Pat Williams did not like seeing what happened to his older brother Wroway, nor does he like seeing what current Nottingham High wrestling teammate AJ May is enduring. But he used both as motivation to make himself one of the most improved Northstar wrestlers over the past two seasons.
Entering the final week of January, Williams was 16-5 with five pins and was hoping to claim a gold medal in his first Mercer County Tournament.
Williams is only in his third year of wrestling, having played in Nottingham’s basketball program as a freshman. During that time he would watch Wroway Williams’ wrestling matches, and was impacted when his big brother was beaten by Steinert’s River Ulrich in a match that Wroway felt he should have won.
Seeing that actually inspired Williams to decided to leave hoops and try wrestling as a sophomore (after Wroway graduated).
“That’s when I started hating Steinert,” Williams said. “Not on a personal level, but sports-wise. That was going to be my revenge, beating them.”
As a sophomore Williams wrestled a few matches on JV and started to hone his craft.
“He reminded me of Wroway,” Nottingham coach Jason Marasco said. “He had that lateral drop like Wroway had, where he used to just throw everybody across the whole darn mat. He came in with just a little experience from rolling around with his brother, but it was nice to have somebody with a little bit of clue about the sport. Ninety-nine percent of my kids have no clue about it. So he would come watch his brother at a home meet. After the meet was over, he would get on the mat for 10, 15 minutes, just roll around and start to figure it out a little bit.”
‘Just knowing there are so many people better than you or working harder than you, that means you always have work harder.’
Last season, Williams won the wrestle-offs for the 160-pound starting spot but had trouble reaching that weight until after the Mercer County Tournament. His first tournament competition was districts, and he promptly took third place before losing his only regional match to finish 12-6 with two pins.
Despite his short stay, the trip made an impact and Marasco named Williams the Stars Most Improved Wrestler.
“I saw the intensity, the level of skill there,” Williams said. “I imagine there’s other regions out there as strong or stronger. Just knowing there are so many people better than you or working harder than you, that means you always have work harder. Hard work beats talent when talent stops working hard. So you could have all the talent in the world but if you don’t work hard it doesn’t matter.”
Williams worked hard entering this season and had a nice start at 8-3. But he admittedly got a little full of himself and began to slack off, much to the dismay of Marasco. Williams had an eye opener, however, in the case of May.
May was struggling with knee issues since August workouts, but figured it was a slight sprain. When the season opened, he won the Nottingham Tournament but was in extreme pain. It turned out he was wrestling with a torn ACL and partially torn MCL. Since the injuries were diagnosed, he has been forced to miss the remainder of his senior season.
May has lamented to teammates that had he known, he would have taken care of it in the summer in order to wrestle his final year.
“I started thinking he went from all these good things, and now he’s missing the sport,” Williams said. “He thinks about the sport every day. He would do anything to be in my shoes. It’s sad when a kid who has so much love for the sport, is being told he can’t wrestle his senior year. It’s not like he’s a sophomore and he has some more years. This is it, next year is college.”
That re-generated Williams’ motivation back to where it was, much to the pleasure of Marasco.
“He’s coming around,” the coach said. “He sent me a text one night that he’s not working hard enough. He said, ‘I know if I worked harder I can do better.’ He actually reached out to me because I’ve been getting on him. I’m like, ‘You’re beating all these kids and you’re not even working hard. Imagine if you were actually in shape.’”
Williams was not arguing that point, saying, “I started winning matches and doing pretty good, and I started to slack off. When I saw what happened to AJ, it made me realize I was taking the sport for granted.”
Williams began to turn it on again, and even his losses were close ones that could have gone either way. Entering the county tournament on Jan. 28, Marasco felt Williams and Hightstown’s Johnny Andre had a good shot at meeting in the finals.
“I’m hoping he could win the counties to really give him the confidence he needs for districts and regions and hopefully states,” Marasco said. “That changes kids. Once you get a gold medal around your neck, you really start believing in yourself. Second place, you feel good, but there’s nothing like that gold medal.”
The coach feels one thing Williams has going for him is a desire to shed his anonymity. Aside from several second-place tournament finishes this year and his district placing last year, Williams has not really made a name for himself yet. He is not, however, intimidated by other names.
“He’s tough, he’s a physical wrestler, and he’s gotten to the point he doesn’t care who you are anymore,” Marasco said. “(His mindset is) ‘You may have all the accolades and you don’t know who the heck I am, but I’m gonna come out there, I’m gonna be in your face, I’m gonna shoot, and win or lose you ain’t gonna want to wrestle me again.’”
That kind of attitude should make Williams a welcome addition at his next stop—the National Guard. Williams signed a six-year contract that will include two years in the reserves.
He opted for that over one of the higher profile branches of the service, noting that while National Guardsmen are always at risk of being called into action if there is an all out emergency, the chances are higher in the Army, Navy or Marines. Since his focus is on education, he is hoping to stay home.
“I don’t want to delay my education,” Williams said. “Even though I’ll miss the fall semester, by the time I come back I plan on going straight to school, that’s why I took the reserve side. I leave in July and when I come back, I’m probably not gonna wrestle my freshman year. I’ll go to a lot of camps, see what kind of tournaments are around the nation, then apply to Rutgers or some place.”
Williams is obviously making up for lost time, seeing as he is only in his third year with the sport. He still gets tips via phone from Wroway, who is currently playing rugby at Albright College. Williams just wishes he had more mat experience at this point.
“Honestly, not to sound cocky, but if I would have known about wrestling, even in middle school, I would have been a state champ by my senior year. No doubt about it,” he said. “I have the talent and the will to win, but sometimes the technique and that experience that the other wrestler has makes a difference. If he works hard enough, he does beat me because he knows a little extra something I don’t know, or he knows a little move I don’t know. I know that at end of the day that’s all just excuses, but I think if I started earlier I would have been better now.”
Nottingham High’s Pat Williams wrestles during a home meet this season. (Photo by Wes Kirkpatrick.),
