The gymnastics community remembers Mark Williams

 

An international brevet judge and longtime coach, Williams taught at Trinity in Euless, Texas, was an assistant coach at the University of Oklahoma in the late 1980s, and a Dallas-area J.O. men's coach at various clubs.

Williams judged 19 of the last 20 U.S. National Championships, but was forced to miss this year’s Visa Championships in Dallas—he was scheduled to judge pommel horse—after being hospitalized unexpectedly.

"He truly loved gymnastics," his wife, Debbie Williams, girls gymnastics coach at L.D. Bell High School in Hurst, told the Dallas Morning News. "That was his passion, that was his hobby, that was his job, and he was good at it."

Williams won nine Texas state high school championships and was twice honored by the Gymnastics Association of Texas (GAT) with its Distinguished Service award. He received the GAT Honorary Life Membership Award in 2004 and the USA Gymnastics Service Star Award in 2007, and was inducted into Garland Sports Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Hurst-Euless-Bedford Sports Hall of Fame in 2008. This year, Williams was inducted into the Frank J. Cumisky Judging Hall of Fame, the highest honor offered to men's gymnastics judges in the United States.

Last year, USA Gymnastics' Region III named a coaching/officiating award after Williams and made him the first recipient of the award, which annually recognizes outstanding coaches/judges in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Louisiana, Kansas or Arkansas.

Williams spent a decade as the National Gymnastics Judging Association's (NGJA) National Apparatus Leader (NAL) for pommel horse, judging that event at every major U.S. meet. Additionally, Williams frequently represented the USA as a judge at internationally at meets, including the Goodwill Games, Pan Am Games, and World University Games.

Among the speakers at his service were Oklahoma coach Mark Williams; former USA Gymnastics men's program committee chair Marc Yancey; and 1980 Olympic alternate Mike Wilson. Also in attendance were former athletes from Williams' three decades as a Texas high school coach, two-time Olympic coach Kevin Mazeika, and Olympic judge Butch Zunich. Many men's gymnastics judges wore their judging blazers in honor of Williams' legacy.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that those wishing to honor Williams' life make contributions to the Mark Williams Gymnastics Scholarship Fund to help a high school gymnasts pursue their college education. Donations can be sent via check (payable to "Mark Williams Gymnastics Scholarship Fund") c/o Debbie Williams, L.D. Bell, 1601 Brown Trail, Hurst, TX 76054.

Susan Williams of Inside Gymnastics and the Dallas Morning News, contributors.