Ray Williams and Steve Williams were the first African Americans to be starters for the Clemson baseball team for the course of a season. Both were freshman starters for Bill Wilhelm’s team in 1984, helping the team to a 38-17 record overall, and co-regular season ACC Champs with a 12-2 record.
Ray Williams started in the outfield and hit .326, while Steve Williams was the starting catcher and hit .319.
Ray Williams played four years of football and four years of baseball between 1984-87. He hit 34 home runs and drove in 133 runs to go with 70 stolen bases in playing exactly 200 baseball games for the Tigers. He was inducted into the Clemson Hall of Fame.
Steve Williams was one of the top utility players in Clemson history as he played nearly every position over his four years. He batted .309 for his career in 177 game with 11 home runs and 94 steals.
As seniors they were big reasons Clemson finished the 1987 season with 54 wins and a top 10 national ranking.
