Wake Forest Athletics
Former Players Return to Honor Skip Prosser
12/16/2019 1:50:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Les Johns
L.D. Williams met Wake Forest basketball coach Skip Prosser for the first time while visiting for the Deacs' football game against the Phillip Rivers-led NC State Wolfpack on Sept. 6, 2003.
It was a meeting that inevitably had a profound impact on Williams' life.
"For a kid who was 14-15 years old, meeting this big-time figure in college basketball, the head coach of Wake Forest University, it was cool to have him sit down and try to relate to me," Williams remembers. "You see all these big-time coaches and you don't know how they will interact with a young teenager.
"We sat down with my parents, but he made a point to get to know me, and he didn't know how my prep career was going to finish."
Williams had started to show potential, but wasn't quite yet considered a national-level prospect.
"I was just a scrawny kid that some people thought had potential," he said. "In our first meeting, he made an effort to get to know me at my level, and to laugh and joke. From that time forward, I didn't have a ton of college visits, but Wake Forest had a head start, just because of how Coach Prosser was."
Williams joined other former Wake Forest basketball players Gary Clark, Eric Williams, Taron Downey, Cam Stanley and manager Justin Snow at LJVM Coliseum Saturday to honor their former coach at the Skip Prosser Classic game between the Deacs and Xavier. Prosser coached Wake Forest from 2002-07, leading the Deacs to 126 wins, an ACC Regular Season Championship in 2003 and four NCAA Tournament appearances. He won 148 games at Xavier in seven seasons coaching the Musketeers from 1995-2001.
"It was great," L.D. said. "Coming back there just brings back so many different types of emotions. It's a weird feeling. I'd never done that before. It was different.
"Seeing players from different teams and sharing our different exchanges with Coach P. was amazing. It was cool to be in that environment."
Every player from that era has a Prosser story.
Eric Williams (2002-06) said that he was raised by a strict, southern father and was taught to always say 'yes sir.' In practice one day, Prosser asked Eric his opinion on how to play a defensive trap.
"Yes sir," Eric responded almost automatically.
"Big E, If you say yes sir to me again instead of giving me your opinion, I'm going to take you outside and run you until you throw up," Eric said Prosser told him.
"After that, I started voicing my opinion," Eric said. "I'm not going out running at four o'clock in the morning just because I said 'yes sir.'"
Clark (2007-11) said Saturday that he owes a lot to Prosser, although he never actually played a game for the late head coach.
"He recruited me and sat in my living room," Clark said. "I owe my degree to Coach Prosser. It's important to be back here to honor him.
"He was genuine, and that's why I came to Wake. What he told me, I truly believed."
That Prosser quality was echoed by L.D., and was something he picked up even as a 15-year old prospect meeting the legendary coach from the first time.
"He was genuine," L.D. said. "He didn't promise anything about basketball, he just promised that we would get our degree. Parents fell in love with their son playing for Coach Prosser, competing at Wake Forest and becoming better men."
It was a meeting that inevitably had a profound impact on Williams' life.
"For a kid who was 14-15 years old, meeting this big-time figure in college basketball, the head coach of Wake Forest University, it was cool to have him sit down and try to relate to me," Williams remembers. "You see all these big-time coaches and you don't know how they will interact with a young teenager.
"We sat down with my parents, but he made a point to get to know me, and he didn't know how my prep career was going to finish."
Williams had started to show potential, but wasn't quite yet considered a national-level prospect.
"I was just a scrawny kid that some people thought had potential," he said. "In our first meeting, he made an effort to get to know me at my level, and to laugh and joke. From that time forward, I didn't have a ton of college visits, but Wake Forest had a head start, just because of how Coach Prosser was."
Williams joined other former Wake Forest basketball players Gary Clark, Eric Williams, Taron Downey, Cam Stanley and manager Justin Snow at LJVM Coliseum Saturday to honor their former coach at the Skip Prosser Classic game between the Deacs and Xavier. Prosser coached Wake Forest from 2002-07, leading the Deacs to 126 wins, an ACC Regular Season Championship in 2003 and four NCAA Tournament appearances. He won 148 games at Xavier in seven seasons coaching the Musketeers from 1995-2001.
"It was great," L.D. said. "Coming back there just brings back so many different types of emotions. It's a weird feeling. I'd never done that before. It was different.
"Seeing players from different teams and sharing our different exchanges with Coach P. was amazing. It was cool to be in that environment."
Every player from that era has a Prosser story.
Eric Williams (2002-06) said that he was raised by a strict, southern father and was taught to always say 'yes sir.' In practice one day, Prosser asked Eric his opinion on how to play a defensive trap.
"Yes sir," Eric responded almost automatically.
"Big E, If you say yes sir to me again instead of giving me your opinion, I'm going to take you outside and run you until you throw up," Eric said Prosser told him.
"After that, I started voicing my opinion," Eric said. "I'm not going out running at four o'clock in the morning just because I said 'yes sir.'"
Clark (2007-11) said Saturday that he owes a lot to Prosser, although he never actually played a game for the late head coach.
"He recruited me and sat in my living room," Clark said. "I owe my degree to Coach Prosser. It's important to be back here to honor him.
"He was genuine, and that's why I came to Wake. What he told me, I truly believed."
That Prosser quality was echoed by L.D., and was something he picked up even as a 15-year old prospect meeting the legendary coach from the first time.
"He was genuine," L.D. said. "He didn't promise anything about basketball, he just promised that we would get our degree. Parents fell in love with their son playing for Coach Prosser, competing at Wake Forest and becoming better men."
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