ALBANY SPORTS HALL OF FAME: Edwin Willis enjoys giving back

EDITOR’s NOTE: This is the second of a three-part series on the Albany Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2015 inductions. The Hall will induct its three newest members Monday night at the Hilton Garden Inn. Today, the Herald features Edwin Willis.

ALBANY — After practicing martial arts for more than 40 years, Edwin Willis has become good at doing two things — being disciplined and being patient. Both have paid off for him.

Willis will be one of three inductees as a member of the Class of 2015. The induction ceremony is Monday night at 6:30 p.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn.

Willis said he knew one of his coworkers had nominated him for the honor a few years ago and when he didn’t hear back from anyone, he figured it wasn’t meant to be. He said he now realizes it just wasn’t his time.

“[Being nominated] It was an amazing thing,” he said. “I knew that one of my co-workers had wrote me up, but that was like three or four years ago and I thought they had just passed over my name and it just wasn’t gonna happen … that I don’t meet the standards, but I guess I do. Good things come to those who wait.”

Willis is a former football and track & field standout at Monroe and Albany High. He won a subregion title in the 1-AAA high jump in 1969 and ‘70 and came in second in the long jump. He laughs at the how much farther today’s high school students are able to jump.

He played one year of football at Albany High at a time when schools were still integrating. In that short amount of time, he earned the respect of former head coach Ferrell Henry.

“I’ll always have great respect for those guys like Edwin Willis,” Henry said. “That was a tough time right after integration, but those guys always showed up at practice and gave 110 percent.”

From that experience, Willis said he enjoyed the relationships he built with his teammates as they went on to make a deep run in the state playoffs.

“When it comes to football, it’s the comraderie that stands out, mostly teamwork,” he said. “I played on the defensive side and the offensive side when I was at Monroe, and I played strictly defense when I was at Albany High and I was on defense when I went to Albany State, but the thing that stands out the most is that everybody has it in their best interest in achieving one goal. So teamwork is one of the best things.”

He was awarded an athletic scholarship to Albany State University for track & field and football while excelling in karate at the same time.

His instructor Kirk Shepard, an eighth-degree black belt, first got him interested in martial arts in the early 1970s when Willis was just a sophomore in high school. Willis said he converted from traditional karate to tournament karate and went on to win more than 120 karate awards.

Willis is currently a fifth-degree black belt and helps teach martial arts in the community. He said the lessons he learned while training for martial arts competitions definitely helped him transition into the teaching role.

Willis has been just as active in the community. He was a founding member of the Local Emergency Planning Committee in 1990 and still remains on the board today, he teaches classes at Darton College for EMTs on crisis management, he’s an Elder at Victorious Life Church in Albany, he established the Community Policing Office on Phoebe’s Putney Memorial Hospital campus and in 2001, he was named the Sate Search Customer service Person of the Year. The accolades are a small token of what he’s done for the community.

Many of the services Willis provides to the community come at no cost, though he may have to come out of his pocket for expense. He said seeing his efforts resonate with those he’s helping gives him the energy and motivation he needs to go on.

“The most rewarding thing is when you go back and see those kids, most times it’s kids, sometimes it’s grown people, to see how much attention they pay to what you’re doing out of interest,” he said. “And then it gives you the energy do it more. Just the joy of giving back. I’m a giver. I just enjoy giving back.”