Honored both for grades and athletic talent, NUSD football stars William Brown and Isaiah Hamilton-Williams accepted football scholarships today from the University of Southern Oregon and the University of Nevada, respectively. Both have grade point averages above 3.0.
Brown, Natomas High’s Defensive Player of the Year, played both cornerback and wide receiver this year. In college, he plans to major in physical education or health, preparing for a career either as a teacher or physical therapist. All his life, he has dreamed of receiving a college scholarship, he said, smiling.
“It’s sort of overwhelming,” Brown said at a Feb. 3 signing ceremony attended by family, friends and school officials. “It’s exciting that my family can be part of this.”
In Brown’s first year as a Nighthawk, the football team did not win a game, yet he stuck it out each year until the team earned respectability. Why? There may have been tough times, but we were always a family, he said.
NHS Football Coach Ryan Battle described Brown with six words: “Work ethic, dedication, effort and pride.”
Similarly, Inderkum High football coach Terry Stark described Hamilton-Williams as a teenager with amazing character. He was ineligible to play for the Tigers after his family moved from Solano County to Sacramento for his senior year. But he never missed a day of school or a team practice at Inderkum, the coach said.
Stark described Hamilton-Williams as one of the region’s most talented running backs, scoring 42 touchdowns and rushing for 2,200 yards in his sophomore and junior years at Vanden High School in Fairfield.
Hamilton-Williams said he has not yet decided upon a college major, but he hopes for a career as a nurse or firefighter.
