Williamson is a Chicago guy and played football at Northwestern. He told me when he was coming out of college, he wanted to play for the Chicago Bears. Instead, he was drafted #2 by the San Francisco 49ers.
In his first training camp, a coach asked him to take it easy and stop "hammering" his teammates. Thus, a nickname (and legend) was born. Williamson did his best to live up to that nickname.
Williamson was great and even did a promo for Johngy's Beat. At the age of 73, he still looked tough (and not just tough for a 73 year old...legitimately tough).
I think the Bears were probably too frugal to attempt to sign Williamson. Imagine that defense, if Williamson was here and then joined by Dick Butkus. Oh well, I can dream.
Fred Williamson and me in Rosemont, IL-March 2010.
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