Richard Williamson: Former WR Coach Passes Away at 74
Former Carolina Panthers wide receiver coach Richard Williamson died of an illness yesterday at the age of 74. Williamson was a fixture on the Panthers from the beginning all the way to 2010. He served under Head Coaches Dom Capers, George Seifert, and John Fox.
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Williamson was known to be a good coach for his position. He equally taught new rookies how to play the position and got veterans to play their best ball. His first receiving group was the Mark Carrier – Willie Green group from 1995. The two veterans offered some good production and key cataches in the earliest years of the franchise under his watch.
Muhsin Muhammad came on board in 1996, and he became a fixture except for three years that he spent in Chicago. Muhammad was a complete receiver by the time he made his first departure from the Panthers, sure he dropped balls occasionally, but he was a big target and no one was better at downfield blocking.
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Williamson’s most famous charge was Steve Smith. Smith went on to become the best offensive Panther in the history of the team. He started out though as a punt returner, but quickly made his mark. Smith was especially important to the Panthers Super Bowl team in 2003-4.
Williamson was so embedded in the history of the Panthers franchise that he found his way as part of our 20th Anniversary Bracket of the Carolina Panthers. A thirteen seed in the George Seifert region, Williamson ended up pulling off two upsets before losing to 1 Seed Smith in the sweet sixteen round of the bracket.
If you want to follow Williamson’s progress in that bracket you can follow these links:
Next: George Seifert Region of Carolina Panthers Twenty Bracket
Next: Round 1 Results: Seifert Region