Joe Williams: Home Is Where the Heart Is

Feb. 16, 2007

By Trisha Poling, MSU Sports Information Student Assistant

Junior wrestler Joe Williams may be 2,220 miles from his home in Orange, Calif., but he still believes that home is where the heart is. "I am very family oriented because I have a huge family," he says. "There are six boys in my family and six girls, and they mean the world to me. When I go home I am probably the happiest person in the world because I get to see everyone."

There is no doubt then that Williams' family has had a large impact on his wrestling career. In fact, Williams was first introduced to the sport by his father, Robert. "I was 8 years old and my dad took my brothers and me to a wrestling practice," he says. "I had no idea at all what wrestling was. I thought it was going to be like WWF, so when we got there I was a little disappointed."

Despite the initial disappointment however, Williams decided to pursue the sport. He began training with his father and brothers before moving onto a successful prep career with his high school and club teams. He compiled a 171-9 overall high school record with 104 career pins and was also a Greco-Roman Cadet National Champion. Williams credits these early experiences with making him into the college wrestler he is today. "One of my biggest influences was my high school coach Jake Harmon," he says. "He turned me into a college-style wrestler and taught me to hang with the big boys."

Perhaps it was his close-knit relationship to his family that drew Williams to pursuing a college career with MSU. After just one visit, Williams could see that the team had a very family-like environment, which reminded him of home. "I came here for two reasons," he says. "One was that my older brother Conan wrestled here and the other is the team feeling. I went on a lot of college trips and the team that I liked the best and the guys that I liked the best were here. I wanted to be a part of this group, this family--it was really exciting for me."

While wrestling for MSU Williams has gone on to compile a successful resume. He has been ranked as high as seventh this season at 184 pounds and has tallied several key wins for the Green and White, including wins over No. 6 Jake Varner of Iowa State and No. 15 John Dergo of Illinois. Williams has also gone on to compile a career-high 23 wins this season. "This year I have had a lot more bigger wins, so that's been a confidence builder," he says. "Taking second at Midlands and winning the Penn State Open, matches like that really build you up to perform at a higher level."

Williams is definitely enjoying his time at MSU, but knows eventually he'll return to his roots. After graduation he looks to pursue a career with his father's environmental consulting company back in California. "I'm 100 percent certain that's what I'm going to do," he says. "I have worked with my dad a little bit and I enjoy what he does a lot. Hopefully one day my brother and I can keep the family business going."

Beyond working for the family business, Williams also hopes to continue wrestling by coaching his younger brother. "My little brother is 9 years old and I want to coach him through high school," he says. "I am also going to help with my high school team. Hopefully I can help them to develop some of the kids and see if they can go to college to wrestle and be successful."

Despite big plans for after graduation, Williams is not in any hurry to rush through his last years at MSU. There is still much he hopes to accomplish as a college wrestler. "Individually, I want to wrestle tough the rest of this Big Ten season and hopefully beat a couple top-ranked guys," says Williams. "I am hoping to crack the top three at Big Ten's and maybe make the finals. I especially want to become an All-American this year, that's been a huge goal of mine for a while. As a team we are going to hopefully have a good showing at the Big Ten Championships and get a top-10 finish at the NCAA's."

Williams' aspirations don't stop there. "My senior year I want to win the NCAA championship," he says. "Everybody should have that goal in mind when they start wrestling."

And it's certainly a goal that was instilled in Williams at a young age as he wrestled alongside his father and brothers.

Players Mentioned

Joe Williams

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