BASKETBALL

USC Basketball Great Gus Williams Dies

Gus Williams, one of the greatest players in USC basketball history, died Wednesday. He was 71.

Williams is probably my favorite player in USC basketball history, an electric scorer and passer who had athleticism that stood out among the Trojan teams he played on in the 1970’s.

He came to USC from Mt. Vernon High School, where he averaged 24.2 points, 8 steals and shot 62 percent from the field.

Look at the accolades: A Parade All-American in 1971. An All-American in 1975. An NBA champion in 1979 with the Seattle SuperSonics. An NBA Finals appearance in 1978. A two-time all-NBA selection. A two-time All-Star game pick. The NBA comeback player of the year in 1982. A first-team member of the NBA All-Rookie team and runner-up for Rookie of the Year.

Williams averaged a career-high 23.4 points per game in the 1981-82 season for Seattle.

And in the 1978-79 season, Williams was a scoring machine in the playoffs, averaging 26.7 points. He scored 30 or more points in seven of 17 games on the Sonics’ way to the championship.

Williams averaged 30.8 points per game as the Sonics defeated the Lakers, 4-1, in the 1979 Western Conference finals.

Some NBA stats:

  • 14,093 Points
  • 4,597 Assists
  • 1,638 Steals (29th NBA History)
  • 19.5 PPG in NBA Playoffs (99 Games)

During his senior year at USC, he averaged 21.2 points, 5.4 assists and 4.6 rebounds.

The last time I saw Williams was in 2016 when USC played in the NCAA Tournament in 2016 in Raleigh, N.C. The month before he had his jersey retired at the Galen Center.

He suffered a stroke in 2020 and had been in poor health since then. Williams was living in a care facility in the Baltimore area at the time of his passing. Sports writer Peter Vecsey said Williams’ brother, David, told him that Gus’s body broke down in the past four days. Williams will be buried in his hometown of Mt. Vernon, N.Y.

12 thoughts on “USC Basketball Great Gus Williams Dies”

  1. Seattle Super Sonics GM Dick Vertlieb had high praise for Gus after recognizing his talent, “We got awfully lucky getting him in the second round… Gus Williams is a bird. He has to fly. You can’t keep him under wraps… He should always consider himself a first-round choice.”

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  2. Criminal Negligence’ — Former US Attorney for Kamala Harris Drops Bombshell Video Exposing That LA Firefighters Took Nearly 45 Minutes to Respond to the Pacific Palisades Blaze, Which Could Have Been Containedhttps://x.com/NewsNation/status/1879308386979717234?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1879308386979717234%7Ctwgr%5Eb7fa39b6d94dbc95d2804126617d9dfd959b041d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thegatewaypundit.com%2F2025%2F01%2Fcriminal-negligence-former-us-attorney-kamala-harris-drops%2F

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  3. And yet she is such a loser, she’s got nothing better to do than come here everyday and cry about it.

    Lame excuses and lies about why she does it in 3, 2, 1…

    (Posting under a name in which she reminds herself what the penalty is, if she acts out on her sick urges. LOL)

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  4. You’re funny too, George

    Gus Williams was ready for the NBA before he enrolled at SC, and today would be a ‘One-and-Doner’– too bad he didn’t play with Harold Miner, that could have been Final-4 material

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  5. Scooter,

    Will we ever hear of good news anymore? Bob Ucker, Gus Williams, fires in the Palisades, Mule Shoes(thank you budda), Jen Taco Lita Cohen, Fole the Dolt, Altadena, and the list keeps going.

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