Friday, May 25, 2018

George Williams and his St. Augustine’s Falcons chase a 40th NCAA track title this weekend

RALEIGH, North Carolina -- St. Augustine’s University’s highly decorated track and field coach might well be King T’Challa of his sport.

Now in his mid-70s, George Williams is in his 47th year at St. Augustine’s, including 41 as its track coach, and is one of the favorites again to lead his teams to titles when the Division II Outdoor National Championships get underway Thursday at Johnson C. Smith University’s Irwin Belk Complex in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Williams and his fourth-ranked women and eighth-ranked men are performing this season with a new outlook, a new long-term goal and a new theme — the latter adopted after they went to see the box-office smash Black Panther.

“Our theme,” Williams said, “one person holds their hand out and we tap it three times, then cross our arms,” in the manner of Egyptian pharaohs and West African sculptures.

“We’re forever,” Williams said, referencing the Wakanda salute. “We started doing that this year after we watched the Black Panther.”

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