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James "Fly" Williams
Fans use to line up five hours before game time to get a seat in "The Little Red Barn"
to see the unique style of basketball that was "Fly".
He led Austin Peay to the NCAA tournament while averaging 29.5 points per game as a freshman.
He was an original; once he didn't like the coaches strategy, so he walked off the court and satin the stands with the fans. Other times he did things like dribble off the court during the game to stop at a water fountain.
But another time when each Austin Peay player was given a fruitcake, where Austin Peay was playing in the "Fruitcake
Classic", Fly collected all the players fruitcakes and
delivered them to a poor section of town.
Fly played two seasons at Austin Peay where
he averaged 28.5 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. After
leaving Austin Peay following the 1973-74 season, Fly signed with the Spirits of St. Louis of the ABA where he averaged 9.4 points a game.
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What others had to say:
Bob Costas (Former Spirits of St. Louis radio announcer): One night we were down
by 25 points and the coach called a time-out and chewed them out about their lack of
team play, then he asked if anyone had anything to say, Fly said "Yeah man, just give
me the rock". --Loose Balls
Rod Thorn (Former Spirtis of St. Louis coach):
Fly was missing some teeth, so the team decided to send Fly to the denist to get some put in and pay for everything. When the
denist pulled out a big needle for a novocain shot, Fly jumped out of the chair and ran out the door. Harry Weltman (Team President) called Fly later and said "Fly
you have to have some teeth", Fly said "Man, I wouldn't be the Fly if I had
teeth".
--Loose Balls
More tidbits about "Fly":
"Fly" once scored 63 points in a high school all-star game that featured Moses Malone on the opposite team.
He once owned the NCAA scoring mark for freshman with a 29.4 average.
In 1975, his Austin Peay teammate, Percy Howard, caught a 34-yard touchdown pass from Roger Staubach in a 21-17 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl X.
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