Dave Williams Gloucester Catholic's First Great Runner
http://ramscrosscountry.blogspot.com
By Jack Heath
When you think of the great runners Gloucester Catholic has produced one name that might not come to mind but should is Dave Williams. Williams was a 1937 graduate of Gloucester Catholic, born and raised in Gloucester, 
New
Jersey.
Gloucester Catholic did not have a track team in the 30's when Williams graduated, but he started running with his father George, an accomplished runner in the 1920’s and his uncles Harry, Thomas and William and soon became according to the Philadelphia newspapers of the 1940’s "one of the best runners in the country".
Some Gloucester contemporaries remember: "If you saw someone running back then (the 1930's-40's) you knew it was one of the Williams family, they were great runners." One of Dave’s first races was the AAU 6 mile cross-country championship held in Gloucester City in Nov 14, 1935.
The race started at the old Gloucester High School and ran through Gloucester on a cold wind-swept fall day. Dave, a junior at Gloucester Catholic finished only 13 seconds behind his father and was hooked.
In the next four years Dave Williams became the top runner in the Philadelphia/New Jersey area winning a number of championship distance races for well over a decade.
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