Cards
NBA legend Buck Williams honors Kareem, Michael Jordan and his favorite trading cards
Born in Rocky Mount, N.C., Charles Linwood Williams starred at the University of Maryland before being drafted third overall by the New Jersey Nets in the 1981 NBA Draft.
“Buck” went on to capture NBA Rookie of the Year honors for the 1982 season.
Amassing an incredible 17-year NBA career, Williams was a pillar of consistency and efficiency. He is one of fewer than 20 players in league history to amass more than 16,000 points and more than 13,000 rebounds. He is top five all-time in offensive rebounds.
Related Content:
A three-time NBA All Star and two-time NBA All First Defensive team, Williams' place in league history is very much underrated.
In this exclusive interview with SCD’s Tony Reid, Williams talks about his admiration for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Phil Ford, getting trading cards sent to him by fans, and some memorable facts listed on the back of his cards.
Whether it was in Rocky Mount, at Maryland, or when you got to the Nets, when was the first time you were asked for your autograph, and do you remember that experience?
“It was in my high school state championship game. We won the state championship in 1978 and I was the MVP and one of the kids there walked up and asked for my autograph. It was kind of different, but that was my first recollection of my first autograph.”
Growing up, who were your sports inspirations? Did you collect basketball cards or baseball cards? Did you have posters on the wall, cutouts from magazines?
“You know, it was several guys, because on Sundays, they had that CBS game with Sonny Hill. He was a color commentator with Dick Stockton, I think. But every Sunday, man, in my little four-room house my father built—who had a third-grade education, we lived in the house for 25 years that he built—and every Sunday, man, the NBA games would come on. I got a chance to see guys like The Doctor (Julius Erving). I saw Kareem, who was an idol of mine. Those guys inspired me so much to play basketball. I had Phil Ford, who was a college Player of the Year at the University of North Carolina. He grew up in Rocky Mount also.
“So, I had been around great players and been inspired by a lot of great players over the years. Phil Ford was, I could walk to this house from my house. So, it was just kind of fascinating, because in high school, Phil Ford was four years older than I, and he was like a rock star in high school. So, I got an opportunity to watch this guy and he was just entertaining and went to the University of North Carolina, and he just kind of blazed a trail for me. He set the bar pretty high coming out of my hometown.”
Over the years you've had 459 different trading cards produced. Do you have a favorite card or one that sticks out in your mind for whatever reason?
“Let me be honest, man, it's been about a year now. When I retired, I kind of put basketball behind me. I mean, I never watched any film, and my son, like a year ago, my son Malik—my youngest son, he worked for the NBA for six years and he worked in their production department—and he pulled all those old videos and he kept talking about, ‘Dad, you played this player, you did this, you did that.’ It kind of refreshed my memory of my career, and I owe him all the credit, because just over the last year, I've been watching some film and kind of getting back and kind of really appreciating my career and some of the things I've done in college, and it grows.”
You had some rookie cards in the Star Company sets back in 1983 and 1984. 1986-87 Fleer was the classic set that had all those rookies, the Jordans and Barkleys, and you were in that crew. Do you remember seeing yourself on a card for the first time?
“I've seen those cards, like when people always don't know how to find my address. They research. These kids are bright. They spot me, they find my address, and they send me cards. I have like a whole drawer full of cards that I need to constantly send out. I mean, I would think because of the era I played in, they probably would have forgotten about me as a player, but these young kids, man, they collect these cards. I see all different kind of cards from when I played, and their card is pretty cool.”
Your legendary career spanned nearly two decades. Do you have like an office, a man cave, or any memorabilia saved from your career?
“Yeah, I have them in my basement. I told my sons, I don't really want all of this memorabilia. I said, ‘Man, maybe I should just get rid of it, donate it to charity or whatever.’ They're like, ‘No, Dad, I want it.’ So, I got a basement full of my All-Star jerseys. When I collected my 13,000 rebounds, my son, he always talks about it. He said, ‘Dad, when you retired, you were like fourth all-time in the history of the game in offensive rebounds. You were like one of the 13 players that have the career double-double of 16,000 points and 13,000 rebounds.’ He's just like me. This guy is like an encyclopedia of basketball history. But, a lot of things I did, when you play in a power forward position, man, you don't get a lot of glory. You do all of the dirty work, and you don't get a lot of recognition. I was very fortunate to play as long as I did and have a very incredible career and still hold a pretty outstanding position.”
I have to ask, do you have any of the game used trademark goggles anywhere?
“You know, that's the only thing I don't have. It's so funny because at some point in my career, the Hall of Fame reached out for my goggles. And I don't know whether my goggles are still in the Hall of Fame or not. When they first opened that Hall of Fame years ago, they requested those goggles. And I don't know what happened, I don't know if they took them out of the Hall of Fame, or if they're still there. But the goggles made it to the Hall of Fame before I did.”
You see the young guys doing the jersey swap after games. I know that wasn't a thing back in the day, but if you could go back and do that tradition or pay homage to an opponent, who would you want to go back and swap jerseys with?
“Oh, man. Geez, there were so many great dudes. I would probably say Kareem because Kareem stood for more than just being a basketball player. He's very intelligent. He took a lot of risks, championed a lot of different causes that were not popular at the time. And you would cite Muhammad Ali; I put Kareem in that same category. I mean, he demanded respect. And he was more than just a basketball player. I kind of patterned my life outside of basketball and basketball around Kareem. I mean, Kareem, Muhammad Ali, guys who really stood for something and meant a lot to the black community. You know, I'm a ’60s baby, during civil rights and stuff. When it comes to justice and equal rights, that's a fire that burns pretty bright for me. It has for many years. And Kareem exemplifies that. He and Dr. J and Oscar Robinson and guys who really stood for something and not just basketball players.”
My favorite card of yours was from 1992-93 Fleer when the company that did a set called Total D, which focused on the best defensive players in the league. The front of the card, you're in midair, and it looks like you just swatted a Scottie Pippen shot into like the fifth row. What was it like, the NBA Finals, that rivalry, the time you battled Jordan and the Bulls?
“If my memory serves me correctly, we had beat Chicago during the regular season, so we had a lot of confidence going into the Finals. We understood the Jordan factor. I mean, we didn't overlook that. Jordan, I never played against a player, man, that could just, at a moment of the game, during the game, where he could just dominate the game. Jordan had another button. He had another floor on his elevator, man, where no one else could even get to that point. You know, Clyde [Drexler] is a great ball player but it's just, I mean, Jordan just, he would take the last shot. He knew he was going to take the last shot. We couldn't stop it. Everyone knew that he would take the shot. We tried to double-team him. We tried to force him left, and so many players I hear talk about this cat, man. This cat was just different. I mean, he would just find a way to win. I always say, great players tell you what they're going to do before they do it. That's what separates great players. And they do it, and they get it done anyway. Like Babe Ruth calling his shot, right? He got it. I mean, that's the ultimate sign of just rare players that you see every 50 years, man. And Jordan had that ability to go to that next level that very few players could go to, man. That's the way I think about Jordan.”
The back of your 1990-91 Fleer card mentioned how you missed only 20 games in your first nine seasons. So what do you attribute that incredible durability to?
“Well, you know, it's so funny, man. I've got to take you back in history. You know, back in the day, man, your teammates, your trainer and your coach looked down on you if you didn't lace them up every night. I mean, first of all, before you missed a game, you've got to go through the trainer. The trainer got to put you down saying, ‘Buck, you know, he can't go tonight.’ And then the trainer would go and approach the coach and say, ‘Buck can't go.’ And then the trainer and the coach would meet and say, ‘Well, what do you think? You know, can we get 20-25 minutes out of him? You know, your teammates will hold you accountable.’ Unless you have a broken leg or you have a major injury, you were expected to play. And if you didn't play, your teammates, your colleagues, would look at you like you were soft. And that was just part of the way the league was, the mentality in the day. You held each other accountable. You expected your teammates to play. And I just felt, you know, the way I grew up and watched my dad every day, lacing them up and going to work. I'm sure he was aching, he was sick some days, but he still went in to work. And that's the role model for me. And I just felt it's time to come to work, man, you just, whether you're a little sick or you got a little minor injury, you just have to show up. That's the way I carried my career because of my work ethic and my dad and my family instilled in me.”
Many of the old school card backs list the players' full names. So your cards are offering up your full name of Charles Linwood Williams. Can you walk us through how the nickname Buck came to be?
“When I was a youngster down south, a friend of the family came by, and I was a 10-pound, 8-ounce baby, so I was pretty big. And one of the friends of the family came by and said, ‘This guy's as big as a buck.’ So they started saying this kid's big as a buck. They started calling me ‘Charlie Buck,’ which I hated. When I got to the ninth grade, my point guard, Richard Barrett, he said, ‘Man, we're going to get rid of this Charlie part and we're just going to call you Buck.’ And he said, ‘that sounds like a great basketball name, man. And you're as strong as a buck. So we're going to start calling you Buck.’ And it stuck with me.
“But it's so funny because now when I try to fly under the radar, I say Charles Williams. If you're not a basketball fan, you may not know who I am. But I sign all my legal documents Charles Williams. The greatest compliment I have to share was when I was a rookie in the league, my second year in the league, we went to play the Lakers. And my idol, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, walked up before the game for the tip-off. He walks out and he said, jokingly, poking fun at me, he said, ‘Charles Linwood Williams.’ Man, that was the ultimate compliment. I have arrived now. If Kareem Abdul-Jabbar knows my full legal name, I must be doing something pretty productive around here.”
The back of your 1991-92 Fleer card mentioned your unbelievable .602 shooting percentage. You shot over 60% from the field the season prior. What are your thoughts looking back at that percentage now, how efficient you were, and how you just put the ball in the hole?
“It's so funny, man. I had a mentality that, number one, if I wanted offense, I'd go get it off the glass. You wouldn't have thrown me the ball. That was my mentality. So that's why, at the end of the day, I mean, I'm top four all-time in offensive rebounds in the history of the league. The guys in front of me are centers. And as I told you before, even at 16,000 points, 13,000 rebounds, the guys in that category, most of those dudes are centers. We have Karl Malone and Big E, maybe we have three of those dudes outside of that. I'm right in their company. But to answer your question, I always wanted to be efficient. My whole idea, when the coach came before the game, he could pencil in 18 and 12, and it was no question. People don't even talk about being efficient anymore. But back in the day, on your team, if you've got a player that's shooting and missing, and your teammates are looking, ‘Man, you need to calm that down. You need to take better shots, so you need to stop shooting.’ I grew up in that era where the teammates would hold you accountable, and the offense would be on the floor, you can't come down here and be shooting away and shoot 35%. You look at all the old guards. Those dudes shot 50% from the field. That was required of them. If not, they were not considered a great shooter. But nowadays, guys shoot 3s and got centers out there shooting 3s, shooting 30%.
“I always pride myself on being a great defensive player. I rebounded the ball. In New Jersey, I scored the ball. I didn't really care too much about scoring, but when they threw me the ball, that's what coach said. He said, ‘Man, this dude's shooting 50-some percent, almost 60% from the field. We're going to get this dude the ball.’ My first eight years, 10 years in the league, they were giving me the ball. And I took pride in shooting a high-percentage shot. No one even cares anymore about players that shoot a high percentage anymore. They don't even care. But the efficiency is, of all the words to describe me and my career, I was very efficient.”
If you could choose any stat or fact to be listed on the back of your trading card that the world would see, what’s the one piece of information you would want out there?
“One of 13, you may have to correct me, but one of 13 players that ever reached 16,000 points and over 13,000. I mean, that stat there just sets me apart from a lot of players that play this game. I think that's one thing that people who watched me play. I wasn't a flashy, showy kind of player. So sometimes your game and your impact on the game gets clouded because a lot of people, when they look at my game, they don't understand the impact unless you look at the numbers. You got to look at the numbers because once you look at the numbers, that speaks a lot about the impact I had on the NBA.”
