The slender 6-foot-3 guard out of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., was named the league’s freshman of the year in 2010-11.

But there’s a side of Williams few know.

Not his Lobo teammates.

Not even his coaches.

“It’s my dirty little secret,” Williams says with a laugh. “The guys will probably make fun of me when this story gets out.”

Williams, you see, is a junkie.

A chess junkie.

“I don’t get the time to play as much as I’d like,” he says. “But I’m able to get my fix from time to time. I love it.”

Sure, Williams has played his share of video games, “which I’ve cut way back on, and that’s a positive,” he says.

He also played, and excelled at, many sports.

But when it comes to The Game of Kings, this kid is no rook.

“He started when he was really young,” says his mother, Debbie Williams. “I’d say 9 years old, maybe 10. He really took to it. In fact, one Christmas, that’s what he wanted as his gift. So we got him a really nice one.

“He really likes the strategy of chess. He doesn’t have time to do as much anymore, but for a while it was an every-night thing.”

Kendall says he and his dad, Robert, used to hook up for many the battle. Robert was a stellar athlete, but also took to chess.

“That was my partner growing up,” Kendall says. “I tried to bug everyone to play. He was usually the guy. He was a little unorthodox, but it kept me up on my game.”

Kendall also played soccer – “still my first love” – and baseball at a very young age. He says he started basketball a few years later.

Both of Williams’ sisters, Chelsea and Britni, are standout soccer players. Britni recently graduated from Arkansas, where she set school records as a goalkeeper.

“We just had a really athletic background. My mom played soccer, too, and she was as star volleyball player,” Kendall says.

But Debbie, a math professor at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, Calif., and Robert, a former military man and police officer who is now a private investigator, also know the importance of education.

“It was a priority making sure they were well-rounded,” Debbie says of the kids. “For Kendall, it wasn’t all about basketball growing up. That came a little bit later. But he got exposure to a lot of things, and we were big on academics. We’re tried to keep a balance for him. I’d like to think he still keeps somewhat balanced, even though basketball has taken over a bit.”

Delicate balance

Balance and Williams go together like a knight and bishop.

And that’s not just a simile.

His leaning, off-balanced jumpers were commonplace for the Lobos (22-13, 8-8 in the MWC) last season. He became one of the top freshmen in school history, averaging 11.6 points, 4.0 assists and 3.0 rebounds a game.

Colorado State coach Tim Miles said that Williams reminded him “of a young Reggie Miller,” comparing him to the NBA legend.

Williams says he’s heard that before – but is humble in acknowledging it.

“I think a lot of people compare me to Reggie because we’re both very skinny, we’re both very light-skinned and we both talk a lot of trash on the court,” Williams says with a smile. “I think those three components kind of lead me to Reggie comparisons – but I don’t have the gap in my tooth.”

Like Miller, Williams has shown the knack for hitting big shots and making heady plays.

•  In the Lobos’ 74-67 season-ending loss to Alabama in the second round of the NIT, Williams helped UNM whittle a late 18-point deficit to six by nailing three NBA-plus-range 3s in a 24-second stretch during the last minute.

•  Down by three with three seconds left in the second overtime at Dayton, Williams intentionally bounced a free throw off the front of the rim and right back to himself. He raced outside the 3-point line, whirled and just missed a game-tying shot.

•  Down by two with 2 seconds left at UNLV, Williams stole a back-court pass and was able to toss up an off-balance shot and draw a foul with one second remaining. However, he missed the second of two free throws.

“I appreciate people remembering those plays,” Williams says. “I just wish I would have made the shots.”

Williams says his knack of thinking ahead on the court, in part, comes from his abilities to think on a chess board. And part of his board-game skills come from the competitiveness of athletics.

“I think chess and basketball go hand-in-hand,” says Williams, who turns 19 on July 3. “Competitiveness drives people to want to win, whether it be a video game, at work or chess. And for someone who is book-smart – where you have to think a few moves ahead – that helps you in athletics. I think you may be at a disadvantage if you separate the two, and just play up to your instinct in basketball. On the flip side, it’s a disadvantage if you don’t use any form of athletic competition in other fields.”

While his teammates are unaware of Williams’ off-the-court passions, it can’t be shocking news.

Senior Drew Gordon says, “considering how smart he is, that doesn’t surprise me. His basketball IQ is really high; he’s smart with the ball. He definitely picks and chooses the places to attack on the court.”

And on a board.

Daniel Cornish, a graduate student who works in the UNM admissions department and a longtime chess junkie, came out on the short end of match against Williams last week.

“He’s a hell of a player,” said Cornish, a Capital High graduate. “I was actually a pretty avid chess player in high school, and this was one of the most competitive matches I’ve ever played. I’ve been playing since I was about 5 years old. I’ve played with Mensa (high-IQ society) guys. … Kendall’s easily on that level.”

Not exactly the “dumb jock” stereotype?

“Not at all,” Cornish says. “And talking to him, he’s just a very articulate, well-spoken guy.”

Williams says he gets a chuckle out of the dumb-jock label that goes with the territory. It doesn’t bother him.

“I embrace it sometimes,” he says. “Other times, like today (in the chess match), I like to beat up the cliché a little bit.”
— This article appeared on page D1 of the Albuquerque Journal