Darryl Williams (advocate)

Williams died in his sleep at his home in Milton on March 28, 2010. Since then, several articles about Williams' life and accomplishments have been written by sports writers and several others. Richard Lapchick started a memorial fund in memory of Darryl Williams to help his family. In 2012, when Darryl's mother and sister were faced with foreclosure on their Milton home, Lapchick reopened the fund and the contributions from the Boston area to the fund was enough to pay off a quarter of the mortgage.

He also advocated often for wheelchair accessibility in public places. He made friends with newspaper writers such as Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe, Joe Fitzgerald of the Boston Herald and sports figures such as boxer Muhammad Ali. Ali called Darryl the "Second Greatest" after visiting him in 1991.

Williams attended the Massachusetts Hospital School (Pappas Rehabilitation School in Canton, Massachusetts) and earned a high school degree from Boston Public Schools. With the help of a President's Scholarship, he then earned a bachelor's degree from Northeastern University in Boston. Darryl was given a computer which responded to his verbal commands so that he could write. Joe Malone, the Massachusetts State Treasurer in the 1990s, gave Williams a job at the Massachusetts State Lottery where he worked as an operations manager then a computer programmer for many years.

Richard E. Lapchick, a former professor at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts and a longtime friend of Darryl Williams, described Darryl in an ESPN.com article as an advocate for social justice, compassion and forgiveness in a city that faced racial tensions throughout his lifetime. Lapchick related to Williams as both Lapchick and Lapchick's father were the victims of sports related hate crimes. In 1984, Lapchick hired Williams as a motivational speaker. Williams spoke to thousands of high school students about compassion, understanding and forgiveness in the face of violence in schools and racial tensions in Boston.

With racial tensions and fears of more violence, Charlestown High School did not play another home football game for nine years. In Jamaica Plain High School's 1981 yearbook, it is noted that a Darryl Williams week was commemorated at the school in Williams' honor.

The Freedom House of Roxbury, Massachusetts purchased a wheelchair accessible home in the nearby town of Milton, Massachusetts in the early 1980s and offered it to Williams and his family. Williams moved into the home with his family and stayed there until the time of his death.

On Friday, September 28, 1979, Darryl Williams was playing for the first time as a wide receiver on Jamaica Plain High School's (JP) football team. The JP team traveled to the neighborhood of Charlestown in Boston, Massachusetts to play against Charlestown High School. In the city of Boston, court ordered school busing since the mid 1970's were exacerbating notable racial tensions, and the neighborhood of Charlestown was considered inhospitable to African American teenagers such as Williams. The ethnic makeup of Charlestown High School at the time was mostly working class Irish and other Europeans whereas at Jamaica Plain High School the makeup was more diverse with many African Americans as well as European Americans. The respective football teams reflected this difference. Despite the differences and tensions, the teams met and began playing.

On Monday, October 1, 1979, three days after the shooting Pope John Paul II arrived in Boston for an historic pastoral visit. Outside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in the South End neighborhood of Boston, about 1800 African Americans protested the Williams shooting as the pope arrived there on a rainy day. During the evening Mass on Boston Common held by the pope, Cardinal Medeiros of Boston and 400,000 other attendees, a special prayer was added to the service for Darryl's recovery. Two days later, on October 3 a large rally of thousands of adults and high school students was held in front of City Hall in support of Williams. Several local and state politicians visited Darryl and his mother at Boston City Hospital during his recovery there and promised their support. Boston's mayor Kevin White and other local, state and federal officials promised the Williams family long-term financial help, but over the decades that help was limited to Medicare, private donations and fundraisers.

Darryl K. Williams (January 28, 1964 - March 28, 2010) of Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts and Milton, Massachusetts was an advocate for social justice, compassion and forgiveness as well as a local advocate for accessibility for persons with disabilities. As a 15 year old African-American living in Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts, Williams became the victim of a school shooting on September 28, 1979, in Charlestown, Boston, Massachusetts while playing at a high school football game. Williams survived the shooting but was paralyzed from the neck down for the rest of his life. Protests, rallies and school walkouts ensued in response, and racial tensions in the city of Boston escalated in the aftermath.

Williams was born in Boston on January 28, 1964. His family included his mother and one sister with whom he lived all his life. Growing up in the neighborhood of Roxbury within the city of Boston in Massachusetts, Williams attended services at Eliot Congregational Church which was walking distance from their home. As a teenager in the late 1970s, he attended Jamaica Plain High School. The high school was not his first choice, but because of court ordered school busing in effect at the time in Boston he was assigned there. As a sophomore, he played for the school's varsity football team. He liked playing guitar and dreamed of becoming a college and a professional football player one day.