Researching Jerry Williams

From 2002 to 2005, Williams played in the British Basketball League. He was named Player of the Year in 2004, after a season in which he averaged 23.3 points per game for the Scottish Rocks. Jerry's nickname is "Mouse."

He is the brother of NFL superstar Rashean Mathis of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Prior to being elected, Williams served as a Chanute City Commissioner from 1986-1992 and a Neosho County Commissioner from 1992-1997. He has undergraduate and graduate degrees in education, along with a Master of Science in Gerontology. Williams has worked in a number of fields, including farming and ranching, teaching, and hospital administration.

Married to wife Kathy for over 40 years, they have five children and eight grandchildren.

His radio career spanned more than 50 years, starting in 1946 at WCYB in Bristol, Virginia (near the Tennessee border), and followed by stints at WIBG in Philadelphia, WMEX in Boston and WBBM in Chicago. In 1968, he returned to Boston on WBZ for eight years. In 1976 he was on WMCA in New York, then back to Philadelphia on WWDB, where he became the first FM radio talk host. He came back to Boston once again in 1981, on WRKO, where he remained until 1998. From 2002 to 2003, he hosted a program on WROL while fighting a series of illnesses.

He also hosted television talk shows on WBZ-TV (1968–1969), WFXT (1987–1990), and WHLL (1990).

Jerry Williams was influential in the movement to remove Nixon from office of president.Williams was described as a liberal and a populist. He was a critic of the state and federal liberal political establishment and media. Williams carried out frequent radio crusades, including ones to repeal Massachusetts' mandatory seat belt law and against a proposed prison in New Braintree, Massachusetts. He was a critic of Governor Michael Dukakis. A Christmas tradition on his radio program was a reading of Dylan Thomas' A Child's Christmas in Wales. He traditionally signed off with "Good Night, Good Luck, Good Morning, Good Night, Tee". Tee was his wife Therese.

Williams founded the National Association of Radio Talk Show Hosts. He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1996. Howie Carr cited him as an influence.

Williams died on April 29, 2003 in Boston.

In 2008, Burning Up The Air, a biography by former producers Steve Elman and Alan Tolz, was published by Commonwealth Editions (acquired by Applewood Books in 2010).

In his autobiography, Clapton recalled meeting Williams for the first time after his record label, Warner Bros. Records, sent him demos of "Forever Man," "See What Love Can Do" and "Something's Happening" as suggestions for an upcoming album, which turned out to be Behind the Sun in 1985. Clapton recalled that he "loved the way [Williams] sang." Music author Marc Roberty claims that Williams' writing "seemed to suit Eric's vocals perfectly."

Williams was born in 1948 in Dallas, Texas. He died at age 57 from kidney and liver failure on his yacht on November 25, 2005 in St. Maarten, after suffering from liver cancer. At the time of his death he was insolvent due to a divorce settlement and a judgment related to litigation over the copyrights to several of the songs he wrote.