Before Herman “Pop” Williams was the head coach of the Eastside boys basketball team, he grew up and coached at the Southeast Boys Club.

A lot of players on his team came from the Southeast Boys Club.

Now in his 28th season as head coach at EHS, and after serving the school for nearly 40 years, he was honored this past Friday night prior to the Rams’ game against city rival Buchholz.

His hard work, dedication, school pride and many years of wisdom have made a difference in the lives of many young people and positively impacted the EHS community.

Williams had the gymnasium named after him and a “Herman ‘Pop’ Williams Gymnasium” banner now hangs prominently behind the team benches.

“It means a lot to me to know that the time that I’ve put into Eastside has been rewarded,” he said. “Man, I had a lot of great times. I think about the wins that I had and the teams that we had. I had some great athletes. I just cherish the time.”

Williams earned his 500th win on Feb. 7, 2019, and also led the Rams to their first and only boys basketball state title in 2006.

Among the special guests to speak during the ceremony on Friday was Tim Shankle, a senior point guard on that Class 5A state championship team.

“A lot of tough love as far as pushing me past the limits of where I thought I could go,” Shankle said of his former head coach. “When you mention Eastside in any type of fashion, Pop is the first thing that comes to mind. The culture and the style of basketball of what he built here is something that is definitely going to live on forever. A lot of my coaching style reverts back to Coach Williams, Coach (Kent) Johnson…they really molded us into young men and were mentors for us.”

The banner season in 2006 included a 65-46 win against Lake Howell (Winter Park) in the 5A state semifinals, followed by a 58-47 win against Chamberlain (Tampa) in the state title game.

“I think it was one of the best runs that you’ll see as far as high school basketball because we had to go up against two-time Mr. Basketball Nick Calathes [UF signee], which I think was averaging around 27 points, Chandler Parsons [UF signee], which is a 10-year plus vet, they [Lake Howell] had a lot of players that were D-I, so for us to go and win and put the clock on them, it was really a testament as far as the style of ball that we played, not only the physical style of ball but being able to play the X and O’s style of ball…teams have the athletic ability but they don’t have the discipline, and that’s one of the things that you see as far as what Pop did. He instilled that discipline.”

Ron Ray, a 2004 graduate of EHS, is in his 10th year coaching with Pop. As a junior, he played in the Class 4A state semifinals under Williams.

“I got the young version of Pop,” said Ray, who was pulled up from the JV team his freshman year and played over three seasons for him. “One thing that I really liked about Pop was that he instilled discipline. He taught you more about life and when I did graduate, I got more of a sense of being a young man from all of our talks with Pop…and he got me into coaching too. He’s the reason I got into coaching [right out of high school]. I just like the way he coached and to this day, they call me Pop, Jr. Everything he taught me I try to give back to the kids as well, kind of in my own way but with his fundamentals and his foundation.”

But beyond the wins and losses, Williams has served as a father figure at times for kids who come from single-family homes.

“You’ve got to show kids love,” said Williams. “Kids need somebody that they can depend on and lean their shoulders on when things are not going right in their personal life at home, so I’ve always been that type of coach that, I’m going to be hard on them, and some situations that I can’t control, but they know that they can come talk to me.”

Lee Clark was a sophomore on Williams’ first varsity team in 1996-97, a year after Randall Leath coached the team.

“Pop’s been more than a coach to many of us, just a mentor,” said Clark, who played center for the Rams. “Still to this day when I need advice, I’ll call or text him. He’s always true to what he says. He’s going to tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. That’s something that goes far more than just being on a basketball court.”

Clark, who is 43 years old now, said he still gets a “Happy Father’s Day” or an “I love you” text from Pop.

That first team upset Santa Fe (Alachua) in the district tournament. The Raiders were led by Leroy Williams, who is in his fourth year as principal at EHS.

“This is a huge night for the community, it’s huge for Coach Pop,” Leroy Williams said prior to the ceremony on Friday night. “He’s a living legacy. He’s one who bleeds orange and green, is dedicated, committed, mentor, he does it all, and to use the game of basketball to have an impact on the individual lives of our students is just miraculous. This is much needed for our community. Many times people will pass away and they don’t get the roses while they’re here, so to name the gym after him is very emotional but very inspirational because he is someone that deserves it all.”

Former Buchholz boys basketball coach Bob Horodyski (1993-2020), who coached against “Pop” over 50 times during his career, was also in attendance.

“We were always very competitive, obviously Buchholz and Eastside,” he said. “Back in the earlier years, boy we had some talent. I remember my first year they beat the crap out of us. Mike Kirkland was the head coach and Pop was an assistant, but we had some great games over the years. I have a ton of respect for anybody that can stay at one school this long and help the kids and do what he’s done for the Eastside community. It’s well deserved.”

Current EHS Athletics Director Derek Gonsoulin played against him at Buchholz when “Pop” was an assistant at Eastside in the early 90s.

“When you have someone who does such a great job of leading the kids beyond the wins and losses, he is irreplaceable when it comes to what he means and what he’s been as a leader,” Gonsoulin said. “You lead by example, and he does an amazing job of that, and he backs up everything that he says.”

Williams has won hundreds of games at Eastside, but his impact goes beyond the victories on the court.

“I was just doing a video for the National High School Basketball Association and one of the people that I talked to was Coach (Mike) Krzyzewski and he told me this a long time ago, ‘Don’t think that what you do at the high school level is any less important to them than what I’m doing at Duke. In fact you’re probably more impactful to these kids than I am,’ and that always stayed with me,” Horodyski said. “Very few guys get the chance to play at the next level so what are you going to teach these kids above and beyond basketball and I think Pop has done a great job doing that.”