By some standards Willie Williams was a late bloomer (no pun intended) for he only participated in wrestling while at Bloom High School during his junior and senior years.

With limited high school experience, Willie still captured both the South Suburban Conference and IHSA District Championships in his high school senior year.

Following his graduation in 1963, Willie enrolled at Illinois State University where, under the tutelage of Dr. Robert Koehler (NWHOF, 2006), Willie's wrestling career blossomed. Wrestling in the 191-pound weight class, Willie won the Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title three times - 1965, 1966 and 1967. Willie was runner-up in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) in 1965 and in 1967 won the NCAA Division II national championship and finished fifth in the NCAA Division I tournament.

With a successful collegiate career behind him, Willie sought additional accomplishments on the international scene. In 1968 he began training with Chicago's Mayor Daley's Youth Foundation - coached at that time by the renowned Terry McCann, a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

If one can say that during his college days his career blossomed, then one would have to, to put things in perspective, say that Willie's post-collegiate career simply exploded. Willie won five United States Wrestling Federation Greco-Roman national championships and twice was selected as the tournament's Most Valuable Wrestler. In 1973 Willie not only captured the national Greco-Roman championship, but also won the freestyle national title. Four years running - 1973 through 1976 - Willie was the AAU National Greco-Roman champion highlighted by the MVP Award in 1975. It was in that same year that Willie won the Pan-American Games Greco-Roman tournament.

A five-time United States Greco-Roman Team member and team captain in 1974, Willie placed sixth in the World Championships in 1970 and 1974. Willie was the Greco-Roman champion in the 1972 Olympic Team Trials and was an alternate for the 1972 and 1976 Olympics.

In addition to his competitive career, Willie took up the reigns of wrestling coach as well as becoming a registered IHSA official. Here too, Willie proved to be successful for during his brief stint in the coaching ranks he produced nine state qualifiers, five state place-winners and one state champion.

In 2000 Willie officially retired and now resides in Lithonia, Georgia.