Ricky Williams
Ricky Williams
Errick Lynne "Ricky" Williams Jr.is a retired American football running back who played twelve seasons in the National Football Leagueand one season in the Canadian Football League. He played college football for the University of Texas, where he was a two-time All-American and won the Heisman Trophy. Williams was drafted by the New Orleans Saints fifth overall in the 1999 NFL Draft and spent three seasons with the team before he was traded to the Miami Dolphins in 2002. He...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionFootball Player
Date of Birth21 May 1977
CitySan Diego, CA
CountryUnited States of America
In therapy, I see myself in the mirror differently.
I have no room in my life for any form of negativity or nonacceptance.
A team takes on the personality of the head coach.
Now that I have conquered social anxiety disorder, I find pleasure in fans approaching me.
It's something that I had been pushing down my whole life. The search for meaning, I guess, the whispering of the soul.
I realized a while back that I have an innate ability to be compassionate, and I saw that the strength of compassion is something that healers have and healers use.'
I want to thank all my fans, teammates, coaches and supporters for the strength they've given me to overcome so much.
I've always been shy, but in New Orleans there were times my shyness would cause me actual physical pain. I'd get so claustrophobic around people that I'd bend over from the sickness in my stomach. That's not a good way to be when you're famous, obviously.
My helmet is off; I'm not afraid anymore.
If I was doing something for the money, I'd be quite miserable.
I got high, and forgot I wasn't supposed to get high.
I've let a lot of things go, and obviously football is one of them. I think the hardest thing to let go is your self-image. That's what I'm working on now.
The problem wasn't with the city, the sport, my teammates or my coach, even though I blamed all of them at one time or another. The problem was with me. But I didn't realize it back then because I hadn't been told that there was a clinical reason -- social anxiety disorder -- for everything odd I was feeling, everything from the depression to the shyness. I didn't understand that some of the things that were holding me back were chemical.
When he first got drafted, you heard people wonder why you'd take a No. 2 pick for a guy that didn't even start in college,