Black History

He Was Beloved “Coach” Elwood Williams Passes At 82

By Leonard E. Colvin
Chief Reporter Emeritus
New Journal and Guide

Elwood L. “Coach” Williams, 82, former Director of the Southside Boys and Girls Club (SBGC) for 37 years, died on August 5, according to his family.

As an athletic coach, he mentored and prepared youth to be top performers in sports. For over three decades, he used those skills to uplift countless youth who patronized the SBGC to excel in life in all areas.

Born during the height of Jim Crow segregation in 1941 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, he was raised in the poorest section of the locale.

Williams, known fondly as “Coach,” played football, basketball, and baseball at P. W. Moore High School. He played football at Elizabeth City State Teachers College (now Elizabeth City State University).

He graduated from ECSU in 1965 with a health and physical education degree. He then taught academics and coached four varsity sports at W. S. Creecy High School in Rich Square, NC.

In a January 12, 1994 edition of the GUIDE, when he was honored for his years of service to SBGC, Williams described Creecy High School “as a poor school which could barely afford to repair the uniforms of their student-athletes let alone buy new ones.”

The student-athletes spent part of the fall playing sports and then “helping their parents harvest the peanuts or cotton crops before returning to school activities.

In the late 1960s, he left Rich Square and migrated to Norfolk to continue his career at the Colonial Street Boys Club.

Williams was lured from that post to the southside club, according to the same GUIDE article in 1994.

George Banks said in that article, “I did not think he would last this long.”

Banks was a lifelong resident leader in Berkley, one of the founders of the SBGC, and a Board member who worked to recruit Williams.

“We did not have a lot, but he got to work to get the resources we needed,” he said.

Williams’ experiences with the inadequacies at Creecy High School prepared him for what he found at the first SBGC, a three-story structure located in the old Redman Union Hall at State and Clifton Streets in Berkley.

In the January 12, 1994 article, he said, “It should have been condemned because of its raggedy roof, huge cracks in the walls, and ancient and unreliable plumbing.”

When Williams arrived, the club had only 60 youth members. At one point, the facility had to be closed to undergo repairs and renovation.

According to the GUIDE article, Williams was not idle. He walked through the neighborhood with free membership cards in his hands and signed up 50 youths.

Hundreds of others would join as time moved on and the community saw growth and improvement.

Then, with the help of the Berkley parents, civic leaders, and the business community, he raised the money to build a new facility.

“We’d go to the Larchmont neighborhood (one of the wealthiest in Norfolk) and got stuff out of the garbage, fix it up, and sell it,” Williams said in the January 12, 1994 article.

At one point, they accrued $50,000. In 1981, Williams devised a media and outreach strategy. This helped rake in $800,000, and the current facility on Melon Street was built.

Berkley is the home of a number of wealthy corporations, including shipyards. They created hundreds of jobs, tax dollars to the city and have donated thousands of dollars to support the SBGC.

By 1994, 1500 youths had used the facility. The SBGC was the first to allow girls and boys from 6 to 13 years of age to use it.

Williams continued that formula of advocating for the club and accessing public, private, and corporate resources for SBGC programs and scholarships.

Norfolk Mayor Kenneth Alexander was born in Berkley. He is a former state Senator and has a branch of his Funeral Service company in the neighborhood.

“I first met ‘Coach’ in 1972 when I joined the Southside Boys and Girls Club, an encounter that would prove to be a pivotal moment in my life,” he said. “Coach had a profoundly positive impact on the lives of countless individuals and communities, leaving an indelible mark as a transformational leader.”

Despite facing numerous challenges, including a lack of financial resources, Coach’s creativity … and tireless efforts provided invaluable programs, services, and resources, helping to shape the minds and characters of future generations.

His legacy will continue to inspire, motivate, and uplift others, ensuring that his memory and contributions will never be forgotten.”

Current Executive Director Gregg Shivers, trained under Williams. In an interview with WAVY-TV 10 said, “Once a child is Coach’s kid, that child is always Coach’s kid.

“He was a father figure to so many of us that he guided us, and he gave us direction, and he was there for us any time of the day [and] any time of the night,” Shivers said. “I can remember calls coming from the prison system of former students, former club members, reaching out to him.”

In September 2022, Mayor Alexander and other dignitaries attended the dedication of the SBGC dining room in honor of the retired Williams.

Retired Norfolk Public School Educator Sarah Peoples Perry is a Berkley resident and educational advocate.

“Coach Williams was the first coach to teach my children great sportsmanship, character, patience, and leadership,” she said in a text to the GUIDE. “I remember climbing the stairs of the old hall club to watch the coach pour love into the children of Berkley. He was a great role model, dedicated to his purpose and the gift God gave him. I am blessed to have been a recipient of his legacy.”

When resident-activist Anne Boone arrived in Berkley in 2000, the first organization she got Involved with was SBGC.

Boone reminds the community that Milton Miller founded the first SBGC. “But when Coach got there, he took it to another level,” she said. “Coach believed that the Boys Club was for more than just a place for the kids,” she continued. “He said it was a time for the community to mentor and support them. Coach always said, ‘Never get bigger than the cause.’”

Barrett Hicks said he frequented the club in the 70s, “and did not realize how powerful he (Williams) was as a mentor, leader, and marketer.” Hicks enlisted in the Air Force in 1980 and retired in 2000. When he returned, he got involved in the organization. He helped Williams organize the CIAA Legacy Program.

“Coach believed in sharing his knowledge to benefit this community,” said Hicks. “He believed that it was about the child and not any one person. He also worked and supported the children, as well as the parents, to get them involved in helping to prepare their children for the future.”

Elwood “Coach” Williams’s Funeral Service is 11 a.m. Saturday, August 17, at Queen St. Baptist Church, Norfolk. The Wake Service is 4-6 p.m. Friday at Metropolitan Berkley Chapel.