University of Georgia Athletics
After 15 Years, Williams Gets His Degree
May 04, 2018 | Men's Basketball, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Of the 83 Georgia student-athletes graduating Friday, only one is from the men's basketball team. And it's not Yante Maten or anyone else that suited up for the Bulldogs this season, or last season, or any season in the past decade.Â
Fifteen years after taking off his Georgia jersey for the last time, Ezra Williams will get his degree in Human Development and Family Science.
"It's been a joy coming back. It's been an experience, to say the least, a great experience," Williams said Monday while sitting in Georgia's practice facility, which didn't exist when he played for the Bulldogs from 2001-03.
Williams has been back in Athens for the past three semesters taking classes, and he will sometimes use the practice gym to get up some shots. He's on familiar ground, but the Marietta, Ga., native is now a long way from home.Â
After playing for the Bulldogs — he was an All-SEC player his final two seasons and his 1,349 career points rank 19th all-time — Williams spent most of the next decade playing professionally. His 2003 draft prospect write-up on NBA.com includes, "Strengths: Not afraid to take big shots at end of games, he is a physical guard who muscles defenders to get the shot he wants."
Williams' NBA dreams didn't come true, but he spent most of the next decade playing ball and seeing the world. He had a couple of stints for the San Antonio Spurs' D-League team (now the G-League), he played in the NBA's Summer League several times and attended multiple training camps. Williams also played in Turkey, Italy and Holland.
In 2008, while at the Cleveland Cavaliers' training camp, a sore knee proved to be a meniscus tear that required micro-fracture surgery.
"In that instant I had to start thinking about other things besides playing basketball," he said.
Soon after, he started Treamark Sports, his fitness and player development company. He later started the Score for Kids foundation, which promotes health and fitness to children in the Atlanta area.
Meanwhile, Williams' home is now in Vienna, Austria. While living in Atlanta earlier this decade he met his wife, Julia, whose mother is Austrian and father is German. They eventually settled in Vienna, where much of her family lives.
While Williams has been back in Athens finishing his degree — his wife is an Alabama graduate, so there was plenty for them to discuss during football season — Julia remained in Vienna.
"We've tried to see each other every four to six weeks, and she'll be here for graduation," he said.
If you think Williams, now 37, is a little old to be in school, you're right and you're wrong. He may have a decade-plus on most of his fellow undergrads, but certainly not all. Also graduating Friday is Olyn Gee, a 70-year-old retired wedding photographer.
"Students in school don't understand that these are the happiest years of your life," Gee told UGA Today recently. "You spend your whole life trying to get back to college."
One of Williams' teammates, Rashad Wright, came back and finished his degree in 2016.
For Williams, he came back mostly because he wanted to finish what he started all those years ago. He and Julia got married in 2016, he said, and if he was going to come back to Georgia and finish, this was the time to do it, before they started having children.
"I have my letter-of-intent, I have it on the wall, and I'd look at as something like, I've got to finish," he said. "It's just always been sitting there and I keep it with me just to keep me motivated."
Basketball remains very much part of his present and, he hopes, his future. Williams said he'd like to get involved in college basketball coaching, on the player development side. If that doesn't work out, he plans to open up his own training facility in Vienna.
The sport isn't that big there right now, he said, "but maybe I could be someone to come and really change that."
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.