![\"Lamanzer](\"https:\/\/tawatson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/lamanzer-2.jpg\")
<\/a> Coach Lamanzer Williams on the <\/a> Coach Lamanzer Williams on the Lucy Ann Lance Show<\/a>[\/caption]\r\n\r\nGrowing up a middle child among a large brood whose single parent worked three jobs to support them impressed Lamanzer Williams with the value of hard work and faith. \u201cMom never even had the opportunity to graduate from high school. We grew up in a small three-bedroom apartment; that also forced you to be close, though, so you tended to learn a little more about yourself along the way.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cMaking ends meet was always a challenge,\u201d recalls Lamanzer, \u201cSometimes, Mom would cry with sadness because we didn't have enough food for everybody... it was hard to get clothes, too. At times, our church, the government and close friends helped us out, and we were grateful, but there was seldom enough for our big family.\u201d\r\n\r\nLike his brothers and sisters, Lamanzer knew he wanted a better life, and found strength in the example set by his hard-working mother and oldest brother, Dan, who tried to help the family as much as possible, even while still in high school himself. In fact, remarked Lamanzer,\r\n![\"Denver](\"https:\/\/tawatson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/dan-williams-card-1-215x300.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cDan didn't even take up football until grade 11 because he was always focused on contributing to the family, then earned a scholarship for college. He was like a freak of nature to me... I was always trying to live up to how good my brother was\u2026 National Honor Society and a football scholarship \u2013 Dan worked hard all the time.\u201d<\/blockquote>\r\nJust like mom.\r\n\r\nDespite her heavy work schedule, Mildred Thomas took her children to church, recalls Lamanzer, \u201ctwo, three times a week \u2013 it seemed like a lot then. As an adult, though, I'm grateful for that because it's how she gathered strength for us\" \u2013 a strength that could endure to see her children through challenge and hardship.\r\n\r\nThe consistency of his mother's example, coupled with athleticism, helped Lamanzer develop into \u201ca confident kid, with sports as something to challenge me.\u201d\r\n\r\n \r\n![\"Lamanzer](\"https:\/\/tawatson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Lamanzer-3-1-1024x700.jpg\")
<\/a> Lamanzer Williams at Minnesota[\/caption]\r\n\r\nEnding a 20-year All-American drought for the Golden Gophers and setting the University of Minnesota career sack record as a defensive end in 1997 were not yet within\u00a0\u00a0 Lamanzer's sights when defensive tackle Dan Williams went on from Toledo as a first-round draft pick for the Broncos in 1993, playing four years each for Denver, then Kansas City.\r\n\r\nDan was \u201cmentoring me up and was always there, like a rock, for me,\u201d says Lamanzer with admiration, his voice filling with love for his family. Dan was also the one to later \u201cpoint out how remarkable it was that Jim Wacker, Marc Dove and Buddy Wyatt of the Golden Gophers all showed up to meet me and our mother and, though he'd wanted a bigger school for me, he'd seen the heart of Minnesota in our living room that day.\u201d\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_518\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"260\"]![\"Lamanzer](\"https:\/\/tawatson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/coach-williams.jpg\")
<\/a> Lamanzer Williams coaching high school football[\/caption]\r\n\r\nLamanzer's own heart expanded, too, when, he admits, \u201cI was afraid to fly to take this opportunity, so Buddy Wyatt accompanied me.\u201d\u00a0 The bar was long set high for Lamanzer who was able to reach for it because of Dan's example \u2013 the brothers had learned to trust that natural talent would pay off with consistency and hard work.\r\n\r\nThe matriarch of the family had set that invisible, yet very real, bar high to begin with, working multiple jobs while consciously raising a passel of kids, yet never lending humble beginnings as a crutch to her children,\r\n\r\n\u201cMom held us to high standards of behavior, academics, manners, sports... everything. Faith and discipline were important \u2013 you weren't gonna give up!\u201d\r\n![\"Lamanzer](\"https:\/\/tawatson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/lamanzer-4-300x224.jpeg\")
<\/a> Coach Lamanzer Williams[\/caption]\r\n\r\n\u201cI was still developing as a player, recalls Lamanzer, \u201cMinnesota had a defensive coordinator that had me play outside linebacker rather than passing; that position didn't suit me \u2013 we had tried a lot of defenses and I hadn't found my niche. Coach Wacker encouraged me to stay and earn my degree and said he'd counsel the next coaching staff on how to better use me.\u201d\r\n\r\nTrue to his word, \u201cthat helped a lot \u2013 the late Jim Wacker was a great coach.\u201d Lamanzer saw, again, that working hard was the best way to score high on personal goals \u2013 a mindset that took him all the way to the NFL, playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars, then the Miami Dolphins.\r\n![\"Grizzly](\"https:\/\/tawatson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Lamanzer-1-300x225.jpg\")
<\/a> Coach Lamanzer Williams[\/caption]\r\n\r\nA newly 'free agent', Coach Williams recently resigned from the Ypsilanti School District near Ann Arbor, sacking an increasingly ill-fitting administrative role because, \u201cthe superintendent who had hired me was gone, my role was shifting... I felt it was time to go,\u201d emphatically adding,\r\n