Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com MARCH 2020 15 UNDER THE DOME Former Notre Dame 1987-90 defensive tackle George "Boo" Williams died Jan. 28, six days before his 51st birthday. A vital figure who helped Notre Dame to its most re- cent national title in 1988, Williams lost his bout with hemophagocytic lymphohis- tiocytosis (HLH) that attacks the body's immune system and cause the spleen and liver to enlarge. He also had been ailing with pancreatitis, and liver and kidney failure. Wi l l i a m s w a s p a r t o f a g a m e - c h a n g i n g a n d No. 1-rated 1987 recruiting class that turned around one of Notre Dame's worst foot- ball stretches ever from 1981- 86 that included three losing seasons (1981, 1985 and 1986) and a 35-32-1 overall record. After an 8-4 season as fresh- men that finished with three straight losses, Williams and numerous sophomore classmates emerged suddenly in 1988 to help the Fighting Irish to a 12-0 campaign and the national title, and later a school- record 23-game winning streak. That class on offense featured run- ning backs Ricky Watters and Tony Brooks, although Watters lined up at receiver that year, while center Mike Heldt and guard Tim Ryan started along the line. Cornerback Todd Lyght would become a two-time consensus All- American in this class, but nowhere was a more profound impact felt for the 1988 national championship than along the defensive line with sopho- mores Williams and Chris Zorich. Williams had played only eight minutes and 16 seconds as a fresh- man while Zorich was redshirted af- ter shifting from linebacker. At 297 pounds, Williams already was the largest member of the team as a freshman, which earned him the "Big Boo" sobriquet, although it did not come from team members. Leave it to Frank Stams, a fifth- year senior rush end in 1988 who came out of nowhere to become a consensus All-American, to tell the story. One night as seniors while Williams was a freshman, Stams, classmate Wes Pritchett and junior Michael Stonebreaker — The Three Amigos — were looking for a party to crash, and found one off campus. "Guys were trying to hold us back from entering, and I just said, 'Come on fellas, we're just looking for a good time,'" Stams recalled. "All of a sudden one guy starts yelling, 'Big Boo, Big Boo!' "I'm thinking, 'Jesus, did we get into something we don't want any part of?' And here comes George coming around the corner and we're looking at each other like, 'So this is Big Boo.' "He was the enforcer at the party as a freshman, and all the underclass- men seemed to know him. They were looking to George for security, and little did they know that George was our 'little brother ' on the football team. Everything was cool after that. "We started laughing, so from then everyone on the team just always called him Big Boo." Although Williams was overshad- owed by the likes of defensive backs Lyght and Pat Terrell, plus The Three Amigos and Zorich, his massive frame that allowed him to control the line of scrimmage and free up the linebackers was treasured by teammates. The strength and conditioning staff was awed by what they de- scribed as Williams' "country strength" that made him one of the Sporting News' top 100 recruits in 1987. "Tremendous strength and leverage, and most impor- tantly that quick first step — he could make guys miss in a phone booth," Stams said. "He reminded me of a guy I played with at Cleveland — Michael Dean Perry [six-time Pro Bowl pick and younger brother of William "The Re- frigerator" Perry]. "They were similar types, quick off the ball and played with great leverage. George was as wide as he was tall, and just a great guy and teammate." Williams' starting debut came in that 1988 season-open- ing victory versus Michigan in which he was credited with nine tackles and received Co- Defensive Player of the Game honors with Stonebreaker from BGI.. In the regular-season finale, a No. 1-versus-No. 2 showdown at 10-0 USC, Williams forced one USC fumble and recovered another to set up scores in the 27-10 Irish victory. Yet no single play that season was more indelible and reflected how so often he was overshadowed than the 31-30 conquest of No. 1 and reigning national champ Miami, which en- tered the game with a 36-game win- ning streak in the regular season. With 45 seconds remaining, the Hur- ricanes lined up for the two-point play that would potentially win the game. Most remembered is Terrell batting the pass attempt away in the end zone — but it was Williams' pressure on quar- terback Steve Walsh that threw off the timing and forced the errant toss. Williams was sidelined 1989 be- cause of academic issues but returned to start in 1990 on another national title-contending outfit. His 10 tackles for loss that year were second to Lom- bardi Award winner Zorich's 12. Although eligible for a fifth season in 1991, a university-imposed disci- plinary action prevented it and he became a sixth-round choice of the Cleveland Browns. — Lou Somogyi Williams died Jan. 28 due to complications from HLH, an immune-system illness. The defensive lineman was an integral part of the No. 1-ranked 1987 recruiting class that put Notre Dame on the path to the national championship in 1988. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS George 'Boo' Williams: 1969-2020