Legendary St. Aug’s track and field coach receives an honor he can drive on
Track and field coach George Williams won numerous awards and accolades during his 44-year career at St. Augustine’s University. On Wednesday, he received one more: a highway interchange named in his honor.
The place where New Bern Avenue meets Interstate 440, the Raleigh Beltline, will become the Coach George Williams Interchange. The N.C. Board of Transportation approved the designation at the request of the Raleigh City Council.
Williams, a 1965 graduate of St. Aug’s, led his alma mater to 39 national NCAA Division II titles and was named Division II national coach of the year 20 times. He coached the U.S. Olympic men’s track and field team in Athens in 2004 and took other U.S. teams to national competitions around the world.
At St. Aug’s, Williams was also known for his work off the track, said Everett Ward, who retired as president of the historically Black university in 2019.
“He was a distinguished professor,” Ward told Board of Transportation members, “and, as many of us called him, a life coach for students not only from an academic perspective but from a life-learning perspective of being contributors to society.”
Williams, who was also athletic director at St. Aug’s for 23 years before being let go in 2020 after a contract dispute, had numerous offers over the years to coach much larger track and field programs. He says he chose to remain in Raleigh because he loves living in Wake County and working with young people here. He still does.
“There are so many young kids here that I’m still working with to help them follow their dreams in track and field,” he told members of the transportation board. “This is what I do, and this is what I know.”
Williams noted that he and friend Mike Krzyzewski, Duke University’s retired men’s basketball coach, now each have roads named for them and said he’ll invited Coach K to his interchange dedication.
State Sen. Dan Blue, who has known Williams for decades and traveled with him to the Caribbean and elsewhere as he recruited athletes to Raleigh, said the honor for Williams is well deserved.
“He traveled that road about every day for probably 45 or 50 years,” Blue said. “So many people will be reminded of all of the tremendous contributions he has made, the leadership he has provided, as they come off of the Beltline onto New Bern Avenue.”
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This story was originally published July 10, 2024 at 2:59 PM with the headline "Legendary St. Aug’s track and field coach receives an honor he can drive on."
