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
Greatness is the willingness to choose in the midst of intensity.
Tomorrow doesn't really exist.
At the core, we're all spiritual beings.
And any time you feed your ego, it's a one-way street. ... There were so many things I had to deal with that erased the positives I got from playing the game that it wasn't worth it. It's like eating a Big Mac and drinking a Diet Coke.
I can look back at it now as definitely like an initiation into adulthood. Almost overnight in the NFL, I was put on a pedestal and I was supposed to be this icon or this image of what a professional athlete was supposed to be. I felt like I just got stuck trying to be someone else and I forgot who I actually was.
After I won the Heisman Trophy, it just was OK, I’m supposed to go to the NFL and so that’s what I did. I didn’t really have any expectations and I didn’t really understand how things worked.
I stepped away to find out more about myself, which I was having difficulty doing as a football player. I got a chance to travel the world. I studied Eastern philosophy, and I've grown as a person so much.
Human beings aren't supposed to be controlled and told what to do.
The moment I started treating my social anxiety disorder, I started feeling better.
I've always been attracted to things that are taboo. I've never been afraid to go to that dark place.
I'm a huge gamer, everything from PC to Xbox to PS2.
I am an honest, God-fearing man who is intensely dedicated to being the best person I can be on and off the football field.
Sometimes success will get in the way of maturity - at least temporarily.
In therapy, I see myself in the mirror differently.