Corey "Homicide" Williams Article & Interview
Coming out of one of the top High Schools in NYC (Rice) Corey Williams journey to D1 basketball wasn't an easy one. Over shadowed by players like Gary Saunders, Chudney Grey and Bevon Robin, Corey's only option was Penn Valley Community College in Kansas. Bitter at this Corey made a list of goals before his sophomore year, he accomplished all but one. He made first team All-American and averaged 20 plus points per game only to lose in the championship game by 2 points. The following year Corey enrolled at Alabama State were he averaged 15 points per game and went into his senior year confident he was NBA bound. Unfortunately things didn't work out that way as Alabama State faced one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the NCAA. Loss after loss the coach opted to go with a younger squad leaving Corey averaging 10 points per game off the bench and his NBA dreams fading away.
The following year he found himself back in NYC playing streetball,.... there he made another list.
Homicide
On that list were NYC finest. Rich Parker, Charles Jones, Kareem Reid, Poodah the Gangsta, Lamont Jones, Shane the Dribbling Machine, Reggie Freeman, Mike Campbell. Corey new the only way to get any street cred was to destroy these guys. He started off in Manhattan killing the best players in every park and was picked up by Future were they travelled down the East Coast playing Streetball Events in sold out Gyms. He
was getting 40 everywhere he went, D.C, Baltimore, VA, North Carolina, at one stage his name was bigger out of state. Back in NY Corey's legacy had only begun and as his confidence grew so did his street cred. Gun Hill, West forth, EBC, Dyckman, Forrest, Kingdome, 96th Street Y, Pro Rucker, Hunter College Nike Pro Am. No place was safe.
In a game at West Fourth vs Brooklyn United he dropped 52 on Smush Parker, Rockin Ray and Vinnie Vegas who all took turns guarding him, he scored 36 in two and a half quarters on Reggie Freeman and Adrian Autry at Hunter Pro-Am and in his second game he played at Rucker, Corey had 34 on the two time defending champs "The Posse" which had star Bevon "Eye of the Tiger" Robin. It was there he was given the nickname "Homicide" by the commentator Hannibal.
Besides the countless 40 plus games the most memorable that summer was against Richie Parker aka Mr. Incredible. Unfortunately Richie who was the hottest thing in NY at the time took Homicide too lightly and ended up having 47 put on him in front of team mates Jamaal Tinsley and Poodah the Gangsta. Something he probably regrets to this day. The following summer Homicide was gone.
Moving to Denver with his wife, Corey decided to focus on his Pro career. In the winter he played in the USBL and in Brazil were he averaged 16 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. After missing the 02 summer season in NY due to the birth of his daughter Izabella Corinna Williams, Corey played in Spain and returned to NY in the summer of 03. That year Corey "Homicide" Williams dominated the EBC. Don Diva flew him back and forth from Denver to NY and every week he dropped his 30. It didn't matter who was in front of him. He couldn't be stopped.
Homicide vs Ron Artest
2004 was another great year, Corey had picked up the name "The Most Dangerous player in the EBC" and his team "Don Diva" made the playoffs for the first time. Going into the playoffs the competitions coach Tony Rosa wasn't about to take any risks. They already had Antifreeze, Kurt Stinson, Baby Shaq and the Brain but they needed someone to guard Homicide. Someone like Ron Artest the NBA's defensive player of the year. Unfazed by this Homicide went to work scoring from everywhere. Despite being ripped and blocked a few times Corey was relentless on attack and on one play left Ron crossed at the dotted line while he drove and dunked in the lane. After a time out Ron's team regrouped and finished off winning the game. Despite losing the game by 2 points Corey finished with 26 and most importantly was named The 2004 EBC MVP because of it.
Playing in China for the Henan RenHe Dragons the following winter all Homicide could do was think about streetball. Having picked up Slam Streetball issue, Dime and a couple of DVD's he found no mention of his name. This only fueled his fire and swore he would destroy everyone in his return. The first game of the EBC season saw himself up against the Ruff Ryders which featured Dahntay Jones, J.R. Smith, Kenny Satterfield, Cross Country, John Stickland and Alimoe. After being verbally assaulted by Alimoe a week before at Dyckman Homicide swore he would end his career. He told anybody that would listen. "There's gona be a death in Harlem". This was a highly anticipated game with the amount of All-Star players and it being aired on NBA TV. Everybody who was anybody was there. Homicide finished with 48 points, Alimoe fouled out with 6. There wasn't a player on their roster that could stop him. He scored in every way possible.
Corey the Raptor
2005 was a stand out year for Homicide, not only was he named the EBC MVP for the second year running but he was also getting attention from scouts and an NBA assistant coach by the name of Jim Todd. The Raptor assistant made a trip down to Dyckman to see Homicide play against Powerful Inc, the top team in the league at the time. Boasting players like Fabulous, The Problem, DP and one of NYC best defenders in Crabby, "Homicide" had his work cut out for him. Unfazed by the situation Corey put on a show scoring 30 in the first half. Next thing you know Corey's at Raptors Vet camp competing for a spot. For Corey the spot he was going for was never a definite. After beating out Robert Pack and Tierre Brown it all came down to a doctors decision in whether or not to clear Alvin Williams fit for the season. After a spectacular pre-season performance against the NJ Nets were he scored 10 points in 9 minutes in an overtime victory Corey was cut and Alvin Williams was cleared.
After being released by from the Raptors Corey was drafted by the Austin Toros of the NBDL. Not happy with the situation he left to play for the Sioux Falls of the CBA were he finished first team all-defense and second team All-CBA. Ranked number six in minor league basketball by probasketballnews.com he also had the most triple-doubles in minor leagues this season.
So what now for Corey "Homicide" Williams? I caught up with him to find out.
This Clip contains highlights from the 2006 And1 Mixtape Tour, various EBC summer games and the 48 point effort against Ruff Ryders in the first game of the 2005 EBC season.
