Walt Williams (American football)

Walter Williams (born July 10, 1954 in Bedford Hills, New York) is a former professional American football cornerback in the National Football League and restaurateur.

Born in the South Bronx, N.Y., Williams (and his five siblings) became wards of the state at age 7. He lived in two children’s shelters, spending most of his time at one in Westchester County, learning culinary arts and playing football.

After high school, he started hitchhiking to California but ended up in New Mexico. He attended New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, where he played football. He was a No. 1 draft pick for the Detroit Lions in the 1970s. He moved on to the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears, playing a total of eight years.

He played seven seasons for the Detroit Lions, the Minnesota Vikings, and the Chicago Bears. After retiring from football in the early 1980s, Williams started a real estate development company in New Mexico. Then the savings and loan crisis wiped out about 90 percent of his holdings, he said. He moved to Dallas, starting Sweet Georgia Brown in a boarded-up former Burger King on Ledbetter Drive because he thought a restaurant would provide steady cash flow. The restaurant has grown from eight employees to 20 today.