WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.640 Okay, so I want you to close your eyes for just 00:00:03.640 --> 00:00:06.599 a second. Picture a professional football player, 00:00:06.700 --> 00:00:09.759 like a true legend of the game. Right, the kind 00:00:09.759 --> 00:00:11.740 of guy who just completely strikes fear into 00:00:11.740 --> 00:00:15.099 the defense. Exactly. What do you see? You're 00:00:15.099 --> 00:00:18.179 probably imagining a giant, right? Someone who's, 00:00:18.199 --> 00:00:20.199 I don't know, six foot five, built like a brick 00:00:20.199 --> 00:00:23.050 wall, just towering over everybody else. Yeah, 00:00:23.129 --> 00:00:25.230 that's the classic prototype. That's the guys 00:00:25.230 --> 00:00:27.289 scouts are paid millions to go out and find the 00:00:27.289 --> 00:00:29.070 ones who pass the eye test the second they walk 00:00:29.070 --> 00:00:31.649 into the room. Right. But today we are taking 00:00:31.649 --> 00:00:34.049 that entire image and we're just throwing it 00:00:34.049 --> 00:00:36.259 right out the window. Because for this deep dive, 00:00:36.420 --> 00:00:38.960 we are looking at a stack of sources, Wikipedia 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:42.439 biographies, Hall of Fame records, stat sheets 00:00:42.439 --> 00:00:45.539 about a man who didn't just fail that eye test. 00:00:45.759 --> 00:00:48.259 He practically broke the scale in the completely 00:00:48.259 --> 00:00:50.359 wrong direction. Oh, completely. We're talking 00:00:50.359 --> 00:00:52.880 about a guy who stood five foot six. And honestly, 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:55.100 that five foot six is probably being pretty generous 00:00:55.100 --> 00:00:57.039 with the measurements. Right. I mean, probably 00:00:57.039 --> 00:01:00.119 closer to five five with cleats on. And yet this 00:01:00.119 --> 00:01:02.579 man, Henry Lee Williams, who the world knows 00:01:02.579 --> 00:01:05.989 much better as Gizmo. He didn't just survive 00:01:05.989 --> 00:01:09.030 in a game of absolute giants. He became one of 00:01:09.030 --> 00:01:11.870 the most electric, high volume record setters 00:01:11.870 --> 00:01:15.109 in the entire history of gridiron football. It's 00:01:15.109 --> 00:01:17.269 really one of the most fascinating case studies 00:01:17.269 --> 00:01:20.680 in all of sports history, because on paper. Gizmo 00:01:20.680 --> 00:01:22.719 Williams simply shouldn't have worked. Physics 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:24.879 just don't add up. They don't make any sense 00:01:24.879 --> 00:01:26.959 at all. But when you really dig into the source 00:01:26.959 --> 00:01:29.280 material, you start to realize this isn't just 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:31.760 a story about a guy who was fast. It's a story 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:36.319 about resilience, geometry and overcoming a family 00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:38.760 tragedy that is honestly just hard to even comprehend. 00:01:39.079 --> 00:01:40.799 Yeah. And that's our mission for today's deep 00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:42.480 dive. We aren't just going to sit here and rattle 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:44.099 off touchdown numbers, though. Spoiler alert. 00:01:44.219 --> 00:01:45.959 There are a lot of them. Yeah. We want to figure 00:01:45.959 --> 00:01:49.040 out how we did it. Exactly. How does a 5 '6 guy 00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:51.640 survive 20 years of professional high -speed 00:01:51.640 --> 00:01:54.280 collision sports? And what does his incredible 00:01:54.280 --> 00:01:56.579 story teach us about the metrics we actually 00:01:56.579 --> 00:01:59.480 use to measure greatness? Well, to truly understand 00:01:59.480 --> 00:02:01.340 the player, you really have to understand where 00:02:01.340 --> 00:02:03.719 he came from. Because the chip on his shoulder, 00:02:03.900 --> 00:02:06.140 it wasn't just about his height. It was about 00:02:06.140 --> 00:02:08.979 pure survival. So let's rewind a bit. Let's go 00:02:08.979 --> 00:02:11.379 back to the very beginning. The sources we have 00:02:11.379 --> 00:02:13.860 paint a pretty stark picture of his early life. 00:02:14.219 --> 00:02:17.719 Born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1962. And the family 00:02:17.719 --> 00:02:20.379 was extremely impoverished. Yeah, impoverished 00:02:20.379 --> 00:02:23.740 is the exact word his biography uses. And the 00:02:23.740 --> 00:02:26.520 context implies a very, very difficult struggle 00:02:26.520 --> 00:02:29.360 just for the basics. But the poverty isn't even 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:31.759 the main headline here. It's the loss. Yeah. 00:02:31.860 --> 00:02:34.860 The timeline of tragedy in his childhood reads 00:02:34.860 --> 00:02:37.020 like something out of a Dickens novel. It really 00:02:37.020 --> 00:02:39.460 does. Let's unpack this timeline because it hit 00:02:39.460 --> 00:02:40.979 me really hard when I was reading through the 00:02:40.979 --> 00:02:44.289 prep notes. December 1969. Gizmo is just six 00:02:44.289 --> 00:02:46.210 years old. Right. And his mother passes away. 00:02:46.310 --> 00:02:48.849 She dies from complications related to multiple 00:02:48.849 --> 00:02:51.610 sclerosis or MS. Which is just a massive heavy 00:02:51.610 --> 00:02:54.289 blow for a six -year -old. But then almost exactly 00:02:54.289 --> 00:02:58.310 a year later, Christmas of 1970, tragedy strikes 00:02:58.310 --> 00:03:01.189 the family again. A house fire. His father actually 00:03:01.189 --> 00:03:04.330 dies in the fire. So by the time little Henry 00:03:04.330 --> 00:03:06.889 is seven or eight years old, he is effectively 00:03:06.889 --> 00:03:09.389 an orphan. He's lost both of his parents in the 00:03:09.389 --> 00:03:11.449 span of 12 months. Most people would just crumble 00:03:11.449 --> 00:03:13.250 right there. I mean, that is enough trauma for 00:03:13.250 --> 00:03:16.210 an entire lifetime. But the source material highlights 00:03:16.210 --> 00:03:18.990 something even darker, something genetic that 00:03:18.990 --> 00:03:21.569 just hung over this entire family. This is the 00:03:21.569 --> 00:03:23.509 part of the bio that really stops you in your 00:03:23.509 --> 00:03:26.110 tracks. Because it wasn't just his mother who 00:03:26.110 --> 00:03:28.569 suffered from multiple sclerosis. The disease 00:03:28.569 --> 00:03:32.389 completely ravaged the Williams family. The records 00:03:32.389 --> 00:03:34.349 state that Henry Williams lost his mother and 00:03:34.349 --> 00:03:37.310 seven of his ten siblings to MSME. Wait. Pause 00:03:37.310 --> 00:03:40.229 for a second. Seven siblings. Seven. Plus his 00:03:40.229 --> 00:03:44.060 mom. Just try to imagine the psychological environment 00:03:44.060 --> 00:03:46.400 that creates for a young kid. You are growing 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:49.400 up watching the people closest to you, your own 00:03:49.400 --> 00:03:52.139 blood succumb to this severe degenerative condition 00:03:52.139 --> 00:03:54.379 one by one. You're watching their bodies literally 00:03:54.379 --> 00:03:57.699 fail them. It puts the whole idea of sports into 00:03:57.699 --> 00:03:59.520 a completely different perspective, doesn't it? 00:03:59.580 --> 00:04:01.379 Like we always talk about athletes overcoming 00:04:01.379 --> 00:04:03.919 adversity because they, I don't know, tore an 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:06.379 ACL or got cut from their high school team. Right. 00:04:06.439 --> 00:04:10.620 But this is. This is existential dread. It absolutely 00:04:10.620 --> 00:04:12.960 is. And I think it's so crucial to understanding 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:16.399 his entire career arc. When you grow up seeing 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:20.040 firsthand how fragile the human body can be and 00:04:20.040 --> 00:04:22.459 you see your family members losing their mobility, 00:04:22.740 --> 00:04:24.579 losing their control. And then you discover that 00:04:24.579 --> 00:04:26.540 you have this incredible gift. Exactly. You realize 00:04:26.540 --> 00:04:29.120 you have this body that can move faster and quicker 00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:31.540 than anyone else on the field. it becomes almost 00:04:31.540 --> 00:04:33.259 this desperate need to use it, right? It really 00:04:33.259 --> 00:04:36.360 does. It's not just a game anymore. It's an assertion 00:04:36.360 --> 00:04:39.720 of life itself. It's exerting total control over 00:04:39.720 --> 00:04:42.519 a body in a world where he saw bodies failing 00:04:42.519 --> 00:04:45.459 everyone around him. He was raised by his brother 00:04:45.459 --> 00:04:47.980 Edgar initially, and then, tragically, Edgar 00:04:47.980 --> 00:04:50.040 passed away too, and he was raised by an aunt. 00:04:50.259 --> 00:04:52.459 But through all of that immense instability, 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:56.040 football became his constant. So he takes all 00:04:56.040 --> 00:04:58.540 this trauma, and he just channels it into pure 00:04:58.540 --> 00:05:01.269 speed. He manages to get a scholarship to East 00:05:01.269 --> 00:05:04.850 Carolina University, which, again, for a 5 '6 00:05:04.850 --> 00:05:08.889 kid in the late 70s and early 80s, is a massive 00:05:08.889 --> 00:05:11.110 achievement on its own. Oh, he was an absolute 00:05:11.110 --> 00:05:13.569 outlier from day one. But he performed well enough 00:05:13.569 --> 00:05:15.910 in college to get a shot at the pros. And this 00:05:15.910 --> 00:05:17.889 is where the legend really starts to get its 00:05:17.889 --> 00:05:20.449 name, literally. I love this part of the story 00:05:20.449 --> 00:05:22.930 so much. So he graduates and he lands in the 00:05:22.930 --> 00:05:25.550 USFL, the United States Football League, playing 00:05:25.550 --> 00:05:29.329 for the Memphis Showboats in 1985. So he's actually 00:05:29.329 --> 00:05:31.389 back playing in his hometown. And he's surrounded 00:05:31.389 --> 00:05:33.810 by some serious talent there. But there's one 00:05:33.810 --> 00:05:36.509 teammate in particular who ends up changing history 00:05:36.509 --> 00:05:39.029 for him. Reggie White. The minister of defense 00:05:39.029 --> 00:05:41.569 himself. Future NFL Hall of Famer. Honestly, 00:05:41.689 --> 00:05:43.810 one of the most terrifying defensive ends to 00:05:43.810 --> 00:05:46.629 ever play the game of football. A literal giant 00:05:46.629 --> 00:05:48.930 of a man. So you have Reggie White, this absolute 00:05:48.930 --> 00:05:51.170 mountain, watching this tiny little rookie running 00:05:51.170 --> 00:05:54.060 around to practice. And he decides... Henry needs 00:05:54.060 --> 00:05:56.360 a nickname. Yeah, the source notes say White 00:05:56.360 --> 00:05:58.639 started calling him Gizmo because of his shifty 00:05:58.639 --> 00:06:01.939 nature on the field. Shifty. I want to dig into 00:06:01.939 --> 00:06:03.699 that specific word for a second because it comes 00:06:03.699 --> 00:06:05.480 up a lot in the descriptions of his play style 00:06:05.480 --> 00:06:08.660 across all the sources. What does shifty actually 00:06:08.660 --> 00:06:11.819 mean in a football context? It's very distinct 00:06:11.819 --> 00:06:14.040 from just being fast. There are plenty of guys 00:06:14.040 --> 00:06:15.699 who are fast in a straight line, right? Like 00:06:15.699 --> 00:06:18.639 track stars who put on football pads. Sure. Shifty 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:22.920 means lateral agility. It's the ability to stop. 00:06:23.310 --> 00:06:25.430 start and completely change direction without 00:06:25.430 --> 00:06:27.949 losing any momentum. It's hip fluidity. Trying 00:06:27.949 --> 00:06:30.089 to tackle a shifty player is like trying to catch 00:06:30.089 --> 00:06:32.069 a fly with chopsticks. Or like trying to catch 00:06:32.069 --> 00:06:33.850 a little gizmo, like a little gadget you just 00:06:33.850 --> 00:06:36.129 can't quite get a grip on. Exactly. The name 00:06:36.129 --> 00:06:38.949 implies mechanics, precision, unpredictability. 00:06:39.670 --> 00:06:41.589 Reggie White couldn't catch him in a phone booth, 00:06:41.689 --> 00:06:44.269 so he called him gizmo. And it just stuck forever. 00:06:44.370 --> 00:06:47.110 It's perfect branding. It really is. But the 00:06:47.110 --> 00:06:49.410 USFL didn't actually last long for him. He was 00:06:49.410 --> 00:06:52.139 released after just one single season. And this 00:06:52.139 --> 00:06:54.160 brings us to what I think is the pivotal moment 00:06:54.160 --> 00:06:57.019 of his career. The moment where geography and 00:06:57.019 --> 00:07:00.220 geometry completely collide to create a legend. 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:03.259 He heads north. To the Canadian Football League, 00:07:03.379 --> 00:07:06.620 the CFL. He signs with the Edmonton Eskimos in 00:07:06.620 --> 00:07:10.060 1986. Now for you listening, if you're a diehard 00:07:10.060 --> 00:07:12.879 NFL fan, or maybe you don't follow football at 00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:15.600 all. We really need to explain why this move 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:18.300 to Canada was so incredibly significant. Because 00:07:18.300 --> 00:07:21.259 the CFL isn't just the NFL played in a colder 00:07:21.259 --> 00:07:24.459 climate. The field itself is fundamentally different. 00:07:24.620 --> 00:07:26.699 It's drastically different. And that difference 00:07:26.699 --> 00:07:29.360 is the absolute key to the Gizmo Williams story. 00:07:29.579 --> 00:07:33.360 An NFL field is 100 yards long and 53 and a third 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:37.209 yards wide. A Canadian field is 110 yards long, 00:07:37.350 --> 00:07:40.870 but much more importantly, it is 65 yards wide. 00:07:41.029 --> 00:07:42.990 That is a massive amount of extra space. It's 00:07:42.990 --> 00:07:44.990 huge. It's almost like playing on a soccer pitch. 00:07:45.399 --> 00:07:47.740 It is a wide open plane out there. And there 00:07:47.740 --> 00:07:49.959 are 12 men on the field for each team instead 00:07:49.959 --> 00:07:53.079 of 11. The entire Canadian game is designed for 00:07:53.079 --> 00:07:55.699 movement, for passing, and for open field running. 00:07:55.939 --> 00:07:58.860 So you take a guy who is 5 '6", who naturally 00:07:58.860 --> 00:08:01.819 has this incredibly low center of gravity, whose 00:08:01.819 --> 00:08:04.699 absolute superpower is being shifty in open space. 00:08:04.939 --> 00:08:06.620 And you drop him onto a field that gives him 00:08:06.620 --> 00:08:08.680 almost 12 extra yards of width to work with. 00:08:08.860 --> 00:08:12.060 It was the perfect ecosystem for his specific 00:08:12.060 --> 00:08:15.660 genetic gifts. He arrives in Edmonton, and aside 00:08:15.660 --> 00:08:18.220 from a very brief half -season stint with the 00:08:18.220 --> 00:08:21.879 Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL in 1989, he spends 00:08:21.879 --> 00:08:25.560 the next 14 years absolutely terrorizing the 00:08:25.560 --> 00:08:28.360 CFL. Let's talk about the specific role he played. 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:30.959 Because he wasn't just lining up as a wide receiver. 00:08:31.100 --> 00:08:33.559 In fact, his legacy is primarily built on being 00:08:33.559 --> 00:08:36.080 a kick and punt returner. Which is, without a 00:08:36.080 --> 00:08:38.419 doubt, arguably the most dangerous job in all 00:08:38.419 --> 00:08:40.340 of professional sports. Why do you say that? 00:08:40.379 --> 00:08:42.159 For people who might not know the mechanics of 00:08:42.159 --> 00:08:43.950 a punt return. Well, think about the physics 00:08:43.950 --> 00:08:45.649 of the collision. If you are a running back, 00:08:45.789 --> 00:08:47.669 you take the hand off, you see the defense coming 00:08:47.669 --> 00:08:49.950 toward you, you lower your shoulder, you can 00:08:49.950 --> 00:08:52.830 brace for the impact. But as a punt returner, 00:08:52.850 --> 00:08:55.870 you are standing all alone 50 yards away from 00:08:55.870 --> 00:08:57.929 your nearest teammate. You are looking straight 00:08:57.929 --> 00:09:00.049 up at the sky, tracking a ball that's falling 00:09:00.049 --> 00:09:03.230 from the clouds. Meanwhile, 12 opponents are 00:09:03.230 --> 00:09:06.889 sprinting at you at full speed, completely unimpeded, 00:09:06.889 --> 00:09:10.399 with the sole intention of destroying you. The 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:12.460 very moment you touch that ball. You're a sitting 00:09:12.460 --> 00:09:15.639 duck. You are a stationary target in a high -speed 00:09:15.639 --> 00:09:18.980 car crash. To do that job just one time takes 00:09:18.980 --> 00:09:22.299 incredible courage. To do it for a whole season 00:09:22.299 --> 00:09:25.980 takes elite toughness. But to do it for 14 years 00:09:25.980 --> 00:09:31.200 at 5 '6 and 185 pounds, that is physically improbable. 00:09:31.299 --> 00:09:32.940 And he didn't just survive those hits, right? 00:09:33.320 --> 00:09:35.539 He made people miss entirely. The numbers in 00:09:35.539 --> 00:09:37.460 the source material are honestly staggering. 00:09:37.700 --> 00:09:40.440 He set more than 20 different CFL records. The 00:09:40.440 --> 00:09:43.960 sheer volume of his stats is just absurd. Let's 00:09:43.960 --> 00:09:46.000 look at the punt returns first. He is the all 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:49.500 -time leader in punt returns with 1 ,003. Over 00:09:49.500 --> 00:09:52.240 1 ,000 times he stood out there, looked up, caught 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:54.720 the ball. And ran directly into traffic. Exactly. 00:09:55.019 --> 00:09:58.820 And those returns resulted in 11 ,177 yards. 00:09:59.080 --> 00:10:00.840 But the number that really matters, the one that 00:10:00.840 --> 00:10:03.460 jumps off the page, is the touchdowns. 26 punt 00:10:03.460 --> 00:10:06.080 return touchdowns. 26. I really want to contextualize 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:08.679 that for you listening. In the NFL, the greatest 00:10:08.679 --> 00:10:10.700 returner of all time is widely considered to 00:10:10.700 --> 00:10:12.480 be Devin Hester. Oh, absolutely. First ballot 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:14.919 Hall of Famer. Devin Hester had 14 punt return 00:10:14.919 --> 00:10:17.340 touchdowns in his entire career. Gizmo Williams 00:10:17.340 --> 00:10:20.940 had 26. It's nearly double. It's a level of dominance 00:10:20.940 --> 00:10:23.820 that creates this massive gap between him and 00:10:23.820 --> 00:10:26.500 whoever is in second place. And that's just the 00:10:26.500 --> 00:10:29.379 punts. Right. Because he was a true all -purpose 00:10:29.379 --> 00:10:32.240 threat. He returned kickoffs too. He's the all 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:36.019 -time leader there as well. 335 returns for over 00:10:36.019 --> 00:10:39.659 7 ,000 yards. And he added two kickoff return 00:10:39.659 --> 00:10:42.779 touchdowns to the total tally. But there is one 00:10:42.779 --> 00:10:44.899 stat in the source material that I think is my 00:10:44.899 --> 00:10:48.259 absolute favorite thing we found. It lists three 00:10:48.259 --> 00:10:51.500 missed field goal returns for touchdowns. Yes. 00:10:51.620 --> 00:10:54.240 This is such a unique quirk of Canadian football, 00:10:54.419 --> 00:10:57.919 and Gizmo completely mastered it. Explain this 00:10:57.919 --> 00:11:00.700 to me and to the listener. Because in American 00:11:00.700 --> 00:11:02.940 football, if you miss a field goal, the play 00:11:02.940 --> 00:11:05.269 is dead. the other team just takes over at the 00:11:05.269 --> 00:11:07.730 spot. Correct. But in Canada, the end zones are 00:11:07.730 --> 00:11:10.649 20 yards deep. If a kicker misses the uprights, 00:11:10.649 --> 00:11:12.289 but the ball doesn't go out of bounds through 00:11:12.289 --> 00:11:14.570 the back of that massive end zone, the ball is 00:11:14.570 --> 00:11:17.149 still live. It's treated just like a punt. So 00:11:17.149 --> 00:11:19.250 the defending team can actually put a guy like 00:11:19.250 --> 00:11:22.850 Gizmo way back deep in the end zone just to catch 00:11:22.850 --> 00:11:26.000 the missed kick. Exactly. And here is why it 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:28.500 becomes so chaotic. The team that kicked the 00:11:28.500 --> 00:11:30.620 ball is usually made up of offensive linemen 00:11:30.620 --> 00:11:33.980 and a kicker. These are big, heavy, slow guys 00:11:33.980 --> 00:11:36.519 who are out there to block for a second, not 00:11:36.519 --> 00:11:39.120 to sprint downfield and cover a kick. They aren't 00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:41.299 expecting to play open field defense. No, not 00:11:41.299 --> 00:11:44.139 at all. So suddenly there is a missed kick. Gizmo 00:11:44.139 --> 00:11:46.620 catches it and he is running full speed against 00:11:46.620 --> 00:11:49.500 a bunch of 300 pound guys who are tired and trying 00:11:49.500 --> 00:11:52.899 to change direction. It is absolute mayhem. And 00:11:52.899 --> 00:11:55.029 Gizmo. was the undisputed king of it. Which leads 00:11:55.029 --> 00:11:57.470 us directly to his ultimate highlight reel moment. 00:11:57.789 --> 00:12:01.549 The 1987 Grey Cup. The championship game. Basically 00:12:01.549 --> 00:12:03.450 the Super Bowl of the North. Pressure's completely 00:12:03.450 --> 00:12:06.730 on. It's a tight game. And we get a missed field 00:12:06.730 --> 00:12:09.210 goal. And Gizmo catches it deep in the end zone. 00:12:09.230 --> 00:12:12.889 He takes off. 115 yards. 115 yards. That's longer 00:12:12.889 --> 00:12:15.889 than an entire NFL football field. He weaves 00:12:15.889 --> 00:12:18.379 through the entire kickoff coverage team. That 00:12:18.379 --> 00:12:21.039 single play really encapsulates everything about 00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:24.019 him. The vision to find the open lane, the shifty 00:12:24.019 --> 00:12:26.720 moves to completely break defenders' ankles, 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:30.019 and the pure sprinter stamina to go 115 yards 00:12:30.019 --> 00:12:32.580 and not get caught from behind by anybody. And 00:12:32.580 --> 00:12:35.539 when he finally got to the end zone, we have 00:12:35.539 --> 00:12:37.480 to talk about the trademark, the celebration. 00:12:38.059 --> 00:12:40.620 The flip. The flip. The source notes that he 00:12:40.620 --> 00:12:43.659 developed a trademark of doing a full backflip 00:12:43.659 --> 00:12:47.440 in the air after every single score. It completely 00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:49.840 became his brand. You have to remember, professional 00:12:49.840 --> 00:12:53.259 sports is entertainment at its core. The fans 00:12:53.259 --> 00:12:55.620 in Edmonton didn't just want the six points on 00:12:55.620 --> 00:12:58.039 the board. They wanted the show. And think about 00:12:58.039 --> 00:13:00.440 the pure athleticism required for that. You just 00:13:00.440 --> 00:13:03.379 sprinted 115 yards, dodging tackles. Your lungs 00:13:03.379 --> 00:13:05.240 are absolutely burning. You're wearing heavy 00:13:05.240 --> 00:13:07.919 pads and a helmet. And you somehow still have 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:10.360 the explosive power in your legs to stick a perfect 00:13:10.360 --> 00:13:13.600 backflip. It's wild. It was his way of punctuating 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:15.320 the sentence. It was like he was looking at the 00:13:15.320 --> 00:13:17.889 other team and saying, I'm not just better than 00:13:17.889 --> 00:13:20.629 you. I still have energy left over. It's just 00:13:20.629 --> 00:13:23.409 massive personality, right? He defied that no 00:13:23.409 --> 00:13:25.809 fun league mentality way before it was even a 00:13:25.809 --> 00:13:28.330 talking point in sports. But there's a really 00:13:28.330 --> 00:13:31.149 interesting note in the stats about his all -purpose 00:13:31.149 --> 00:13:33.870 yards that we need to touch on. Yeah, this is 00:13:33.870 --> 00:13:36.389 where the legacy gets truly historic. The source 00:13:36.389 --> 00:13:40.809 credits him with 23 ,927 all -purpose yards. 00:13:41.389 --> 00:13:44.610 That's nearly 24 ,000 yards. Let me just do some 00:13:44.610 --> 00:13:47.769 quick math in my head. That's about 13 .5 miles 00:13:47.769 --> 00:13:50.289 of physically moving a football down a field. 00:13:50.570 --> 00:13:53.350 It's an astronomical number. The source actually 00:13:53.350 --> 00:13:56.230 tags it as most in pro football history, though 00:13:56.230 --> 00:13:57.970 there is a little note next to it marking it 00:13:57.970 --> 00:13:59.929 as contradictory. Why would it be contradictory? 00:14:00.350 --> 00:14:02.210 Well, record keeping across different leagues, 00:14:02.289 --> 00:14:05.570 combining the NFL, CFL and USFL can get really 00:14:05.570 --> 00:14:08.389 messy. There's always a debate among statisticians 00:14:08.389 --> 00:14:10.389 about whether you count playoff yards or if it's 00:14:10.389 --> 00:14:12.330 fair to combine leagues at all. If you look at 00:14:12.330 --> 00:14:14.250 Jerry Rice in the NFL, his numbers are right 00:14:14.250 --> 00:14:16.690 up there, too. But honestly, the exact ranking 00:14:16.690 --> 00:14:18.970 doesn't matter nearly as much as the company 00:14:18.970 --> 00:14:21.889 he is keeping. Right. Whether he is officially 00:14:21.889 --> 00:14:24.649 number one or number two in the record books, 00:14:24.789 --> 00:14:28.029 we are comparing a 5 '6 return specialist to 00:14:28.029 --> 00:14:30.710 Jerry Rice, who is universally considered the 00:14:30.710 --> 00:14:33.370 greatest receiver who ever lived. Exactly. It 00:14:33.370 --> 00:14:35.750 proves that Gizmo wasn't just a gimmick or a 00:14:35.750 --> 00:14:38.090 special teams guy. He was an offensive engine. 00:14:38.309 --> 00:14:41.049 He changed field positions so dramatically every 00:14:41.049 --> 00:14:43.250 time he touched the ball that he made the entire 00:14:43.250 --> 00:14:46.029 offense's job easy. I want to circle back to 00:14:46.029 --> 00:14:48.929 something you mentioned earlier, the how. We 00:14:48.929 --> 00:14:50.809 talked about the intense danger of his position. 00:14:51.049 --> 00:14:53.389 He played for the Eskimos until the year 2000. 00:14:53.710 --> 00:14:56.429 He was born in 1962. So he was out there fielding 00:14:56.429 --> 00:14:58.590 punts at age 38. That shouldn't be physically 00:14:58.590 --> 00:15:01.090 possible. Speed positions are strictly a young 00:15:01.090 --> 00:15:04.169 man's game. Your legs go, your knees go. Usually 00:15:04.169 --> 00:15:07.009 by age 30, a returner is completely washed up. 00:15:07.370 --> 00:15:10.629 How did he last 14 seasons in the CFL? I think 00:15:10.629 --> 00:15:12.669 it really comes down to two main things. One 00:15:12.669 --> 00:15:15.649 is just elite conditioning. The source mentions 00:15:15.649 --> 00:15:18.230 that he worked as a motivational speaker later 00:15:18.230 --> 00:15:20.990 in life and that extreme discipline was a huge 00:15:20.990 --> 00:15:23.830 part of his core message. He must have been hyper 00:15:23.830 --> 00:15:26.549 vigilant about taking care of his body, especially 00:15:26.549 --> 00:15:28.970 given his family history with MS. Right. Treating 00:15:28.970 --> 00:15:31.350 his body like an absolute temple because he knew 00:15:31.350 --> 00:15:33.570 better than anyone how fragile health could be. 00:15:33.889 --> 00:15:36.629 Exactly. But the second thing is pure technique. 00:15:36.889 --> 00:15:39.210 We talked about him being small as a disadvantage. 00:15:39.870 --> 00:15:42.409 Well, being small is actually a defensive mechanism, 00:15:42.549 --> 00:15:44.590 if you know how to use it right. He presented 00:15:44.590 --> 00:15:47.629 a very, very small target to tacklers. You can't 00:15:47.629 --> 00:15:50.190 hit what you can't find. Right. Big defenders 00:15:50.190 --> 00:15:52.850 naturally play high. Gizmo played incredibly 00:15:52.850 --> 00:15:54.929 low to the ground. He could duck right under 00:15:54.929 --> 00:15:57.690 clotheslines. He could spin off glancing blows 00:15:57.690 --> 00:16:00.490 instead of taking them square. He knew how to 00:16:00.490 --> 00:16:03.259 avoid the big hit. It's a business decision out 00:16:03.259 --> 00:16:05.759 there. If you want to play until you're 38, you 00:16:05.759 --> 00:16:08.259 cannot take head -on collisions with linebackers. 00:16:08.440 --> 00:16:11.360 So he protected the asset. And the accolades 00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:13.820 really speak for themselves. Two -time Grey Cup 00:16:13.820 --> 00:16:17.860 champion in 1987 and 1993. He was inducted into 00:16:17.860 --> 00:16:21.299 the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2006, actually 00:16:21.299 --> 00:16:23.460 in the same class as his teammate Matt Dunagan. 00:16:23.700 --> 00:16:26.039 And the Edmonton Eskimos, who are now known as 00:16:26.039 --> 00:16:28.580 the Edmonton Elks, put his number two jersey 00:16:28.580 --> 00:16:30.549 up on their wall of honor. But I think the most 00:16:30.549 --> 00:16:32.830 telling accolade, the one that really cements 00:16:32.830 --> 00:16:35.049 his overall status in the sport, is the ranking 00:16:35.049 --> 00:16:38.830 from TSM. The sports network up in Canada ranked 00:16:38.830 --> 00:16:42.090 the top 50 players of the league's modern era. 00:16:42.230 --> 00:16:44.230 And where did Gizmo land on that list? Number 00:16:44.230 --> 00:16:48.009 25. Top 25. That is incredibly elite company. 00:16:48.480 --> 00:16:51.039 Think about the thousands and thousands of players 00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:53.000 who passed through that league over the decades. 00:16:53.220 --> 00:16:55.899 Star quarterbacks, absolute legends of the game. 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:58.740 For a return specialist, a guy who comes on the 00:16:58.740 --> 00:17:01.740 field for maybe 10 plays a game, tops to be ranked 00:17:01.740 --> 00:17:04.259 that high, it shows that he impacted the game 00:17:04.259 --> 00:17:06.319 just as much as a franchise starting quarterback. 00:17:06.599 --> 00:17:08.680 He literally changed the geometry of the game. 00:17:09.180 --> 00:17:11.440 Opposing coaches had to spend their entire week 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:14.420 game planning specifically for him. Just repeating, 00:17:14.579 --> 00:17:17.180 do not kick it to Gizmo. And half the time their 00:17:17.180 --> 00:17:19.000 punters were so terrified of him that they'd 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:21.259 shank the kick out of bounds anyway. The gizmo 00:17:21.259 --> 00:17:25.079 effect was very, very real. So the career eventually 00:17:25.079 --> 00:17:28.599 ends. The records are all set. What does a man 00:17:28.599 --> 00:17:32.220 like that do next? The source gives us a little 00:17:32.220 --> 00:17:35.119 glimpse into his post -football life, and it 00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:37.259 feels very, very consistent with his character. 00:17:37.460 --> 00:17:39.500 He didn't just disappear into retirement. He 00:17:39.500 --> 00:17:41.839 became a motivational speaker. Which makes total 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:43.759 sense. It really does. I mean, think about the 00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:46.200 story we just laid out. If anyone on Earth has 00:17:46.200 --> 00:17:48.680 the authority to speak to an audience about overcoming 00:17:48.680 --> 00:17:52.220 obstacles, it's Henry Williams. Gizmo ran over 00:17:52.220 --> 00:17:54.480 obstacles. That's actually a direct headline 00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:56.519 referenced in the source notes. It's not just 00:17:56.519 --> 00:17:59.299 that generic. Work hard and you'll succeed. Corporate 00:17:59.299 --> 00:18:02.579 speech is, I lost my parents, I lost seven siblings, 00:18:02.740 --> 00:18:05.160 I was told my whole life I was too small, and 00:18:05.160 --> 00:18:07.559 I still ended up in the Hall of Fame. That is 00:18:07.559 --> 00:18:10.299 a profoundly powerful message for anyone to hear, 00:18:10.380 --> 00:18:12.359 whether you're a corporate executive or a high 00:18:12.359 --> 00:18:14.680 school student. And speaking of students, he 00:18:14.680 --> 00:18:17.019 stayed deeply involved in the game at the grassroots 00:18:17.019 --> 00:18:20.519 level. As of 2017, the sources list him as a 00:18:20.519 --> 00:18:22.579 coach for the Jasper Place high school senior 00:18:22.579 --> 00:18:25.150 football team. I just love that mental image. 00:18:25.369 --> 00:18:27.650 Can you imagine being a 16 -year -old kid in 00:18:27.650 --> 00:18:29.569 Edmonton, you show up for football practice, 00:18:29.910 --> 00:18:32.930 and your special teams coach is Gizmo Williams? 00:18:33.230 --> 00:18:36.130 It would be incredible. Okay, kids, gather round. 00:18:36.490 --> 00:18:38.890 Today we're learning how to catch a punt in a 00:18:38.890 --> 00:18:41.789 blinding blizzard and then immediately do a backflip. 00:18:41.829 --> 00:18:43.690 I'm sure the local school board might have some 00:18:43.690 --> 00:18:46.289 slight safety concerns about the backflip part 00:18:46.289 --> 00:18:48.269 of the curriculum. Probably, but the knowledge 00:18:48.269 --> 00:18:51.109 transfer there, teaching that... shiftiness, 00:18:51.170 --> 00:18:53.910 that open field vision, that is invaluable. He's 00:18:53.910 --> 00:18:56.289 passing down a true craft to the next generation. 00:18:56.609 --> 00:18:59.069 So let's bring this all together. We've looked 00:18:59.069 --> 00:19:01.609 at the tragedy, the impossible stats, the mechanics 00:19:01.609 --> 00:19:04.730 of his play, and his lasting legacy. When you 00:19:04.730 --> 00:19:07.109 step back and look at the complete story of Gizmo 00:19:07.109 --> 00:19:10.619 Williams, what is the big takeaway for you? For 00:19:10.619 --> 00:19:12.880 me, it's a profound lesson about that prototype 00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:14.539 we talked about right at the beginning of the 00:19:14.539 --> 00:19:17.220 deep dive. We spend so much time in sports and 00:19:17.220 --> 00:19:19.220 in life honestly trying to perfectly measure 00:19:19.220 --> 00:19:22.019 potential. We measure height. We measure weight, 00:19:22.160 --> 00:19:25.400 sprint times, IQ scores. We desperately want 00:19:25.400 --> 00:19:28.019 to quantify greatness. We want a simple mathematical 00:19:28.019 --> 00:19:31.460 formula. Right. We want a guarantee. But Gizmo 00:19:31.460 --> 00:19:33.579 Williams proves that the most important variables 00:19:33.579 --> 00:19:37.000 are the ones you simply cannot measure. You cannot 00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:39.380 measure the desperation of a kid who lost his 00:19:39.380 --> 00:19:41.819 family. You can't measure the pure heart it takes 00:19:41.819 --> 00:19:44.140 to stand under a punt with 12 guys trying to 00:19:44.140 --> 00:19:46.359 take your head off. And you can't measure the 00:19:46.359 --> 00:19:49.859 sheer charisma that makes an entire stadium believe 00:19:49.859 --> 00:19:52.299 something magic is about to happen. He proves 00:19:52.299 --> 00:19:54.880 that the outlier is often way more dangerous 00:19:54.880 --> 00:19:57.670 than the prototype. Precisely. He didn't fit 00:19:57.670 --> 00:20:00.230 the mold, so he broke it entirely. And then he 00:20:00.230 --> 00:20:02.470 did a backflip right over the pieces. I absolutely 00:20:02.470 --> 00:20:04.250 love that. And I think there's a real lesson 00:20:04.250 --> 00:20:06.390 there for you listening. Maybe you don't fit 00:20:06.390 --> 00:20:08.769 the standard mold for whatever it is you're trying 00:20:08.769 --> 00:20:10.450 to achieve right now. Yeah. Maybe you're the 00:20:10.450 --> 00:20:13.069 wrong size or you have the wrong background or 00:20:13.069 --> 00:20:15.789 you don't have the typical resume. Gizmo Williams 00:20:15.789 --> 00:20:18.210 is the living proof that if you lean hard into 00:20:18.210 --> 00:20:20.509 what makes you different, if you use your own 00:20:20.509 --> 00:20:23.210 shiftiness, you can completely dominate the field 00:20:23.210 --> 00:20:26.240 anyway. But it does leave me with one final thought. 00:20:26.339 --> 00:20:28.480 What's that? Well, if the guy with the most all 00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:30.539 -purpose yards in the history of pro football 00:20:30.539 --> 00:20:33.119 was consistently the smallest man on the field, 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:36.859 doesn't it suggest that maybe across the board 00:20:36.859 --> 00:20:40.240 we are constantly measuring human potential using 00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:42.779 the completely wrong metrics? Like, what other 00:20:42.779 --> 00:20:45.180 hidden giants are we completely overlooking just 00:20:45.180 --> 00:20:47.200 because they don't pass an initial eye test? 00:20:47.690 --> 00:20:49.930 That's a really fascinating question to sit with. 00:20:50.109 --> 00:20:52.470 It is. So, hey, I have a little homework assignment 00:20:52.470 --> 00:20:55.250 for you. If you need a smile today, go online 00:20:55.250 --> 00:20:58.809 and search for Gizmo Williams 1987 Grey Cup. 00:20:59.210 --> 00:21:02.490 Watch the run. Watch the 115 yards. Watch the 00:21:02.490 --> 00:21:06.450 flip. It is pure, unfiltered sports joy. It really 00:21:06.450 --> 00:21:08.730 is. It's honestly impossible not to smile watching 00:21:08.730 --> 00:21:10.930 him play. A huge thank you to everyone for listening 00:21:10.930 --> 00:21:13.829 to this deep dive into the life of a true, undeniable 00:21:13.829 --> 00:21:15.970 legend. We hope you walked away with a little 00:21:15.970 --> 00:21:17.990 more appreciation for the small guys who play 00:21:17.990 --> 00:21:19.990 big. Always a pleasure to be here. We'll catch 00:21:19.990 --> 00:21:22.349 you on the next deep dive. Keep learning. Goodbye, 00:21:22.430 --> 00:21:22.690 everyone.