When I came over, I was hoping to play soccer. I would ave
been a superstar in soccer. They didn't have any soccer. I was pretty fast and pretty skinny back then so the
next best thing to do was football. All of the girls were going after the football players. So I said, "I might as
well become a football player."
The couple has two children, Tony and Janet.
"We were junior high sweethearts," Williams said. "We went through junior high together at St. Martin. She
as a cheerleader and I was a football player. I went to Perk. She was a cheerleader at Perk, and I was a
football player. Then, I went to Wichita and, after that one semester up there, we decided that it was too far
apart and that we'd get married. So I was married to Tammy when I played college ball and kicked the field
goal. My son was actually born in Wichita."
Janet was a cheerleader at Ocean Springs High School, and Tony played soccer.
"He never followed my football steps in kicking. I wanted him to, but I never pushed him. He was a soccer
player and a surfer. He enjoyed doing that more than anything else," said Williams.
The 67-yard field goal ball is on display at Williams' office. He also has another ball that he punted 67
yards against Alabama during his senior year.
"Coach Wright actually made arrangements to play Alabama in 1979 - my senior year. But all of the
coaches got fired after 1978, " said Williams.
"We still played Alabama the next year. In fact, they were the defending national champs and were ranked
number one or number two in the nation when we played them in Tuscaloosa. Bear Bryant was still the
coach. We got beat 42-0 but we held them to 10 points in the second half. It was their homecoming game,
and everybody I knew was invited to come. All my friends on the team gave me their tickets and everybody
loaded up on buses and came to watch me play. I had a 67-yard punt, which was kind of cool. Bing from the
South, playing Alabama was a big deal"
Not as big as his 67-yard field goal, however. That was the real big deal.