The Palmer Williams Group held its 12th annual Athletic Youth Camp on Saturday at Highpoint Park in Prichard. But Saturday’s event was different from the 11 that preceded it.
Sherman Williams, the president of the Palmer Williams Group, is now the head football coach at Murphy High School, a position he took on March 24.
In addition to the Alabama and Auburn football alumni on hand to instruct the campers in safety, techniques and fundamentals for football, Williams also brought along seven seniors from the Murphy football team. The Murphy cheerleaders also attended to conduct that portion of the camp.
Williams said in addition to benefitting the 4- through 13-year-olds participating in the camp, the event also should be instructive for the high school helpers.
“It’s very important that the example be set that we are able to show the children how to participate in the community,” Williams said, “so we take them to church, but we also want them to get them involved in community service so they can understand the importance of it.
“It’s an example for the age group that’s going to be graduating high school, hopefully going off into college, then going on and having a successful career in whatever they choose to do. It gives them the idea of how important it is to give back. Once you’ve made your mark, you give back and you’re helping the younger generation. That keeps everything going smooth.”
Murphy middle linebacker Ronald Poole Jr. was among the volunteer instructors.
“I know how it was,” Poole said, “once being a kid looking up to the older kids, seeing them doing their football thing and wanting to be like them, so it’s being a role model.”
At Blount High School (fewer than 3 miles from the site of Saturday’s camp), Williams became the first Alabama high school player to rush for more than 3,000 yards in a season. In 1990, Williams ran for 3,004 yards and 31 touchdowns on 307 carries to lead the Leopards to the AHSAA Class 5A championship.
“I was not familiar with Sherman Williams,” Poole said. “As soon as he became my head coach, I did my research and saw that he was a very good man. I just want to do everything I can to show him that I can be a leader.”
After starring at Blount, Williams went on to play on Alabama’s national-championship team for the 1992 season and the Dallas Cowboys’ Super Bowl XXX-winning team in the 1995 season. But Williams was found guilty on Dec. 6, 2000, by a federal jury in Mobile of one count of conspiracy to distribute marijuana and two counts of attempting to possess marijuana with intent to distribute. He also pleaded guilty to a counterfeiting charge.
While Williams was in prison, his college roommate, David Palmer, kept in touch with him. Like Williams, Palmer had been a state prep star – at Jackson-Olin in Birmingham – and played in the NFL after the Crimson Tide.
Williams was incarcerated for 15 years. When he was released from prison, he and his former teammate sought a way to influence disadvantaged youngsters in a positive manner before the children’s minds acclimated to the negative influences they commonly saw around them. The result was the Palmer Williams Group.
While Highpoint Park serves as the hub for the Palmer Williams Group’s Highpoint Cowboys youth teams in football, baseball, basketball, softball, soccer and cheerleading, the organization has programs that extend beyond sports based on the belief, as Williams often says, “Children are the future.”
On Saturday, the camp staff also included Juan Crum from Murphy High School and Auburn, Chris Edwards from Jess Lanier High School and Alabama, Pierre Goode from Hazlewood High School and Alabama, Victor Lockett from Shaw High School and Alabama and Patrick Thomas from Williamson High School and Auburn.
The campers also received a safety lesson from the Prichard Fire Department and ate lunch.
For his next football activity, Poole is forecasting “a major change” for Murphy in the 2025 season. The Panthers have only six victories to show for the previous four seasons and most recently won a postseason game in 2011.
“You’re going to see way more developed kids, way more better football,” Poole said of Williams’ first team at Murphy. “Better football, better athletes.”
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.
