Saturday, October 17, 2026
For Justin S. Williams, football was never just about the jersey. It was about the lessons learned on the field, the people who shaped him and the personal struggles that continued long after the final whistle.
Williams brought those themes to the Baldwin Public Library on Oct. 7 to discuss his memoir, “More Than the Jersey.” The book explores his experiences playing football at Penn State University under coach Joe Paterno in the 1990s.
Published in May by Highlander Press, the book examines the pressures of big-time college football while offering a personal account of family, identity, race, education and resilience.
Williams, a 1991 Uniondale High School graduate who now teaches English at his alma matter, played football at Penn State from 1991 to 1995 on a full scholarship. He was a member of the Nittany Lions’ undefeated 1994 team, which captured the Big Ten championship.
But his story, he explained, extended far beyond athletic achievements. “Failure is a step towards success, and there is no true success without failure,” Williams told the audience, emphasizing the importance of learning from disappointment.
A longtime English teacher at Uniondale High School, Williams used the discussion to encourage aspiring writers and young people to recognize the value of their experiences, even when they include regret or hardship.
He began writing his memoir in February 2012, shortly after Paterno was fired by Penn State amid the fallout from the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal. Sandusky, a former assistant coach at Penn State, was convicted of multiple child sexual abuse offenses in November 2011.
Williams said that publishers were reluctant to consider his manuscript because of its controversial subject matter. He eventually set the project aside while pursuing a doctorate in Education Leadership & Policy Studies at Hofstra University.
About a decade later, Williams connected with Deborah Kevin, the founder and chief inspiration officer of Highland Press, based in Baltimore, Maryland, who saw potential in the manuscript and encouraged him to finish it. Williams resumed writing in August 2025, and completed the book in January.
Williams’s original working title was “My Penn State Football Story: Playing for Joe Paterno.” But Kevin recognized that the manuscript explored more than the sport itself. The memoir examines the experiences of Black athletes navigating predominantly white environments, and the personal sacrifices required to compete at the highest levels of college football.
Paterno occupies a central place in the story. Williams described the legendary coach as a demanding mentor who helped shape his understanding of leadership, accountability and the importance of supporting student-athletes beyond the playing field.
“My book provides an eyewitness account of what made Joe Paterno a very special leader of men,” Williams said. “One of the reasons why I, and so many of his African American players in particular, love him is because, back in the 1960s, he was one of the first major college football coaches that started recruiting African American players.”
Williams recalled how Black players at Penn State struggled to find familiar grooming products and hair care services in State College, Pa. Paterno, Williams said, listened when players raised concerns and worked to establish support systems that helped them adjust to campus life.
“He cared about those sorts of things,” Williams said, “and he understood why he needed to care, and he cared in a really authentic, genuine way. It’s not a coincidence that he becomes one of the first college football coaches to start seriously recruiting black players.”
Williams also discussed the complicated legacy of Paterno, whose 46-year tenure as head coach ended in 2011. Penn State fired him amid questions about the university’s handling of the allegations against Sandusky, but Paterno was never charged with a crime. Williams acknowledged that Paterno made both good and bad decisions throughout his career.
During Williams’s final two years at Penn State, his mother was seriously ill. He struggled to balance his family circumstances with the demands of football and eventually lost his starting slot as a wide receiver. After his mother’s death, he took on additional responsibilities, helping to pay household bills and care for his younger sister.
Although Williams continued to play football, he didn’t earn a letter during the Nittany Lions’ undefeated 1994 season. It took him years to speak openly about that disappointment, he recounted, but he eventually came to understand that acknowledging failure was essential to moving forward.
His mother’s advice also remained with him. “My mom sent me to college with 10 laminated expressions that she wanted me to remember, and I only remember one of them because it gave me the hardest time,” Williams said. “It was, ‘Pride is your most useless asset.’ When you need help, you gotta ask for help. If you let pride get in the way, it can hurt you, even though you need pride to be a successful person.”
After graduating from Penn State in 1995, Williams returned to Uniondale, where he began a teaching career that has spanned nearly three decades. He later earned two additional graduate credentials as well as the doctorate from Hofstra.
He wrote the memoir, he said, partly to preserve his family’s history for future generations. During a visit with his 76-year-old father earlier this year, Williams read parts of the book aloud to him, which was emotional for both men.
Williams hopes the book reaches students who may never become accomplished athletes. Success, he said, can take many forms, and a person’s worth shouldn’t depend on whether a sports career unfolds as expected.
“The subject is really important,” Williams said. “I really wanted to do the book for this area, where I grew up, and to try to get young people in this area, especially our young brothers, right, to see more of themselves than the world sees them.”
Williams is scheduled to discuss his book at a new-author showcase on Sunday at the Jericho Public Library, at 1 Merry Lane in Jericho, at 1:30 p.m. He will be among eight featured authors at the event.
