Gord Williams

Gordie Williams was a high scoring junior star with the Lethbridge Broncos. He starred in the southern Alberta city for three years. In his two years in the Western Hockey League the Saskatoon Saskatchewan native twice scored over 50 goals and 115 points. He, along with Duane Sutter and Doug Morrison, was the star of the team. Some of his other more famous teammates back in his Broncos days include Lindy Ruff and Dave Barr. Gord's WHL totals in just two years are 115 goals, 124 assists and 239 points in 144 games!

Gord's brother Fred was also a western junior star with the Saskatoon Blades. Despite posting numbers generally nowhere near that of Gord, Fred was always the better prospect in the eyes of the NHL. Fred was the 4th overall draft pick in the 1976 NHL Entry Draft, as the Red Wings passed on the likes Bernie Federko, Buddy Cloutier, Reed Larson, Randy Carlyle and Thomas Gradin. However Fred would only get into 44 games and quickly went from prospect to suspect.

Three years later it was Gord's introduction to the Entry Draft.  Despite Gord's incredible statistics at the junior level, Gord didn't go until 119th overall when Philadelphia took a flyer on the 5'11" 190 pound right winger. Perhaps other teams were scared off by his brother's quick demise, but in fairness the 1979 Entry Draft was one of the deepest in history.

Gord never really got a chance to play in Philly. With the likes of Reggie Leach, Paul Holmgren, Tim Kerr and Ray Allison ahead of him on the right wing depth chart, Gord was relegated to 3 years of decent play with the Maine Mariners of the AHL. Despite a strong lineup in Maine Gord was able to add some nice offense and was rewarded in both 1981-82 and 1982-83 with a one game call up to Philadelphia.

Gord retired from hockey after the 1983 season, with just two NHL games, 2 NHL shots and 2 NHL penalty minutes under his belt. Gord didn't want to spend much of his young life riding the busses in the minor leagues, and knew there was little chance he would ever make the Flyers. So he took a realistic look at his life and decided to hang up the blades.