Gizmo Ran Over Obstacles To Reach Hall Of Fame

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Henry (Gizmo) Williams has some distressing news for fans attending tonight's Canadian Football League Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in Hamilton.

Yes, he will wear a tuxedo. Yes, he might cry. And, yes, he has a speech that might be a tad difficult to understand because he talks as he fast as he ran (and that's saying something).

But, no, the pint-sized kick returner won't do one last touchdown flip on the stage -- although he swears age has nothing to do with it.

"Not in a suit," said Williams, 44, in a phone interview from Hamilton. "I did my last flip when I retired. "I can still do the flip, but you have got to have the right clothes on for the occasion."

And what an occasion it will be for the five-foot-six, 183-pounder who stole the hearts of Eskimos fans for 14 years as the top kickoff and punt returner in CFL history.

Williams is going into the Hall of Fame with the likes of former Eskimos quarterback Matt Dunigan, Calgary slotback Allen Pitts, Saskatchewan lineman Bobby Jurasin and builder Victor Spencer.

Not bad for a guy who arrived in Edmonton in 1986 with a painful past and not much of a future in football, considering he didn't even have a position to call his own.

"I remember Jackie Parker was the coach back then, and he came over to the office and told me I had to come over to practice and see this new guy," said Eskimos CEO Hugh Campbell. "He wasn't a receiver. He wasn't a running back. He wasn't a defensive back. It was like, 'Where are we going to put him?' "

But the little guy could run, and he made some of the league's best tacklers look like bright orange pylons as he ran over and through them with his powerful legs and determination to reach the end zone at all costs.

So the Eskimos created a position for William as a kick returner. After witnessing the damage on the scoreboard, the rest of the league quickly created the designated import rule that allows each team to have a return specialist.

But none of them could do the job like Gizmo, who spent his entire CFL career with the Eskimos. He also played one season with the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles in 1989.

"If you heard the story of his childhood, it would bring tears to your eyes," Campbell said. "Gizmo is a self-made man. Not in wealth, but as a survivor. And he hasn't just survived. He's flourished.

"He came up on the rough side of life. All these years later, he's still here in a foreign land, because he became one of us in Edmonton."

Gizmo considers the people of Edmonton his extended family, and the city feels the same way about him.

There isn't much left of his biological family back home in the United States. He was only six when his mother died of multiple sclerosis in Memphis. A year later, his father died in a house fire.

His brother, Edgar, took him in for a few years before he moved to his aunt's home in Mississippi.

Time was not kind to the Williams family. One of Henry's sisters died of a drug overdose. A brother was shot dead. Three other siblings died of MS. But Gizmo overcame the pain of his past with sheer determination, quick wit and blazing speed that rushed him into the CFL record book.

"In life, it makes no difference where you come from," he said. "All that matters is where you finish.

"As my brother told me, life is short. Don't worry about the long term. Life is short and you never know what's going to happen. It's a gamble just being alive."

Since his retirement at the end of the 2000 football season, Gizmo has worked as a personal trainer and motivational speaker -- especially for kids in schools.

"My plane could blow up tomorrow," Williams said. "I could get in a car accident and not make it back to Edmonton. That's the way life is. I always tell kids to learn everything they can at school today, because they might not make it back to school tomorrow.

"You don't want to have any regrets."

When it comes to football, the Giz has no regrets. After all, he won two Grey Cups. He was named a CFL all-star five times. He set more than 20 CFL records and is still the league's all-time leader in both punt and kickoff return yardage.

Over his 14-year career, Williams returned 31 kicks for touchdowns (another record) and did his flip in the end zone every time.

"I think he self-winds while he sleeps," retired Edmonton linebacker Willie Pless told The Journal back in 1992. "He's hyper every day. Every day. And there's no telling what he'll do or say."

He has plenty to say tonight. He wants to thank his coaches, the equipment staff, the Eskimos office staff and his teammates. Especially his anonymous teammates who threw blocks for him, but rarely received any glory.

"I'm so honoured," he said. "So many guys helped me get here. Just think of guys like Earl Martin, Jed Roberts, Mike McLean and Rio Wells. They didn't get much attention, but I sure know what they did for me."

But, most importantly, Williams has a message for the people back home -- his real home, in Edmonton.

"I used to feed off of them," he said. "I'd hear them calling my name.

"And I want the fans to know that I'm going to the Hall of Fame, but I'm taking every single one of them with me."

And they'll be with you, Gizmo. Flip or no flip, they'll be with you.