It was supposed to be riding into the sunset after a phenomenal career. Before the Mike Williams in football and college basketball, it was supposed to be Mike Williams, the NBA star. Not Mike Williams, the tragic basketball would’ve-been. He came into the league two years after the other Mike, that Jordan one. He was in the same class as Dennis Rodman. He won Team USA a medal and was a pro player for a decade.

He faded into oblivion and lived a quiet life. Then November 29, 2009 happened.

The forgotten Mike Williams

Born on August 14, 1963, Michael George Williams grew up in Chicago. Life in the Roseland neighborhood was not ideal but his family left before Williams took to the street life. He didn’t have a father around. He was the only male in a house with his mother, grandmother, and five sisters.

From a young age, he stood out on the court but it was at the De La Dalle Institute where he gained fame. In typical Chicago fashion, he led the Meteors basketball team to a three-peat in the Catholic League and two state tournament’s Elite Eight. His proudest achievement as a teen was when the state acknowledged he was the most intimidating player by making up an award named after him.

He initially played as a power forward at Cincinnati, leading them to their first NCAA tournament victory in 31 years but returned to Illinois to complete college at Bradley University. During the two seasons of 1984 and 1986 at Bradley, he averaged 13 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.

Williams declared for the NBA draft in 1986 and was picked 51st overall in the 3rd round by the Golden State Warriors. But he never played in the Bay Area. He initially played in the CBA and the Spanish league. His NBA break came in 1989 with the Sacramento Kings. The 1989-90 season was his first full season where he averaged 0.7 points and 1.1 rebounds per game. He’s played against Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Dominique Wilkins, mind you. Before the 1990 season ended, he was briefly traded to the Atlanta Hawks.

He’d finish the rest of his career in the G-League, the CBA, and in Spain where he was dubbed ‘Massive Mike.’ Before he retired, he played on Team USA in the 1995 Pan American Games which won silver.

Williams is not one of the NBA success stories. He didn’t make the millions. He has a daughter, Amarah from a previous relationship who lived away in St. Louis. He reportedly had to transition to a regular life after his playing career ended. Then he became a different kind of statistic.

Mike Williams’ life-changing moment

Atlanta – November 29. Michael Williams was working at Club 426, a Caribbean nightclub on the outskirts of Atlanta. The 6’9″ 300lbs ex-NBA pro dressed in all black as a bouncer. He’d sporadically work security for stars like Diddy, Snoop Dogg, and Beyonce. But he was working on a real estate career and hopefully starting a basketball camp.

He started each workday with a prayer saying, “Dear Lord, don’t let me die by the hands of some punk with a g*n.” That night went about as well as it could. At 2 a.m., an hour before his shift ended, Williams hears shouting outside the club. Two guys are in an intense scuffle, beer bottles are being thrown around, and there’s lots of shoving. It’s common enough and why Williams hated the job. But he stepped in to diffuse the situation.

All he did was place his right hand on the shoulder of one of the arguing men. The next thing in his memory is a boom. He gets away and realizes there’s a hole in the left side of his jaw. That’s the only one he’d been aware of. He didn’t know until later he was shot twice in the shoulder and once in the shoulder blade. Even after he gets away, the assailant sh**ts again. Williams gets hit in the ribs and hip but he doesn’t feel them. The seventh b**let hits his back. The eighth is lodged in his spine. The entire assault took 10 seconds. The consequences are for a lifetime.

When people rushed to him, Williams recalled thinking this was the end. He ended up in a coma for two months and lost a kidney, part of his liver, and part of his jaw. The worst, according to him, was being paralyzed from the waist down. He’d be released from the hospital the following February and move in with his mother, Dorothy, his only caregiver.

In the first seven months since his sh**ting, he told ESPN he felt more rage. He became a recluse in a wheelchair. What grinds his nerves is that his assailant was never caught.

A new lease of life

Then one day watching the news, he heard of a paraplegic relearning to walk. The doctor who made it happen is Dan Ivankovich, once a 6’11” high school center, Williams’ high school teammate from 30 whole years ago. He reached out to Dan via the TV station and his old friend immediately came through.

In their first reunion, Ivankovich, an orthopedic surgeon after a career-ending injury, saw signs that Williams could walk again. Contrary to what it seemed, it was not a serious enough injury. He retained nerve activity and could feel pain. From there they start him on a merciless rehab schedule. “He’s a former pro-athlete, he’ll respond,” Dan told his team. Eventually, he can stand to full height again with custom braces and some aid.

He reconnected with his 17-year-old daughter after the injury. She too played basketball, and he encouraged her athletic talents all the way.

By 2011, another b**let was removed from his spine and reduced his pain. His rehabilitation picked up and Dan hopes to use cutting-edge bionics to give him more function. Today, Massive Mike is a lot closer to walking. Not the typical NBA success story. But still, a success story.

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.