From the heart: Mistie delivers uplifting message | The Janesville Gazette

From the heart: Mistie delivers uplifting message | The Janesville Gazette | Janesville, Wisconsin, USA

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From the heart: Mistie delivers uplifting message

(Published Wednesday, September 5, 2007 11:06:57 AM CST)

	A d v e r t i s e m e n t

By Tom Miller
tmiller@gazetteextra.com

The young lady the people of Janesville watched grow up on the basketball court was in town this weekend. Mistie Bass, now Mistie Williams, spent part of her afternoon Tuesday standing before 25 or so youngsters at the Stoughton youth club.

The 6-foot-3 WNBA player told the students seated along a wall to not let people distract them from reaching their goals.

As her eyes ran across the line of students, Williams told them to have the discipline to get their homework done, to have the drive to do that homework well, and to strive to become whatever they wanted in life.

And if acquaintances want to party, smoke some dope or get them to join a gang?

"You can't listen to those people," Williams said, making sure to look at every youngster there. "Surround yourself with people who believe in you."

Wow. After a summer of Michael Vick pet stories, her heartfelt delivery made you wonder how she had escaped the wretched effects pro athletics bring upon many of our "heroes."

It's easy for skeptics to shrug off the message she delivered. But even if these kids didn't know Mistie Williams before she stood up in front of them Tuesday, you wanted to believe they got something positive out of the 25-minute question-and-answer session.

That's because Williams cares.

She remembers how awkward some kids made her feel in middle school. Williams was taller than everyone. Plus she liked to play sports. That made her a target for many in her peer group.

"It's tough in middle school," Williams said after a prolonged autograph session when she giggled with the kids. "A friend and I were talking about that the other day-how mean kids can be."

She told the group how she would come home and cry some days in her room after school because of what kids did to her.

Her mom, Pam, who moved to Stoughton from Janesville a couple years ago, said there were days when she found Mistie crying when she was a freshman at Parker because of what some of her older teammates said or did.

But Mistie had an out. She could play basketball. She helped Parker win two consecutive state basketball titles and is the only three-time Player of the Year honoree in state history.

Williams knows many youngsters don't have that. She has a wealthy father, Chubby Checker, who could help Pam provide her with items that kept her with the "in" crowd.

"Look at those shoes that girl has," Williams said Tuesday, pointing to a middle-school-age youngster who was gliding across the concrete floor with roller blade tennis shoes. "Not everyone can afford those."

And if you can't, you are a target of ridicule.

Williams wanted these kids to know middle school is not the end of the world. If she could graduate from high school with a 3.5 GPA, and from Duke with a 3.0 GPA-after getting her first-ever "D" in her first semester-she told her audience that they could do the same.

Somebody wanted to know what she would do if she wasn't a professional athlete.

Williams knows what she wants to do.

"I've always wanted to be a fashion designer," she said. "I've been thinking about coming out with my own shoe line-especially for a girl with such big feet. They want to be cute. It's hard sometimes to find a real good pair of shoes."

That got a chuckle from the group. Other than that, it was an off-the-cuff conversation about making the right choices.

Mistie flew in from Texas on Friday. She went to Laborfest with her mother. She visited Bond Park where she played basketball with boys growing up. She went out with friends.

On Tuesday, she visited her former teachers at Parker High. After she spoke to the Stoughton group, she planned to go to a Beloit Memorial High volleyball game last night.

She leaves to go back to Texas tonight. Before that, she plans to visit a couple of young girls she has known for a while.

One girl is a bit overweight. She's been getting teased. Pam said Mistie wanted to show up in the classroom and say a special hello to the girl in front of her classmates.

Bet that might turn a few of her classmates' heads. Of course, that's exactly the point.

Mistie will turn 24 in December. It's not difficult to imagine her best achievements in life will come off the basketball court.

That isn't a bad thing at all.

Tom Miller is a sports writer/page designer for The Janesville Gazette.

Next stop for Williams is Israel
It's safe to say Mistie Williams' first two seasons as a Women's National Basketball Association player hasn't met her expectations.

The former Janesville Parker High standout has ridden the bench in her first two seasons with the Houston Comets. That was somewhat expected her first season, but she thought she would play more a role in her second year.

The team went from a veteran coach in Van Chancellor to a Karleen Thompson, who coached her first season this past summer.

Instead of gaining more playing time, Williams averaged just more than five minutes a game after she returned from a broken finger. In 19 games, she averaged just 1.47 rebounds and 1.2 points.

The Comets finished with a 13-21 record, their worst record in their 11-year history.

A mention of the season brings a slight shrug of her shoulders.

"Of course it's frustrating," Williams said after she spoke to a group of youngsters at the Stoughton youth club Tuesday. "I don't know what it was. I don't want to keep dwelling on that."

Williams said she definitely would return to the WNBA next season.

Williams played in Italy last offseason. She will head to Israel in three weeks to play professionally. She will then decide in December whether she wants to play another three months there or return to the States to prepare for next season.

-Tom Miller

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