VICTORY BELL: GMC’s Coach Williams reaches remission

Published 2:00 pm Wednesday, May 27, 2020

“Ring this bell three times well. Its toll to clearly say, my treatment’s done, this course is run and I am on my way!”

With the reading of those words and the ceremonial ringing of the bell at Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute in Atlanta, longtime Georgia Military College head football coach and Athletic Director Bert Williams celebrated the completion of his chemotherapy treatment last week for mantle cell lymphoma. He is in remission from the rare cancer he was diagnosed with back in December, which now gives one of junior college football’s winningest coaches an off-the-field victory to add to his career total. 

“It was a very exciting and emotional moment,” Williams said of ringing the bell. “We had been on the other side of that numerous times as others completed their treatment at Emory. Everybody just stops what they’re doing — patients, doctors, nurses, the whole bunch — it’s a very humbling and emotional experience, to say the least. That was a moment I’ll never forget.”

Williams’ oldest son Parker posted the video of his father ringing the bell on Twitter Friday and it had reached nearly 100,000 views as of Tuesday afternoon. Current and former GMC players, fellow coaches and many others replied with their congratulations and well wishes for the head coach as he reached the milestone. The celebration continued Friday when Williams was greeted inside his home by his two sons, Parker and Zach, who were each packing their own confetti cannons. 

“We still have confetti floating all over the house,” Williams said laughing. “Note to reader: Do not use inside.”

The ability to laugh at confetti scattered throughout his home and a strong family support system are two things that have served Williams well in his battle. 

“We’ve been very positive and upbeat the whole time,” he said. “It’s certainly a challenge you think you’re never going to have to deal with until you do. There’s high points and low points. We didn’t have many low points, but sometimes you start thinking about things and get the bigger picture without question. I’d get up in the morning with the mindset to fight every day and do every little thing I could do from dieting to getting what activity I could get to keep working to do all the things I needed and wanted to do. My wife and kids support that, and have from the start.”

The GMC head football coach of more than 20 years now is glad to be off medication for a while, but his fight is not over. Mantle cell lymphoma is not yet curable, so the next step is to harvest stem cells (possibly in mid-July) for a stem cell transplant to keep the cancer in remission for as long as possible while a cure is hopefully worked out. 

“They don’t know how to cure it yet, but I fully expect to be the first one and set the standard,” Williams said.

Outpatient chemotherapy has done little to keep Williams away from his job as a junior college football coach and athletic director. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way most everyone works, so he’s been able to handle his duties from home and even attend Zoom meetings while receiving his treatments. The pandemic canceled spring football practices along with the Bulldogs’ annual intra-squad scrimmage, but signing day still came and went like normal. Junior college programs like GMC often get guys whose grades do not qualify them to enroll at the big universities they were initially recruited to, but the NCAA has relaxed some of its eligibility criteria due to COVID-19. That means that five or six guys Coach Williams and his staff were expecting to come to Milledgeville now will not be. GMC’s recruiting efforts always go into the summer anyway though, so the Bulldog coaches will just have a few more roles to fill than normal. 

If conditions allow the 2020 football season to occur as planned, Williams hopes to be on the Davenport Field sideline coaching his guys up. His status will depend heavily on how his stem cell transplant goes. 

“I may be a couple weeks delayed,” he said. “I wouldn’t call it a likelihood, but it is a possibility at this time. There’s a lot of decisions my family and I have to make about what we do and how we do it. … You’ll see me out there hollerin’ and trying to get some wins at some point though.”

Finally, Coach Williams wanted to take the opportunity to thank the local community for continually having his back throughout this process.

“I would like to thank the GMC family and the Milledgeville/Baldwin County community. As a whole, they have been unbelievable. The cards and notes I’ve received since January from people letting me know they’re rooting for me have really been a blessing. I can’t tell you how much my wife and I and my family appreciate that constant outpouring of care, concern and prayers that have gotten us to the point where we are today.”