height_ft death_date nationality birth_date career_start years death_place draft_year team draft_pick college name weight_lb birth_place draft_team career_end position highschool draft_round height_in article_title
6 25 december 2004 american 29 october 1927 1950 1950 -- 1954 phoenix , arizona 1950 peoria caterpillars -lrb- nibl -rrb- 30 purdue -lrb- 1946 -- 1950 -rrb- howie williams 185 new ross , indiana minneapolis lakers 1954 guard new ross -lrb- new ross , indiana -rrb- 3 0 howie williams -lrb- basketball -rrb-

howie williams -lrb- basketball -rrb-

howard earl `` howie '' williams -lrb- october 29 , 1927 -- december 25 , 2004 -rrb- was an american basketball player who competed in the 1952 summer olympics .
williams played collegiately at purdue university where he was a 2x all-big ten guard -lrb- 1948 -- 49 , 1949 -- 50 -rrb- ; he was selected as the purdue team mvp in his junior and senior seasons and as team captain in 1949-50 ; posting a career total of 735 points -lrb- 10.0 game avg -rrb- .
he led the big ten conference in free throw percentage -lrb- 85.7 % -rrb- for the 1948-49 season .
he was a 3rd round pick of the minneapolis lakers in the 1950 nba draft but chose insteand to sign a contract with the peoria caterpillars of the american athletic union and the national industrial basketball league .
the caterpillars finished 4th in the nibl but won the national aau title -lrb- the first of three consecutive titles -rrb- , knocking off the regular season champions , the phillips oilers in the semi-finals on williams last second bucket .
williams and the rest of the caterpillar team defeated the ncaa champion kansas jayhawks in the aau title game .
following the title game , the los angeles times named williams the aau player of the year ; williams then led peoria to another aau national title in 1953 .
the 1952 win placed williams as well as peoria teammates ; ronald bontemps , marcus freiberger , frank mccabe and dan pippin on the u.s. olympic squad .
that team , led by fellow native hoosier clyde lovellette won the gold medal .
he played all eight games and finished # 8 in scoring for the squad .
williams spent four seasons playing for the caterpillars and finished with 1,235 career points , eighth on their career scoring list .
he was inducted into the indiana basketball hall of fame in 1989 and the greater peoria sports hall of fame in 1991 .
he died in phoenix , arizona in 2004 ; following a 35-year career with the caterpillar corporation .
