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Major Henry S. Williams Jr. was born on a farm in Goldsboro, North Carolina
in 1935. Henry learned early in life that farm life was not to his liking. He
wanted “to get through school’ so that his time on the farm would be shortened.
At the age of 18, he enlisted in the Air Force where he became a medical lab
technician and was assigned to the medical corps for his 4 years of active duty.
Armed with the GI Bill. Henry enrolled in college in North Carolina to keep a
promise he had made to his father. But he left a year later and relocated to
Buffalo with some friends to find work. He took a position in the medical lab at
Meyer Memorial Hospital and almost concurrently took a similar position at
Roswell Park Memorial Institute. His desire for more knowledge reawakened and
while working, he reapplied to college and joined the ROTC. Henry graduated from Canisius College in 1966 with a B.S. in chemistry joined the faculty at UB in
the Department of medical technology as a clinical instructor and entered the
military reserves.
Over the next two decades Henry would study at several different colleges earning a B.S. in medical technology, a Master’s Degree in health, science, education, and administration, an A.S. in nursing, a degree in mental health counseling and an assortment of Army Reserve certifications including that of senior nuclear, biological, and chemical instructor. While in the Army Reserves, he was stationed at Fort Bragg, and received advanced training plus numerous badges and decorations, achieving the rank of major in 1985. It was at Fort Bragg that Henry became familiar with the father of a young golf prodigy named Tiger Woods.
Henry learned to play golf from a cousin and on one memorable visit south, Henry
couldn’t get on a golf course. “There were about 100 black kids on the course, I
never saw that in Buffalo.” He learned that the golf program was named after a
fellow North Carolinian - Michael Jordan - thus it's popularity. Henry recalled
this experience after a Buffalo community activist challenged him and other
retirees to do something for inner city youth.
With a contribution from the Buffalo Community Partnership, Henry contacted
several amateur and pro golfers and developed a program for high-risk inner city
kids with a powerful message: golf would be used as a vehicle to learn about
math and science, drug awareness and prevention, discipline and responsibility.
The Buffalo Inner City Youth Fan Club for Golfing is now a year round program
that has touched the lives of more than 500 youths since it’s inception in 1993.
Henry recalled his military days at Fort Bragg and contacted Colonel Earl Woods.
Tiger Woods treated the inaugural class to a clinic, while he was in the area
competing at the Porter Cup in 1994. In 2002 fifteen kids from the program and
their parents were invited to Disney World as guests of the Tiger Woods
Foundation. The experience lasted 3 days and included a clinic by ‘Tiger Woods,
which was broadcast on ESPN. The last day was the 75th Anniversary of Disney and
‘Tiger was the Grand Marshal of the parade. The guests of the foundation came
from Orlando, Dallas, Philadelphia, New York City, and Buffalo. The kids marched
in the parade behind Tiger carrying their city flag.
The awards for the program and Henry are numerous, highlighted by the Buffalo
All -America City Civic Empowerment Award and the Congressional Recognition
Award. More important is the fact that participants in the program that stay for
more than 1 year have a 100% High School graduation rate. Henry boasts that 23
former participants have graduated from college with B.S. degrees and 5 others
have received Masters Degrees. Through golf, and generosity of heart by Henry
and others, diverse city kids are learning about geometry, physics, etiquette
and more importantly, life.
It was voted by the Board of Directors that Major Williams be given the status
of "Emeritus".
