BY DUANE NORBY
Sidney Herald
For more than 40 years, including acting as AAU Eastern Division head referee for the past 15 years, Terry Williams has been a vital fixture in the Sidney AAU wrestling program in some shape or form.
Williams was a young pioneer in the program as a sixth grader when the AAU program began under the likes of such men as former Sidney head wrestling coach Stan Albertson and the late Gary Melby.
While wrestling at Dickinson State College in the late 70s, Williams continued to make periodic visits back to town to help coach the program. It was at Dickinson where he began his illustrious career as a wrestling referee.
“There’s never been a point where I wasn’t involved in the AAU program. In college we were required to referee tournaments. I enjoyed doing it and went into the MOA after college,” Williams said. “Some of my responsibilities as head referee for the Eastern AAU are to help organize tournaments, represent the Eastern AAU Division at state tournaments and train kids 14 years and older to help referee tournaments.”
A referee career filled with numerous highlights, a few of Williams’ accomplishments include refereeing 20 high school divisional tournaments, six state high school tournaments and nine national folkstyle tournaments.
But the most prestigious honor, according to Williams, is being chosen the last six years to referee the Disney National Duals Tournament held in Florida. Coaches from around the nation pick referees to officiate this tournament.
Although too many officiating honors to mention, Williams’ greatest satisfaction over the years has been his affiliation with Sidney’s AAU program. One such memory was taking a group of wrestlers to Russia in 1989 to compete in a Sombo wrestling tournament. His son Jesse and 2002 world championships silver medalist Brandon Eggum were among those who took part in the tournament.
“Back then it was still Russia and the wrestlers they had were hand-picked to wrestle. That was their job for the government and basically lived that sport as a young kid. They were very dedicated to the sport. We all learned a lot from that experience,” Williams said. “It’s nice to know that I had a small part in Brandon’s success coaching him as a young kid. But it’s not just the Brandon Eggums that I liked along the way. I like to see all kids succeed. Watching kids improve year to year – I enjoy seeing that progress.”
Having sons Jesse and two-time state champion Nathan in the AAU program from 1985-2004, Williams became even more active in the AAU program. It was two years ago that his youngest son Nathan graduated leaving Williams with no children in the program. However, his involvement with AAU never weakened. It’s this sort of commitment by Williams and many others like him to the Sidney AAU program that has made the entire wrestling program a consistent force at the state and national level.
“Wrestling is one of the greatest sport. It teaches and builds character. Whether the kids stick with it or move onto to other sports, the experience of wrestling will help them become good citizens. The sport gave me so much that I feel I have to give back. But more than anything else, I just love the sport,” Williams said. “I’ve always said wrestling is a way of life by teaching sportsmanship, hard work, good citizenship and making the right choices in life. Especially today, this is so important – it teaches life. I try to correlate wrestling stuff to the kids with what goes on in life.”
As mentioned in a previous sports column appearing in the Herald sports section, one of the greatest accomplishments any coach can attain is the satisfaction of knowing he/she had a positive and lasting impression on a child’s growth into adulthood. And Williams has had more than his share of these fulfilling moments over the years.
“The success of the high school program begins right here. Knowing that you had something to do with a four-time state championship program is rewarding. Every time I see a kid get his hand raised, it’s satisfying to know I had a hand in it,” Williams said. “One particular instance that I’ll always remember is when Byron (Kuylen) won his first state championship. He came up and told me afterward that all he heard in his mind throughout the match was me saying ‘toes, toes, toes.’ I always told him to keep driving off his toes.”
With all of his personal accomplishments and life-fulfilling moments, one goal still evades Williams with his son Jesse now following his father’s footsteps as a high school referee. “It would be really nice that if someday Jesse and I could ref a high school tournament together.” Williams has already worked these tournaments with brothers Curt and Dave, both long-time MOA referees as well.
Although the AAU program has proven to be a huge early spark to the highly-successful Sidney High School wrestling program, Williams notes that it’s an entire community effort.
“We’re the envy of the state on how the Sidney people come together to offer such great support. Everyone in the community is working for the same goal – to help our wrestlers compete at tougher tournaments in order to make them better wrestlers.
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