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sports
Heart back for
49ers
By Ben Dimapindan
On-line Forty-Niner
Once upon a time
in a land far, far away - South Bend, Ind., actually - the
gritty 5-foot-6 Rudy Ruettiger was carried off the field on
the shoulders of his Notre Dame teammates, signifying their
adulation for his hard-nosed work ethic and determination.
With no direct
connection to today other than perhaps by name and mettle,
the heart and soul of the Long Beach State men's basketball
team lies in its emotional leader, senior center James "Rudy"
Williams - all 6-foot-9, 240 pounds of him.
"Rudy is a
guy that's been through the wars with us," Associate
Head Coach Reggie Warford said. "He brings tenacity,
toughness and rebounding. He has to be a leader for us, especially
by example, but he's an emotional leader also. When he takes
the court, he ups the ante for us as far as intensity."
Williams has earned
plenty of respect from his coaches and fellow 49ers with his
competitiveness on the hardwood. But he has earned even more
respect for enduring over a year of rehabilitation on his
surgically repaired legs in order to step onto the court again
and play in an LBSU uniform this season.
"I broke my
right leg and my left leg had a stress fracture," Williams
said. "My right one was bad, it was a clean break. I
had to go through surgery [repairing both tibias] and a year
and a half of rehab and, believe me, it was frustrating and
hard."
Despite the pain
in his legs, Williams battled through six games last season,
averaging 8.7 points and 3.7 rebounds before sitting out the
rest of the year as a medical redshirt.
Now, almost a year
later, Williams has regained the vitality of his legs and
once again has a spring in his step. In other words: with
two good wheels, Williams is ready to unleash his pent up
competitiveness onto Big West rivals at full force.
"It was hard
[watching last season unravel from the bench], I felt like
a little kid watching his mom get beat up," Williams
said. "When I was last healthy [I averaged 12.2 points
and 7.3 boards]. You should be expecting those same kind of
numbers, if not better for this year."
Outside the gym,
Williams is a regular, laid back guy, but when game time rolls
around, he morphs into a vocal, aggressive leader who looks
forward to consistently providing the team with a big boost
emotionally.
"I'm like
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," Williams said. "Off the
court, you know me as Rudy or happy-go-lucky James, but on
the court you don't want to face me when you're wearing an
opposing jersey. That's just the way it is."
In addition, with
Williams' imposing size in the frontcourt, his coaches and
teammates are excited to have him back to control the backboard
on offense and on defense, hold opposing teams to just one
shot, Warford said.
"With his
presence [on the inside] alone, he'll add five to seven more
wins [from last year]," senior forward Travis Reed said.
"He brings hustle, intensity and works hard on every
single play. If he comes back to his full potential, that
will spell a lot of trouble for a lot of teams."
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