The Opinion-Tribune's Female Athlete of the Year: Macy Williams, Fremont-Mills
Macy Williams knows exactly when her competitive fire was lit.
The Fremont-Mills graduate was a laid-back second grader playing in an Optimist basketball tournament. Her team, used to winning the tournament year in and year out, finished a disappointing third place.
“I played so bad,” Macy said. “I cried all day.”
And that’s when her mother, Jennifer, stepped in.
“You can’t win everything so there’s two things you can do: quit or decide to get better,” Macy said her mother told her.
Williams chose the latter of her mother’s choices and the rest, they say, is history. The moment was a turning point in her young athletic career.
“After that, she went on a mission,” said Rod Williams, Macy’s father and head basketball coach at Fremont-Mills. “I don’t think she ever put up that third place medal. I think it’s still under her bed. From then on, she was always a 110-percent in.”
Macy led her team to a championship in the Optimist tournament the following year. A decade later, Macy leaves Fremont-Mills as the Knights’ basketball all-time leader in points, assists, steals and three pointers and The Opinion-Tribune’s 2014-2015 Female Athlete of the Year.
As the youngest in an athletic family, Macy spent many hours in gymnasiums both as a spectator and a fan. Older brother Nick was a standout football and basketball player at Fremont-Mills and Chelsey was The Opinion-Tribune’s 2004-2005 Female Athlete of the Years.
“She grew up pretty much in the gym as we traveled around,” Rod said of Macy.
Rod, who went on to coach Macy all four years at Fremont-Mills before stepping down after this season, wasn’t sure what to make of his youngest daughter when she first took up sports. All of his children were competitive and athletic he said, but Macy was more laid back than her older siblings.
“I thought I’d have to prepare myself for her maybe being a cheerleader or something different than we were used to,” Rod said. “But that Optimist tournament, she played okay but didn’t really have that competitive spirit. They got third place and all our kids were used to winning that tournament. She cried all day. She took off from there.”
Macy was also a standout volleyball player who was second on the Knights the past two season in kills and digs. She also ran the 800-meters and several relays for the Knight track team. While she was athletic enough to excel in several sports, basketball has always been Macy’s passion. She was born into the sport, she likes to say.
“We all (my brothers and sisters) played a lot of sports but basketball was our sport,” Macy said. “Chelsey, I idolized her and wanted to do everything like her. I would follow her everywhere and in her footsteps. Even when I was playing other sports, I still played basketball and worked on my game. Even though my heart and mind were with the other sports, basketball was still there.
“But I always gave it my all and I was too competitive not to love every sport I was in.”
But basketball has always had a special pull.
Her dedication to roundball prevented her from pursuing softball, a sport she played as a youngster and enjoyed, Rod said. Most summers she played 30 to 40 games on the AAU circuit, first with the Shooting Stars then the All-Iowa Attack and most recently, The Express, an AAU team comprised of southwest Iowa’s top players.
The exposure Macy garnered on the circuit raised her profile and offered a host of college playing opportunities. After narrowing her list to six schools in the summer before her senior year, Macy committed to Northwest Missouri State. The commitment took a lot of pressure off the senior for her final year in a Knights’ uniform.
“The junior year is probably the most important summer if you want to play college basketball so I had decided I wanted to decide at the end of the summer,” she said.
Macy is already enrolled at NWMS and in the summer conditioning program. She plans to major in psychology and minor in family studies with the hopes of then getting her master’s in child life specialty. She hopes to play her way into the Bearcat rotation this season on a young team than finished 8-20 last year under head coach Michael Smith.
“My sister told me to go to a place where they want you the most and will treat you with respect.,” Macy said. “Everyone I talked to said how much they loved their time at Northwest Missouri State.”
Macy’ senior season at Fremont-Mills culminated in the Knights’ first state tournament bid in the 5-on-5 era and first time in basketball overall since 1965. The ground work for the state tournament was set up by a disappointing end to the previous season. Macy missed the final two districts games due to mononucleosis as her team came up two wins short of the state tournament.
“That was easily the hardest thing I’ve ever had to face in my entire life,” she said. “Even now it’s hard to talk about. It broke my heart. But it was a big turning point for our team. That’s when I realized it wasn’t just me wanting it; I looked out on the court those games and I could see how much my teammates wanted it. That brought us closer as a team and made us confident for the next season.”
While the Knights’ appearance at state this past season ended in tough 53-50 loss to runner up Springville in the opening round, Macy counts the experience as the pinnacle of her career.
Years of going to Des Moines, soaking in the atmosphere and crowds at the state basketball tournament may not have prepared Macy for actually playing at state but it definitely got her attention.
“I loved it,” Macy said of the state basketball tournament. “Growing up I always tried to work for something bigger even if I didn’t know what it was. And once I matured I realized my goals were state and college basketball. Seeing my brothers and them at state in football, created a bond for me with my friends that we wanted to achieve that too. Just getting there was a dream come true.
“Yeah, it ended it heartbreak but I wouldn’t have wanted to be there with anyone else but my teammates.”
Leading the Knights’ girls program to unparalleled success, a stack of school records and earning a scholarships, are great, Rod said, but his pride in his daughter’s accomplishments goes much deeper.
“I’m really proud of her for basketball and all the other sports she’s involved in but the personality she has, how she’s always thinking of other people before herself and being a true team player, I’m more proud of her for that I think,” Rod said.
Macy’s scoring record came at the expense of her big sister Chelsey, the previous record holder. She surpassed big sis late in her junior season and Chelsey surprised her sister at the game with a plaque following the historic bucket. The sisters, with tears in their eyes, were greeted by standing ovation from the crowd at the Lied Gymnasium.
“I know my sister loves me but earning her respect is one of the biggest things for me in all aspects of life,” Macy said. “So to have her carry out the plaque for me was so awesome. We’ve grown closer over the years with her having boys and a family and I was so awesome to be surrounded by my family that day. I know how proud of me they were.”
Macy holds nearly every school career mark on the hardwood having closed her career on the top of the charts in scoring (1,642), assists (535), steals (316) and three pointers (220). According to Rod, Macy is among just a handful of Iowa prep girls players to ever record 1,500 points, 500 assists, 300 steals and 200 three-pointers over a four year career.
So as the first siblings to both win Female Athlete of Year, the real question is, which Williams sister wins in one-on-one?
“She’s tough,” Macy said. “Whenever we play we get pretty physical. My dad doesn’t like us to play because we get so competitive. So we’ve played a couple times. But I’ll give her credit. She can probably beat my butt on the court.”