Former OU Assistant Passes Away

Aug. 29, 2009

The OU men's gymnstics program lost a member of its family last week when former assistant coach, Mark William Williams, passed away.

Williams, who shared the same first and last name as OU's current head coach, was a Sooner assistant at the University of Oklahoma in the late 1980s.

Mark William Williams was an internationally experienced, brevet-rated judge and longtime Texas High School coach, at Trinity in Euless, where he also taught health and physical education. Williams had also been an assistant coach at the University of Oklahoma in the late 1980s and a J.O. men's coach at various Dallas-area clubs.

Williams, who judged 19 of the last 20 USAs, was forced to sit out last week when the Championships finally came to his hometown of Dallas—he was scheduled to rate pommel horse—after being unexpectedly hospitalized.

Williams passed away on the night of Aug. 22 at home in Bedford, Texas, surrounded by friends and family. He was 59.

Current OU Head Coach Mark Wells Williams shared a letter to Sooners fans about his longtime friend and mentor.

When I moved to Texas in1984, my name was changed to Little Mark Williams by most of the gymnastics community. Since Big Mark Williams and I were now living in the same state, coaching the same sport, had the same middle initial and signed checks with similar signatures, there had to be some way of telling us apart. You can say that I got the title Little Mark because I was the shorter and smaller physically or the younger of the two Mark's but I always felt that Big Mark was the one who earned the higher status, deserved the most respect and was already a legend in men's gymnastics as a coach and as a judge. So to me, I was just honored to share Big Mark Williams' name.

The first time I was aware there was another Mark Williams in the gymnastic community was at the 1979 Big 8 Championships in Norman, Oklahoma. Big Mark was announced as one of the judges on still rings and I was a competitor for the University of Nebraska. Because we were close rivals with Oklahoma, every tenth of a point was scrutinized. After I completed my exercise, the scores came up 9.3, 9.4, 9.4 and 9.5. The lowest score given, was Mark's 9.3. I remember thinking at the time, “Geez, even if he is the judge from Oklahoma, he could have a least given me a couple more tenths for my cool name.” But that wasn't the way with Mark; he judged gymnastics with an unwavering fairness that at times felt unique in such a subjective sport. I recently had a conversation with the new head coach at Nebraska, Chuck Chmelka, who confirmed my thoughts. Chuck said, “You always knew that Mark would give you the right score whether you were on the national team, from the opposing university or just a Jr. gymnasts coming up in the sport. You knew he would give you what was fair.” That was Big Mark, always doing things the right way to make the sport better.

When I moved to San Antonio in'84, I began to see Big Mark all the time at junior meets. In no time at all we struck up a friendship inside the gym and out where I would often call him with judging questions, coaching advise or just to see what was the next event where we'd both be going. As the months progressed, Mark approached me with a coaching and teaching opportunity that started in the fall. He had accepted a job at the University of Oklahoma as the men's assistant coach and would be leaving North Garland High School. Would I be interested in coaching his team and teaching again? I was, and I did.

The North Garland Boy's team was the reining state champions a couple of years running when I began coaching the boy's and girl's team that year. Talk about huge shoes to fill, it was hard for me to think that my size 7 and ½'s would match-up to Big Mark's size 13's. Throughout that gymnastic season, I recall being on the phone with Mark almost every week. We'd swap information about what our teams were doing and I'd ask him questions about what he did to coach, motivate or discipline the his teams in the past. Most of the time he would give me some practical advise and reassure me that I would figure out what was right for that team. Fortunately, the boy's responded to my coaching, worked hard and we finished the season with another state championship. I felt relieved that I hadn't let Mark down with the team I had inherited.

Several years later, Mark moved back to Texas after coaching for three years at Oklahoma. As we had done previously, I followed in his footsteps not long after and became the second Mark Williams in the position of the assistant coach at Oklahoma in 1988.

It was during this time the “Bob Newhart Show” introduced two characters by the names of Darrell and Darrell. Three guys would show up in a scene and one of the guys would say, “This is my brother Darrell and my other brother Darrell.” Pretty soon Mark and I were greeting each other with, “Hey, Darrell!”

In many respects, Mark felt like my brother. I often thought of him first whenever something important happened in my life. The first person former head coach, Greg Buwick, and I called after winning the 1991 NCAA National Championships was Mark. At the 1996 Olympic Games when Mark was the floor manager and I was the USA men's assistant coach, Mark and I shared the spectacle of watching gymnastics performed at the highest level. When I became the head coach at Oklahoma in 1999, one of the first people I told was Mark and he was also the first person I made an offer to add to my staff.

In 2001, Mark judged at the NCAA Championships that Oklahoma finished 2nd. Hours after the meet finished, Mark was consoling me and bringing me back down from the frustration of being so close to a championship. I was second guessing the judging and trying to figure out what we could have done differently to win but Mark assured me that we were doing the right things and another championship would come. The next year when we won the 2002 NCAA Championships in the Lloyd Noble Arena, I remember congratulating my team and running across the competition floor and throwing myself into Mark's arms. Since he had been a judge on the floor, he gave me a discreet “Boomer Sooner”, put me down and congratulated me for our national championship. If the university could have found a way for me to do it, I would have given Mark a championship ring along with the rest of my team. He meant that much to me as a mentor, a coaching colleague, an outstanding Brevet judge and a best friend.

I guess these are the type of things that I will miss sharing with Mark the most. He helped lift my sights to the highest and loftiest goals. And he was always there to support, commiserate or celebrate my efforts. To me, no matter how much I accomplish in this life, Mark William Williams will always be Big Mark and Mark Wells Williams will be Little Mark.

-- Mark Williams

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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