Rising junior basketball player Grant Williams has been selected as the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame’s 2018 Male Amateur Athlete of the Year and will be recognized during the organization’s 52nd Annual Induction Banquet on Saturday, June 16, at the Omni-Nashville Hotel.
Tickets for the TSHOF’s induction banquet weekend can be purchased by contacting Lynn Powell Toy at (615) 202-3996 or lynnpowelltoy@gmail.com.
As a sophomore for the Volunteers this past season, Williams earned SEC Player of the Year honors and was selected as an All-American honorable mention performer while powering Tennessee to its first SEC Championship in 10 years.
The 6-7 forward from Charlotte, North Carolina, led the Vols in scoring (15.2 ppg), was second on the team in blocks (44) and rebounding (6.0 rpg) and finished fourth in assists (66).
An All-SEC first-teamer, he scored at least 10 points in 29 of UT’s 35 games while leading the Vols in scoring in 12 contests and eclipsing the 20-point margin eight times.
Williams lifted Tennessee to a road win at Vanderbilt on Jan. 9 behind a career-high 37 points on 12-of-20 shooting, marking the most points by a Vol since SEC Player of the Year Ron Slay scored 38 vs. New Mexico on Jan. 4, 2003.
The 2018 Volunteers posted a 26-9 record (third-most wins in program history), spent 14 straight weeks in national top-25 and finished the season ranked 13th in the Associated Press poll and 16th in the coaches’ poll.
This is the third straight year in which a Tennessee Vol has been named the TSHOF’s Male Amateur Athlete of the Year, as world-champion sprinter Christian Coleman shared the award in 2016 before winning it outright in 2017.
Other Tennessee male student-athletes who have received the award are tennis player J.P. Smith (2011), football player Eric Berry (2008, 2009, 2010), baseball pitcher Luke Hochevar (2006), sprinter Justin Gatlin (2003), football player John Henderson (2001), swimmer Jeremy Linn (1999), football player Peyton Manning (1998), baseball player Todd Helton (1996), baseball pitcher R.A. Dickey (1995), swimmer Melvin Stewart (1993), football player Reggie White (1984), basketball player Ernie Grunfeld (1977), steeplechase runner Doug Brown (1975), football/baseball player Condredge Holloway (1974), swimmer David Edgar (1973) and football player Bobby Majors (1972).
The Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame, which held its first induction banquet in 1966, has as its goal to enshrine successful teams and individuals who display sportsmanship, good character and success, creating a legacy for others to follow. The Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame Museum is housed inside the Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville.
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