FORTVILLE — Steve Williams never played soccer. His sport was wrestling while growing up, with a strong passion for baseball.
As a kid, he rarely missed the New York Yankees’ box scores as he routinely sought out centerfielder Mickey Mantle’s stat lines throughout the 1950s and 1960s.
A 1968 Warren Central graduate, Williams was a Marion County championship wrestler in the winter of ‘67 and won a sectional title as a senior at 145 pounds.
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As a member of the Warriors’ first of an eventual 35 sectional championship wrestling teams, Williams never considering coaching soccer.
His father, Max, was a track athlete in the 1930s, who competed at Indiana University and once was second to four-time Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens in the broad jump, now known as the long jump.
Williams hates running, though. Even in his youth, the longtime soccer coach admits with a chuckle. It’s terrible, he quips, especially long distance.
As a Vietnam veteran, Williams flew in Cessna O-2 Skymasters nicknamed “Oscar Deuces” above enemy gunfire while serving in the Air Force as part of the Chieu Hoi Program after high school and up until his discharge in 1972.
Still yet, once he returned home to Indianapolis and married his wife, Janet, that same year, soccer wasn’t in his vocabulary.
Not until he had children, Mandy and Ryan, who both, like many, were steered toward recreational sports. Mandy, who later was a competitive cheerleader at Indiana University, followed in her mom’s athletic footsteps.
Ryan had no interest in grappling, so Williams pivoted and signed him up for soccer with Denny Griggs on Indianapolis’ east side.
From there, the future Mt. Vernon soccer coach for both the boys and girls programs — on and off — since 1994, found his path as a volunteer in the early 1980s.
“We went to the first practice, and I said, ‘Well, here’s Ryan.’ (Denny) said, ‘Keep walking, I need help.’ That was the start of it,” Williams recalls now more than 30 years later. “I started coaching that year, and I still have a picture of that team.”
The memorabilia and collectibles have mounted through the course of Williams’ career.
Initially, Williams learned the game from Griggs, whose son went on to be a track and field state champion in the 800-meter at Warren Central 1996.
His knowledge grew as did his journey through the recreational soccer ranks with stints at now USF Real (formerly the Greenfield Strikers). Williams and his son ventured together and separately through soccer, including with the Indy Saints FC (now FC Pride).
Travel soccer was Williams anchor, serving as president for Sporting Indiana FC while coaching and giving his time as an administrator with the East Central Indiana Youth Soccer League.
It all led to the his future long-term home at Mt. Vernon High School where he started as an assistant coach in 1994.
As an assistant, the Marauders flourished and reached the IHSAA’s semistate in 1997, 1998 and 1999 under head coach Chris White and Williams.
It wasn’t until 2000 that Williams took over the boys program after his son went on to play at the University of Southern Indiana and left his mark in Fortville with records in goals in a season (22) and in a career (58).
Williams coached the boys team until 2008 before he retired for the first time, only to return in 2014 as the girls coach for a combined 16 years as head coach of both teams.
After 102 wins, 59 losses and 12 ties as the boys coach and a grand total of nearly 200 victories overall with both teams with fewer than 100 loses in total, there will be no next year for Williams.
Earlier this girls’ campaign, Williams tearfully informed his players he was retiring at the conclusion of the season, and he hasn’t changed his mind, though the memories continue to surface.
The past few days, he’s been collecting uniforms, attending his final conference meetings, prepping for the sectional championship Marauders’ awards banquet and tiding up.
“It’s a long way from being done yet,” Williams laughed. “Just getting stuff ready for the next guy or whatever.”
Whomever takes over the role will have their work cutout for them.
As a head coach, Williams won seven sectional championships, four regional titles and seven Hoosier Heritage Conference crowns.
The Marauders nearly added to both the HHC and regional grand totals this season as they finished conference runner-ups and pushed the nation’s second-ranked team in Class 3A, Guerin Catholic, to the brink at the East Central Regional before losing in overtime during the finals.
“The Yorktown coach is a stand-up guy. He said at the (HHC) meeting on Monday, ‘We won conference, but we weren’t the best team in conference,’” Williams said. “It made me feel a little better.”
The sectional title for the girls marked the program’s third since 1996 and second in five years. It was a point of emphasis for the team, determined to give their coach a proper sendoff, though they nearly challenged for more.
Williams hasn’t forgotten about his last game, yet, and probably won’t for quite some time after Guerin Catholic overcame a 2-0 deficit in the game’s final 6 minutes and 38 seconds to survive.
“I think about it all the time, holy cow. I said on the field, it didn’t bother me, but that was a crock,” Williams laughed. “Every time I think about it, man. I pride myself on finishing games off, but yikes that was terrible.
“But, it’s hard to second guess. If we go back in a time machine, I would have pulled everybody behind the ball, but at the time, I felt our best defense was to have some sort of offense to eat some clock. But, we didn’t have any energy to possess. It takes energy. It will take me a while to watch that game again. It will have to sneak up on me, let some time go by.”
Williams admits he’s fooling himself. Those memories don’t fade — win, lose, tie or better yet, practices.
Preparation time is Williams’ favorite, much like seeing his grandchildren Clayton and Tucker playing soccer with Ryan now coaching them.
“I remember all the games, but the funniest stuff is the practices and dealing with players,” Williams said.
The wins stand out, however, much like the girls’ upset 1-0 victory over Hamilton Southeastern on Sept. 17, the program’s first and a spark that drove the squad to a 16-3 record and a 10-game winning streak.
There was the 2000 sectional triumph over then unbeaten Greenfield-Central, who rostered Kevin Burns, an eventual Major League Soccer player.
Or when the boys team also beat White and the state-ranked Lawrence Central Bears in a game Williams says, ‘They had no right winning.’”
The times Williams relishes most are rooted in his beginnings, situations and opportunities granted that won’t be found in the record books, he recalls.
“The most emotional moments is when you get a PK, and you give it to a kid that’s never shot a PK in his life. That kid that’s a role player that’s never scored a goal. Those kids, it’s like the best thing that’s ever happened to them,” Williams said. “It’s most gratifying when that kid scores. You can give it to the leading scorer, but those are the things you remember.”
Retirement might mean the end for some, but for Williams, it defines a new chapter to be written.
After he retired early from International Harvester later known as Navistar International at the age of 47, he committed to soccer.
When he left the boys soccer program at Mt. Vernon, he didn’t foresee a return, but life has a funny way of determining your path, Williams said.
“I coached for almost 15 years, when I came in to help the high school. I came to think, maybe I’d like to be the head coach some day,” Williams said. “When I coached for Chris, he was one of the best coaches I ever coached under, and after he left, I applied for the job. I’m glad I got it.
“I retired for five years. I no desire to come back, but I’m glad I did with the girls,” Williams said. “At the time, (for Mt. Vernon athletic director Greg Roach) told me, ‘Steve, I thought you quit too early anyway when I retired the first time.”
Barring another phone call in the next few years, this time, Williams is 99.9 percent sure he’s done at 70 years young.
“I thought I’d be 70, not that 70 was the magic number, but I felt it was time,” Williams said. “I loved going to practice and being around the kids, more than the games, but it was getting to be a little bit more of a grind as you get older. I wouldn’t say it wasn’t fun. It was just time.
“And, the grandkids are playing now, so I’m coming full circle.”
