Skip to main content

The real MVPs

Football wives hold players, coaches together
Nancy Williams is involved with Huskies football in many ways. She recently assisted with collecting donations for Tackle Cancer prior to game time. Perhaps most importantly, she provides support to Coach Jeff Williams, who happens to be her husband. Staff photo by Rick Bussler
Football wives hold players, coaches together
By
Johnnie Phillips, Sports Editor
“It’s always more fun to celebrate the wins, but it’s equally as important to be there for the losses.”
-Nancy Williams, Coach Williams’ Wife

While football players and coaches receive the well-earned limelight that comes from hours spent in practice to perform under the Friday night lights, another group of people work year-round behind the scenes acting as the glue holding everything together: football wives.

Players and coaches spend copious amounts of hours, both together and apart, perfecting their craft. But at the end of the day when everyone leaves the field, it’s the wives and mothers who are the stars of the show.

“My thoughts initially as a fan who grew up watching my brothers play and the Vikings on Sundays was that you just coach during the season. Yeah, he’s going to be busy during the fall, and that’s fine. But I had no idea it was going to be year-round and very long hours. I learned that the first year,” said Nancy Williams with a laugh.

Williams has been by Owatonna Head Coach Jeff Williams’ side since 1996, the same year he began his role as head coach for the Huskies.

According to Williams, the first few years as a part of the Owatonna football family came with their fair share of difficulties as Jeff began his storied career as the leader of the Huskies squad and adjusted to his new role.

However, as the years progressed and the pair welcomed two sons, Matthew and Nick, the sport that once dominated the young couple’s time became a foundation for their family.

“I’ll never forget, when they were little, my boys would come running out of their bedrooms on a summer morning and be like, ‘Where’s Daddy? Football again?’. Like they were a little bit upset at the team for taking up so much of their dad’s time,” Nancy Williams said. “But as they got older, we would laugh about it because when they joined the varsity team as sophomores, they got to spend so much time with their dad every day.”

According to Williams, there was no better time than when her boys were donning Owatonna’s royal blue and silver colors.

As they grew from being the team’s ball boys to serious contributors on the field for the Huskies, Williams recalls game days always bringing goosebumps and nervous excitement.

From state championships to losing seasons, Williams has been able to experience both the major highs and lows that come with being so closely associated with the team.

Yet, it was never the results that mattered the most.

“We’ve experienced it all together. Of course, it’s always more fun to celebrate the wins, but it’s equally as important to be there for the losses,” Williams said. “Unless you win a state championship, your season is usually going to end in sadness. That’s just how it is. Especially when my boys were playing, I tried to be their biggest supporter, but also a shoulder to cry on if need be.”

Williams’ reach as a supporter and a helping hand has even extended past just being there for her own kids.

Through her work as a kindergarten through 12th-grade social worker in Owatonna since the beginning of her career, Williams has influenced many students around town – even long after they left high school.

One of Williams’s favorite memories was working with a little boy in the elementary school who was dealing with some behavioral issues.

According to Williams, the way she was able to connect with the boy was via football, specifically with the boy’s love for the Huskies team.

“Jeff told me I should bring him to meet the team since he idolized the players and the team. In fact, he told me we should see if he’d like to be a ball boy. I think it was the first time the team actually had a ball boy,” Williams said. “Even years later when he was all grown up, I would see him around town, and he would always bring up those memories about being around the team and how much it had an effect on him. Those are the things that are always the most special to me.”

Sign up for News Alerts

Subscribe to news updates