WEIRTON – Ron “Fritz” Williams was a legend.

And, a ground breaker.

The 1964 Weir High graduate was the first African-American to be named first team All-West Virginia in basketball. He averaged 30.9 points as a senior, which followed a 30.1 per night campaign as a junior.

He 55-point night against East Liverpool is still the school record.

Williams was the fourth person in history to be named first team all-state three times and finished his career with 2,203 points, still the all-time best.

The 6-foot-3, 185-pound Williams was on the 1961 Class AAA state championship football team and was all-state and Scholastic Coach All-America as a senior.

And, that’s just the beginning.

Red Riders principal Dan Enich and head boys basketball coach Mike Granato thought something should be done to honor Williams.

In walks athletic director Mike DelRe and the plan was hatched.

Thanks to the approval of the Hancock County Board of Education, it will be called the Ron “Fritz” Williams Court at the Carl R. Hamill Fieldhouse.

“Dan come to me a year ago or so with the idea and I agreed that it was both fantastic and probably overdue,” Granato said. “I went down to the practice facility at WVU and brought home pictures of Fritz from their ‘Wall of Fame.’

“His accomplishments from high school to the NBA are amazing and untouched in our area. We toss words like legendary around too much in today’s society. Fritz’s accomplishments make this honor worthwhile to both our school and community.”

Williams led Weir to three straight state Class AAA title games, including an unbeaten 1962 regular season, two state runner-ups and a state title in 1963. The three-year All-OVAC and All-West Virginia Class AAA basketball player was also an All-OVAC and All-West Virginia football end in 1963 and the OVAC and West Virginia Region 1 sprint champion in the 100, 220 and 440-yard events in 1964.

Yes, he was that good.

The road near his childhood home in Weirton has been renamed Ron “Fritz” Williams Boulevard.

“We want to acknowledge our tradition, because we have a deep sports tradition,” Enich said.

“When Mike (Granato) and I were talking, we agreed that Fritz never seems to get his due around here. I never saw him play, but I have talked to many who have and they all said he was just so good.

“Fritz was like the Jackie Robinson of the WVU men’s basketball program and we’ve never really acknowledged that.

“It’s time to honor one of our best.”

“Fritz may have made his greatest impact at the collegiate level,” Enich wrote in a letter to the BOE. “He was recruited by UCLA, Michigan, Bradley, Drake, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Marshall, Syracuse, and Cincinnati before electing to go to West Virginia University in the fall of 1964. In choosing WVU, Fritz, Weir teammate Ed Harvard, recruits Carl Head, Norman Holmes, and Jim Lewis were the first African-American players to play basketball at WVU. These ground breaking student athletes were the pioneers behind WVU integrating African American student athletes into basketball at the school.”

Williams scored 1,687 points (10th all-time) and dished out 504 assists in 84 games (freshmen were not eligible for the varsity team at that time), scoring 20 or more points 46 times (fifth on the all-time list). He had a career high of 38 and averaged almost 37 minutes a game for his career. The man still holds the record for most assists as a junior, handing out 197 in 28 games (7 per outing), and as a senior (154, 28 games, 5.9). His 197 assists and 7 assists per game are still the best in school history overall. His 504 helpers is No. 3 all-time, and career 6 assists a game is No. 1.

His scoring average of 20.1 a night is still sixth-best in history.

He was one of 29 college players selected to tryout for the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team, but he declined.

Williams is the only Weir High graduate to play in the NBA, where he was drafted No. 9 in the 1968 draft by the San Francisco Warriors. That was the year that Elvin Hayes and Wes Unseld went 1-2. He was also drafted in the 14th round of the NFL Draft that year by the Dallas Cowboys.

He played eight seasons in the NBA as a member of the Warriors, the Milwaukee Bucks, and the Los Angeles Lakers. Williams averaged 9.3 points and 3.5 assists per game in his professional career and ranked third in the league in free throw percentage during the 1970-71 NBA season.

Williams was Milwaukee’s third guard behind Oscar Robertson and Lucius Allen. The Bucks lost to Boston in seven games in the 1974 NBA Finals.

He played with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Milwaukee and Los Angeles.

Enich said he is looking into options on how the basketball court will be done.

Until that is accomplished, he said their will be signage above the doors and a mural painted on the wall above the visitors stands.

In addition, the Fritz Williams 1,000-point wall has been finished, just outside the double doors on the home side of the stands. That will be dedicated at a later time.

A ceremony to name the court after Fritz will happen at the beginning of the 2016-17 basketball season at a date to be determined.

Williams, who died at the age of 59 on April 8, 2004, was inducted into the West Virginia University Hall of Fame in 1993.