Jerry L. Williams attended Cumberland College, from 1999 to 2001. During his Cumberland basketball career, Williams played in 65 games, during which he accumulated 1,300 points, 128 assists, 106 steals and 23 blocks. On March 21, 2001, Williams scored 36 points in a National Tournament game against USAO, which stands as third best all-time for points scored in the post-season and ranks first all-time in the NAIA Tournament for a Cumberland player. In a 2001 MSC Tournament game versus Lambuth University, Williams scored 32 points, which is first-all time for a Cumberland player in a MSC Tournament game. Williams made 299 field goals in the 2000-01 season, which stands as fifth all-time. He finished as the fourteenth highest scorer in Cumberland history, was the second highest scorer of players who only played two seasons, and scored 30+ points in a single game twelve times in his career, with eleven posted during the 2000-01 season. Williams is only the fifth player in school history to average as much as 23 points per game and was the first Cumberland player to average that many since 1978-79. In 2000-01, Williams grabbed 55 steals (14th all-time) and over his career completed 106 (7thall-time).
Williams was the first Cumberland player since the 1981-82 season to be selected as Conference MVP and the first Cumberland men's player to be selected a NAIA First Team All-American in 2001. He was selected a two-time First Team All-Mid-South Conference, MSC Player of the Year in 2001, MSC Player of the Week three times from 1999-2001 while leading the MSC in scoring for the 2001 season.
Upon leaving Cumberland, Williams had a long career playing basketball in Europe and other countries including Mexico, Africa and Australia. He says the best times were playing in Glasgow, Scotland because he had the chance to play against Cumberland teammate, Ivan Johnson, a member of the Birmingham, England professional team.
His off-court volunteer work included being the Honorary Chairperson for the Dignity-U-Wear Foundation's Undie Sunday/Undie Monday program, involvement with functions for the MS Society, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Florida-Georgia Blood Alliance, Northeast Florida Boys and Girls Clubs, and the Wolfson Children's Hospital.
Williams currently resides in Jacksonville, FL with fiancée, Taylor Straughn, and their two energetic sons, Jeremiah and Jeven. He also has a 17 year old son, Jarry Williams, who is a top football star at Terry Parker High School. Jarry is a top scholar working on his associate degree while attending high school. Williams has three siblings. His younger brother, Rashean Mathis, who attended Williams' last game at Cumberland has played ten years in the NFL for the Jacksonville Jaguars. His mother, to whom he credits all he knows about basketball, also resides in Jacksonville. Williams is now an assistant coach for the Jacksonville Giants professional basketball team where he won his first championship as a coach in 2012. Coaching is a great passion for Williams and he wants to someday become an NBA coach. Williams feels he has had many blessings in his life, but being inducted into the Cumberlands Athletic Hall of Fame is at the top of this list now.
