The day after Lute Olson’s 1991-92 Arizona basketball team lost to East Tennessee State in a colossal first-round NCAA Tournament upset, I called Corey Williams, then a senior at Batavia (Illinois) High School.
Williams was the UA's top recruit that winter. I asked if Williams thought he could help Arizona avoid another first-round exit.
"I haven't played one minute of college basketball yet, but I saw a place where I think I could fit in next year," he said.
Alas, Williams averaged 2.6 points as a Wildcat freshman, and the UA lost another stunning first-round game, this time to 15th-seeded Santa Clara.
But it all worked out. A year later, Williams scored 14 points as a sixth man in Arizona's Final Four loss to Arkansas, signaling his arrival to college basketball's big time.
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Now, 32 years later, Williams will be inducted to the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame, the only unanimous selection of the 10-person Class of 2026.
Williams had a solid career at Arizona. He averaged 11.6 points on the UA's 1996 Sweet 16 team, but he made his real impact in Tucson sports after he graduated with a degree in political science.
Corey Williams interviews Amari Morris, the MVP of the game for Window Depot during the Tucson Summer Pro League for kids, June 7, 2025.
In 2004, he established the Tucson Summer Pro League, which began as a spot for those such as Hassan Adams and Andre Iguodala to stay sharp during the off-season. A dozen years ago, Williams made an even bigger impact when he switched his summer camp to Tucson boys and girls ages 10-13, playing six weeks each summer, targeting underprivileged young ballplayers who could not afford to be on travel teams. Williams also established the Pascua Yaqui Youth program to create internships for team managers, equipment managers, concessions operators and statisticians during the summer basketball season.
Somehow, Williams found time to play 12 seasons in the EuroLeague, playing in Switzerland, Belgium, Amsterdam and Luxembourg. He also became an executive in the thriving Crest Insurance operation, centered at the midtown Williams Center, and for the last dozen years has been a TV analyst for ESPN's college basketball, working the Big 12, Pac-12 and Mountain West conferences.
That's a Hall of Fame career for sure.
Williams will be inducted with nine others on Nov. 14 at the DoubleTree Hotel at Reid Park. The others in the class include:
– Brooks Reed, a Sabino High grad who became an All-Pac-10 defensive end at Arizona and a 10-year NFL player for the Houston Texans, Atlanta Falcons and Arizona Cardinals. Reed was named the Pac-10's Tom Hansen Award winner as the top student-athlete in Pac-10 football.
– Gil Heredia, who pitched Pima College to the 1985 NJCAA championship game with a 15-2 record, and then helped Arizona win the 1986 NCAA championship with a 16-3 pitching record. Heredia, from Nogales, went on to play 10 seasons in the big leagues, winning 57 games.
– Clark Crist, Arizona's starting shortstop on its 1980 NCAA championship team, a Palo Verde High School grad who went on to coach and scout for MLB teams for 35 seasons, signing such future stars as Kenny Lofton, Chris Duncan, Albert Belle and many others.
– Sydni Stallworth, a Palo Verde High School basketball standout who went on to become a first-team NJCAA All-American at Pima College, leading the Aztecs to a No. 3 finish in the NJCAA championships. The ACCAC Player of the Year completed her college career at Alaska-Anchorage and became an assistant coach at Pima College.
– John Condes, a Santa Rita High grad who went on to coach Salpointe Catholic to eight state boys tennis championships and two girls state championships, and finished runner-up in the state championships another eight seasons.
– Renee Espinoza-Boulware, a Tucson High grad who led the Badgers to the 1991 and 1992 state championship games and then became a second-team All-American while pitching for Florida State, becoming an all-ACC pitcher.
Arizona State University's Eric Larkin, right, and Pima Community College's Antonio Sepulveda (in orange uniform), former teammates at Sunnyside High School, met during an exhibition between the two schools in 2002.
– Eric Larkin, a Sunnyside High School state champion wrestler — he won four consecutive state championships from 2002-05 — who went on to become a three-time All-American at Arizona State.
– Debbie Summers, a women's sports pioneer in Tucson and at the UA, Summers was one of the first UA athletes to earn a scholarship in badminton who won conference championships in singles and doubles. She went on to become a Tucson teacher, coach and school administrator and was the UA's 2022 Mentor of the Year.
– Brandy Maben-Collins, a winner of nine letters at Sabino High School in swimming, basketball and track, Maben-Collins became captain of the UA's 2008 NCAA championship swimming team. She is a former assistant coach for UA swimming, director of the Nike Swim camp for five years who coached at LSU and is founder of the Bear Down Aquatics Alumni Association.
Two Tucson teams have also been selected for the Class of 2026. They are:
– Pima College's 2004 softball team, the NJCAA champions, coached by Stacy Iveson, who went 70-8 and produced six NCAA Division I softball players.
– Sunnyside High School's wrestling teams of the Bobby DeBerry era, 1995-2011, a period in which the Blue Devils won 15 state championships in 16 years, including the last 14 in succession.
More information on the hall of fame can be found at pcshf.org. This will be the 36th class of inductees.
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