How One Gang Member Broke Out of the Trap

One day, when Kenneth Williams was 17, he found himself sitting in Juvenile Hall, weighing his options.

The way Williams figured it, he had three choices: Get killed, go to jail or play football.

Williams was a gang member at 12. Six of his friends had been killed in gang violence. And here he was in Juvenile Hall.

“I got busted, spent a few days in Juvenile Hall,” Williams said. “I didn’t want my mother to cry. I didn’t want her to have to sit at home, knowing I was running with a gang, getting in trouble.

“I decided in my heart to play sports, and that’s what I did. I think it was always in me.”

Williams transferred to Locke High School in Watts, away from his local gang, after his junior season at Gardena. He had played football at Gardena, maintaining his gang affiliation at the same time.

At Locke, he shed his gang ties and helped the team to an 11-1 record and a berth in the City 3-A championship game.

As a senior, he gained more than 500 yards as a starting running back.

He went on to Santa Monica College, where he started at running back in the 1985 and ’86 seasons, earning All-Western State Conference honors both seasons. Williams said he plans to go to Fresno State, where he hopes to continue his football career, in the fall.

He rushed for 790 yards last season for the Corsairs. He had 1,670 yards in his two seasons, fourth-best in Santa Monica history, according to Robert Taylor, Santa Monica assistant coach.

“Once he started playing football, he cut loose,” E. C. Robinson, Locke football coach, said of Williams. “I think the reason he did was he knew for a fact that if he messed up again, he was going back (into custody).”

At Locke, Robinson served as a role model for Williams.

“I knew the day I met the man (Robinson) that I would never be a gang member again--I’d be a football player,” Williams said.

The move, Locke, and Robinson changed Williams’ life.

“I never go back to the old neighborhood, never think about that part of my life because it was wrong,” Williams said.

He said that sports usually does not rank high in a gang member’s priorities.

“He’s not thinking about sports,” Williams said. “He’s thinking about drugs and gangs. Maybe a couple are thinking about sports.

“Out of 10 guys I knew in the neighborhood, I’d say two went to school or (played) sports. The other eight went to gangs and drugs. And then they’d go to jail or die.”

Williams said it isn’t enough just to quit a gang.

“I moved,” he said. “That’s how I got out. It was in my heart to play sports and that’s what I did. But I had to get out.

“When I see someone going in that direction, I tell them they’re going to lose their life. I tell them I used to be in the streets and I know what it’s about. Either you’re going to be in jail the rest of your life, or you’re going to be in the ground.

“Play ball, and you’ll get a new direction in life.”