Ted Lewis • New Orleans Times-Picayune • June 12, 2008
In his current role as the pastor of the church he recently founded in his adopted home of St. Louis, Aeneas Williams often tells the story of how at age 40 Moses found it in his heart to visit his brother Aaron, thus beginning the saga of Exodus.
Williams usually uses the story in the context of how he and wife Tracy started The Spirit of the Lord Family Church in his basement last year when he was almost the same age as Moses.
But it also refers to something that happened two decades ago - when Williams, after two years of attending Southern University as an ordinary student after graduating from Fortier High School in New Orleans, felt moved in his heart to walk on the football team just prior to the start of the season.
"Michael Lindsay, a friend of mine from Fortier, asked me why I wasn't playing, and what he said really struck with me," said Williams, who had last played on Fortier's undefeated 1985 team.
"And my uncle, William Whitson, was always saying to, 'Nikki, why are you not playing football?'
"Before, I never would go along with them. But this time, for whatever reason, I said, 'OK.' "
And unlike Moses, Williams at that point was not a reluctant warrior.
"In other areas, when I get a desire to do something, I might question it," he said. "But in football, I didn't."
Good thing.
In just five weeks Williams was starting at cornerback for the Jaguars. Three years later, the Arizona Cardinals made Williams their third-round draft choice, launching an NFL that career that last 14 seasons, saw him named All-Pro five times, appear in eight Pro Bowls and selected to the league's 1990s All-Decade Team. Those are credentials sure to land Williams in Canton as soon as he's eligible.
Already, he's scheduled for induction in the Cardinals' Ring of Honor this fall.
But before that, Williams is about to be inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in Natchitoches. He was elected by acclimation in his first year of eligibility.
"All of this recognition is a tremendous honor," Williams said. "But my goal as a player has always to get myself better individually in order to assist my team getting better as a group."
That wasn't always easy.
As Moses did, Williams spent years in the wilderness - namely Arizona where in his 10 seasons the Cardinals lost nearly twice as many games as they lost, making the playoffs only once.
Traded to St. Louis on draft day in 2001, Williams helped transform one of the league's worst defenses into one of its best.
The Rams went to Super Bowl XXXVI in the Superdome where they lost to New England, 20-17.
Williams' play that season...
-06-14-2008, 05:21 AM
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