Bob Williams

Robert Allen Williams (January 2, 1930 – May 26, 2016) was an American professional football player who was a quarterback for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Notre Dame.

A two-time All-American and national champion in 1949, Williams was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1988.

Early life

Williams graduated from Loyola Blakefield High School in Towson, Maryland in 1948.

College career

Williams attended Notre Dame on an athletic scholarship, where, as a nineteen-year-old junior quarterback, he guided Notre Dame to an undefeated season with 10 wins and no losses. Williams won the National Championship for Frank Leahy's 1949 team.

Williams finished fifth in voting for the Heisman Trophy in 1949 and sixth in 1950.

Bob Williams holds the school mark for highest passing efficiency rating for a season (minimum 50 completions) with a 159.1 rating in 1949, when he was 83 of 147 for 1,374 yards and 16 TD's. Williams was first team on the 1949 College Football All-America Team and the 1950 College Football All-America Team. He was awarded the Nils V. "Swede" Nelson Award in 1950.

Professional career

Williams was the second overall selection in the 1951 NFL draft by the Chicago Bears.

Williams saw action in 8 games during the 1951 Chicago Bears season, going 11-for-34 with one touchdown pass, against two interceptions.

In 1952, his second year in the league, Williams moved into a starting role for the Bears, starting 7 of the team's 11 games.

By the time Williams returned from military service, the Bears had moved along to a new starting quarterback. A return was made to the team for the 1955 season, with Williams seeing action in 10 games in a reserve role.

Baltimore sportswriter John Steadman remembered Williams as "Baltimore's most famous home-grown football product" and one of Notre Dame's "finest quarterbacks in history, a name to be linked with those of Frank Carideo, Angelo Bertelli, and John Lujack.

Williams was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1988.