Bottom Line Is Motivation

James Williams is credited with helping to convert StanleyRoberts from a 300-pound junk-food addict to a highly motivatedbasketball player who recently signed a $15 million contract with theOrlando Magic of the NBA.

Williams said he can do the same for William Perry, Mike Tysonand Buster Douglas.

"I know I can help them," he said. "I hope to take my skills tothe professional level. No one else can do the things I can do forathletes."

So who is Williams?

He could be the Jenny Craig of the NBA or NFL. He is anholistic fitness consultant and trainer who helps people developtheir lives mentally, physically and spiritually. He deals withstress, nutrition and fitness, but he prefers Eastern principles ofhuman development, such as yoga and t'ai chi, to traditional methodsof fitness training.

"The trouble with athletics today," he said, "is a lot ofdevelopment programs are centered around traditional training ideas -running, jumping, push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups. No one addresses thekind of mental things that must be addressed.

"Athletes are under a lot of mental stress. They aren't taughtthe proper foundation for development, something that will have aneverlasting effect on their performance. Stress is the biggestfactor in failure in athletics. My job is to ensure that clientsperform to their highest level of efficiency."

Williams, 41, has come a long way since his boyhood days inK-Town, near Karlov and Fifth Avenue. He attended Marshall butdidn't graduate. He played basketball with Darryl Stingley, ChesterFuller and Darryl Minnifield and dreamed of playing in the NBA.

It never happened. His father died of a heart attack when hewas 13. His mother was hospitalized in a mental institution for morethan 30 years. From age 15 to 22, he sold drugs and snorted heroin.

But he got a break that saved his life. On the night a coachfrom a small NAIA college in Detroit came to recruit him, Williamswas strung out on drugs. The coach, James Giles, who is now at PolkCommunity College in Winter Haven, Fla., knew he was high. But hethought Williams had to get out of the city. So he took him to ShawCollege, where Williams graduated with a degree in humanities.

Later, Williams was a child-care worker and counselor at a homefor troubled youth in Detroit, coached men's and women's basketballat Shaw College and served as a coach, teacher and administrator atMalcolm X College before becoming a fitness trainer. One of hisclients was actor John Cusack.

"Through his leadership," Malcolm X athletic director Dan Davissaid, "he has convinced our students that developing sound fitnessand nutritional habits will improve the length and quality of theirlives."

Through a friend of a friend who knew Roberts, Williams wascontacted by Roberts' agent before the 1991 NBA draft. Roberts, whoplayed at LSU with Shaquille O'Neal, had serious weight and personalproblems. Williams was dispatched to Baton Rouge, La., for a monthto work with him.

"I was hired to motivate him to train and accept an offer fromthe Magic," Williams said. "We talked about his weight and stressproblems. I got him off junk food. I cooked better nutritional foodfor him. He worked out twice a day and lost 15 pounds. And Ipersuaded him that it was in his best interest to accept the Magic'soffer. He had never worked out hard since grade school. Now hebusts his butt."

Williams said he also can be a positive influence on Perry, thebulky and wayward Bears defensive tackle who Williams said "hasstress-related problems that have pushed him to a food addiction."

"I can show him a reflection of my own life," he said. "If Ican do it, anyone can do it. If I can overcome the personalhardships I have had in my life, I have no doubt the Perrys andRobertses of the world can overcome whatever barriers are in theirpsyche that prevent them from being self-motivated."