HISTORY TELLS us that 3 a.m. phone calls usually bring bad news. So it was Friday morning for the family of Terrieck Williams, a basketball starter for John Bartram High.
"We just recently moved and they didn't have our new home number, so they called my cell phone," Williams said. "It was my uncle and all he said was, 'This is important. Put your mom on the phone.' I took her my phone. She was talking a little, then she started crying. I asked her, 'What's wrong, mom?' "
Williams' grandfather, Marvin Williams, had passed after a lengthy battle with cancer.
"I didn't sleep the rest of the night," Terrieck said. "My grandpop was a really nice person. I didn't see him that often because he lived in New Jersey. But we'd talk and he loved to hear how I was doing.
"My mom has been through some tough times. He gave us financial help whenever he could and that really helped us. And he'd break his neck just to give us kids some little gifts, even though he didn't have much."
Williams, a junior and first-year varsity player, is a 6-1, 150-pound wing guard. And Saturday at Southern High, he contributed 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds as the Braves bested Samuel Fels, 57-49, in a Public League quarterfinal that doubled as the Class AAAA championship game.
Tomorrow's Pub semis, also set for Southern, will match Boys' Latin Charter vs. Communications Tech at 6, then Bartram vs. Constitution at 7:45. The final will be played Saturday, 5:30, at the Community College of Philadelphia.
"My mom wanted me to play in this game," Williams said. "And I dedicated it to my grandpop. My mom said she knew we'd win because my grandpop would be looking over me. She kept saying, 'Y'all gonna win. Don't worry about it. Y'all gonna win.'
"I was saying to her, 'C'mon, mom. Don't say that. You don't know for sure.' And then she was saying, 'Yes, I do. Y'all gonna win. And then you're gonna come home and wash your clothes.' "
Williams smiled.
"Yup, that's what I have to do now," he said. "Go home and wash my clothes."
He added, "She was right. I mean, I had a feeling we were gonna win. But I didn't know it, like she did."
Williams reached 10 points thanks mostly to 6-for-7 sniping at the line. Despite his lack of height and girth, he claimed a dozen boards because he paid attention to coach James Brown.
