Gizmo Williams - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from Henry Williams (football player)) American gridiron football player (born 1962)

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Gizmo Williams
Career information
No. 2
Born:	(1962-05-31) May 31, 1962 (age 62) Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.
CFL status	American
Position(s)	WR, PR, KR
Height	5 ft 6 in (168 cm)
Weight	185 lb (84 kg)
College	East Carolina
Career history
As player
1985	Memphis Showboats
1986	Calgary Stampeders*
1986–1988	Edmonton Eskimos
1989	Philadelphia Eagles
1990–2000	Edmonton Eskimos

Career highlights and awards
2× Grey Cup champion (1987, 1993)
CFL All-Star	1987, 1991–1994
CFL West All-Star	1987, 1988, 1991–1994, 1997
Honors	2002 - Edmonton Eskimos Wall of Honour
Records	Canadian Football League Records Most kickoff returns – career (335) Most kickoff return yards – career (7,354) Most kickoff returns – game (8) - September 5, 1994 Most punt returns – career (1,003) Most punt returns – game (12) - August 12, 1988 Most punt return yards – career (11,177) Most punt return yards – season (1,440) - 1991 Most punt return yards – game (232) - July 17, 1991 Most punt return touchdowns – career (26) Most punt return touchdowns – season (5) Most punt return touchdowns – game (2) - 3 times Most all purpose yards in pro football history (23,927)
Career stats
Canadian Football Hall of Fame, 2006

Henry Lee "Gizmo" Williams (born May 31, 1962) is an American former professional football kick returner and wide receiver. After his retirement at the end of the 2000 CFL season, Williams worked as a motivational speaker.

Born into an impoverished family, Williams was raised by his brother Edgar after the death of both his parents as a child, and, after Edgar's death, by an aunt. Despite his background, Williams was able to be a successful high school football player, and was able to enroll at East Carolina University. After graduating from East Carolina, Williams was signed by the Memphis Showboats of the United States Football League. While playing in Memphis, future Professional Football Hall of Famer Reggie White gave the shifty Williams the nickname "Gizmo", which would stick with him through his professional career.

Williams was released by the Showboats after one season in the USFL in 1985, and signed with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League. With the exception of a half-season with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1989, Williams would play with the Eskimos for every CFL season from 1986 to 2000.

Standing a diminutive 5 feet 6 inches (168 cm), Williams was a prototypical Canadian football kick returner in many ways. He saw some success as a receiver, breaking 900 yards receiving on two occasions, but was best known for his work as a returner. Williams soon developed a trademark of doing a flip in the air after every score, which quickly became associated with Williams in the eyes of the fans. During his career with the Eskimos, Williams set more than 20 CFL records, and as of 2006 is still the league's all-time leader in both punt and kickoff return yardage, and holds the record for most kick return touchdowns with 31 (26 on punt returns, two on kickoff returns and three on missed field goal returns). Perhaps his most memorable was a 115-yard missed-field-goal return for a touchdown in the 1987 Grey Cup.

In 2002, Williams's #2 was put on the Edmonton Eskimos Wall of Honour. Four years later, Williams was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame with a class that included former teammate and quarterback Matt Dunigan. In November 2006 he was voted one of the CFL's Top 50 players (#25) of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network The Sports Network/TSN.

Williams has a family history of multiple sclerosis, which killed his mother in December 1969 when Williams was six, as well as seven of his ten siblings. Williams's father died in a house fire at Christmas of 1970.

As of 2017, he is a coach for the Jasper Place High School football senior team.

References

"'Gizmo' Williams highlights Canadian Football Hall of Fame class". Associated Press. September 29, 2006. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
Posted, Kevin Mitchell (May 25, 2011). "May 2011: Gizmo's family stalked by MS". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
"Gizmo ran over obstacles to reach Hall of Fame". CFL.ca. September 29, 2006. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
Short, John (August 29, 2017). "John Short: Gizmo Williams takes on high school coaching position". Edmonton Sun. Retrieved November 7, 2023.

External links

MCP Talent page
Bio on CFL.ca Archived 2018-12-15 at the Wayback Machine

v t e Edmonton Eskimos 75th Grey Cup champions
2 Gizmo Williams 3 Tom Dixon 4 Jerry Kauric 5 Stanley Blair 6 Cliff Toney 8 Tracy Ham 9 Damon Allen 11 Junior Robinson 15 Laurent DesLauriers 16 Matt Dunigan 20 Don Wilson 22 Blake Marshall 23 Mark Norman 24 Steve Benjamin 25 Tom Richards 27 Marco Cyncar 28 Ron Howard 29 Mike Thurman 30 Danny Bass 32 Tony Spoletini 33 Rick House 34 Milson Jones 35 Chris Skinner 36 Stewart Hill 38 Brian Warren 43 Craig Shaffer 45 Mike McLean 47 Larry Wruck 49 Frank Balkovec 50 Blake Dermott 51 Bruce Green 59 Leo Blanchard 62 Bill Stevenson 63 Hector Pothier 66 Trevor Bowles 67 Rod Connop 68 Rudy Phillips 70 Brian Kelly 75 John Mandarich 78 Stephen Jones 83 Chris Johnstone 88 Tom Tuinei 89 Steve Howlett 90 Greg McCormick 92 James Zachery 94 Lloyd Mumphrey 95 Dan Kearns 98 Gary Palumbis Head Coach: Joe Faragalli Assistant coaches: Gary Durchik Steve Goldman Mike Roach Doug Sams Don Sutherin General Manager: Hugh Campbell President: Rick LeLacheur

Edmonton Eskimos 75th Grey Cup champions

Head Coach: Joe Faragalli

General Manager: Hugh Campbell

President: Rick LeLacheur

v t e Edmonton Eskimos 81st Grey Cup champions
2 Gizmo Williams 5 Gary Morris 6 Rickey Jones 7 Jim Sandusky 8 Wayde Butler 9 Damon Allen 10 Damion Lyons 11 Sean Fleming 13 Ed Berry 15 Tom Muecke 16 Rickey Foggie 17 Eddie Thomas 18 Glenn Harper 19 David Shelton 20 Don Wilson 22 Blake Marshall 23 J. P. Izquierdo 24 Dan Murphy 25 Morris Lolar 26 Glenn Rogers 28 Trent Brown 31 Eric Mitchel 32 Michael Soles 33 Lucius Floyd 34 Brian Walling 36 Bruce Dickson 39 Willie Pless 40 Bennie Goods 41 Errol Martin 43 Jed Roberts 46 Malvin Hunter 47 Larry Wruck 50 Blake Dermott 51 Jeff Thomas 53 Mike Dumaresq 56 Steve Krupey 57 Randy Ambrosie 60 Chris Morris 61 Terris Chorney 67 Rod Connop 87 Jay Christensen 88 Eddie Brown 89 Leroy Blugh 90 Leonard Johnson 91 Tony Woods 94 Michel Bourgeau Head coach: Ron Lancaster Assistant coaches: Bill MacDermott Mark Nelson Greg Newhouse Adam Rita Rich Stubler General Manager: Hugh Campbell President: J. C. Ramsey

Edmonton Eskimos 81st Grey Cup champions

Head coach: Ron Lancaster

General Manager: Hugh Campbell

President: J. C. Ramsey

v t e Members of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame
Players	Abendschan Ah You Aldag D. Allen Anderson Atchison B. Bailey Baker Barrow Bass Batstone Battle Beach Benecick Bennett Bonk Bourke Bowman Box Breen Bright C. Brock D. Brock Do. Brown T. Brown Browne Brule Burden Burris Cahoon Calvillo Cameron J. Campbell Casey Charlton Childress Clarke Clements Clemons Coffey Conacher Connop Copeland Cornish Corrigall Covington C. Cox E. Cox R. Craig Crawford Cronin D. Cutler W. Cutler Dalla Riva DiPietro Dixon Dunigan Elgaard Elimimian Eliowitz Emerson Estay Etcheverry Evanshen Fairbanks Faloney Fear Fennell Fernandez Ferraro Ferrone Fieldgate Fleming Flory Da. Flutie Do. Flutie Flynn Frank Fryer Gabriel Gaines Gall George Golab Gorrell Grant Gray Griffing Ham Hanson Harding D. Harris W. Harris Harrison Helton Henley Highbaugh Hinton Holloway Huffman Hufnagel Hugo Ilesic Isbister Jackson Jacobs E. James G. James A. Johnson B. Johnson W. Johnson Ty. Jones Jurasin Kabat Kapp Keeling B. Kelly E. Kelly Kepley Krol Kwong Lapointe Lancaster Lawson Leadlay Lear Lehmann L. Lewis N. Lewis Lumsden Lunsford Luster Luzzi Makowsky McCallum McCance McGill McGowan McManus McQuarters B. Miles R. Miles Mills Mitchell Molson Montford Moon F. Morris T. Morris Mosca J. Murphy Narcisse Nelson Nettles Neumann O'Quinn Okeke O'Shea Pajaczkowski Jac. Parker Jam. Parker Passaglia Patterson Payton G. Perry N. Perry Phillips A. Pitts E. Pitts Pless Ploen Poplawski Pringle Quilty Racine Raimey Ray Rebholz Reed Reeve Ridgway Rigney Roberts Robinson Romano Rowe Ruby Russel T. Scott V. Scott Shatto Simon Be. Simpson Bo. Simpson Sprague Stegall Steinauer Stevenson Stewart Stirling Sutherin Symons Thelen Thornton Timmis Tindale Tinsley Tommy Trawick Tubman Tucker Urness Uteck Vaughan Vaughn Vavra Vercheval Wagner Walby Walker Weir Welch West Wilkinson G. Williams A. Wilson D. Wilson Winfield Wylie Yochum Young Zambiasi Zock
Builders	Ackles Anselmo Back R. Bailey Ballard Barker Berger Braley Brook D. W. Brown Buono H. Campbell Chipman Clair Connellan Cooper Cosentino Coulter Crighton A. Currie G. Currie Custis Davies DeGruchy Dojack Duggan DuMoulin Dussault Evans Forster Foulds Fracas Fulton Gaudaur Gibson Grant Grey Griffith Halter Hannibal Haylor Hayman Henick Hopson Hufnagel Bi. Hughes Ireland Keys Kimball Knight Kramer Levy Lieberman Loney Matthews McBrien McCaffrey D. McCann McDonald McNaughton McPherson Mitchell Metras Montgomery T. Morris C. Murphy Newton O'Billovich Pistilli Preston Reda A. Ritchie D. Ritchie Rodden Ryan Sazio Schwartz Shaughnessy Shepherd Shivers Shouldice J. Simpson F. Smith L. Smith Slocomb Spencer Spring Stukus P. Taylor Tindall Towriss Uteck Warner Warwick Wetenhall S. Wilson
Media	Afaganis A. Allen P. Allen R. Allen Avery Badham Beamish Bishop Bratina Brisebois Brunt Calcutt Carroll Tom Casey Chevrier Cluff Cole Coleman J. Cox G. Craig Cuthbert Davis DeGeer Dryburgh Dufault Dunnell Esaw Frayne Frewin Gilchrist Good B. Hall V. Hall Hanley Hooper Bo. Hughes Hunt Hunter Hynes Irving D. Isaac M. Isaac Te. Jones Kearney G. Kelly Kent Kielty MacCabe Maki Marsden Marshall Martin Matheson Matsumoto A. McCann McConnell McKnight McLean Melville Miller Milton Moir Naylor Newans O'Brien O'Meara Pascall Pascucci Pawson Picken J. Proudfoot T. Proudfoot Proulx Purcell Ralph Reeve Ruckaber Saunders Schultz Selnes Sgambati Sigurdson Simmons D. Smith M. Smith Stephen Stephenson Stukus Suitor Sullivan Swangard Tait J. Taylor Tucker Ullrich Viney G. Walker H. Walker Ja. Wells Jo. Wells Westwick Willes B. Williams Wittman Zurkowsky

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References

External links