Career Achievement Award

Tex Williams ’59
The Career Achievement Award, presented to Tex Williams, recognizes “those alumni who have demon-strated outstanding achievement and prominence in their careers.”

Tex Williams was one of West Virginia’s best all-around athletes in the 1950s, excelling in football, basketball, and baseball. Hailing from the rural town of Artie in Raleigh County, West Virginia, he played his high school career at Clear Fork High School and became the school’s first all-stater in 1956-57.

Upon graduation Tex decided to come to Beckley College. Coach Bill Bowman knew he had found a good thing in his new recruit. Tex was a whirlwind, voted by the coaches onto the WVIAC team in 1958; this six-foot freshman was ranked second amongst rebounders and averaged 16.7 points per game. By his sophomore year Tex was averaging 24.5 points per game and the scholarship offers started pouring in. After care-ful consideration, Tex chose to go to Marshall University.

Tex continued to excel and was named Most Valuable Player and won a spot on the All-Mid American Conference teams in basketball and baseball. Sports was an important part of his life, but Tex never neglected academics, earning a BA and a master’s in health and physical education. He also received a master’s in sociology.

After college Tex became the head football, basketball, and cross-coun-try coach at St. Albans High School. In 1975, he was voted West Virginia High School Coach of the Year for all sports. Williams went on to coach at the University of Charleston (UC). In 1985 UC went undefeated in the WVIAC and rose to the number 2 seed and ranking in the nation for the NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City.

Because of his accomplishments at UC, Tex was named the West Virginia College Coach of the Year in 1995. This is a true distinction, because no other person has ever received both the West Virginia High School Coach of the Year and the West Virginia College Coach of the Year.

Tex ended his coaching career after 40 years. He has been honored by many for his accomplishments, but a very special gift was given to him upon his retirement from St. Albans High School. St. Albans had just completed a $28 million renovation to the school and construction of a new gymnasium. They chose to honor Tex with the “Tex McCue Williams Gymnasium.”

While at St. Albans High School, Tex and others started the West Virginia Hoops Classic. This is a local basketball event held every year at the Charleston Civic Center designed to allow every player the chance to play on the “big court.” Each year there are many more teams interested in playing than there are spots in the Classic. The West Virginia Hoops Classic has grown to the biggest of its kind in the United States.

Tex has two daughters, Zivia Sue Kocher and Kimberly Lynn Williams, and a son, Adam Williams. Adam has benefited from his father on and off the court. He accepted a scholarship from the University of Kentucky, but chose to transfer to Marshall his sophomore year.

Tex says, “Beckley College, in my sincere opinion, provided my life with the fundamental foundation for developing confidence, spirit, motivation, and the drive to pursue higher goals. MSU has some type of genius at work and to quote the mission statement, ‘through the power of knowledge lives are being transformed’ into greater suc-cesses. Thanks to Beckley College’s beginning, Mountain State Uni-versity realized the importance of bridging the past traditions with continued growth for this fine institution.”