Inductees

Elisha Williams (2019)

Wheelchair Basketball Athlete

From Prince George to Rio de Janeiro to Beijing and all points in between, dribbling a ball has taken Elisha Williams across Canada and around the world.

Williams enjoyed a stellar basketball career, representing her city, province and country. The foundation of her success was built in Prince George.

After an outstanding stand-up basketball high school career at Duchess Park Secondary, Williams earned a full athletics scholarship to play the game at the NCAA Division 1 level at San Jose State University. When multiple knee injuries playing stand-up basketball resulted in her leaving the game, she thought her dreams of representing Canada at the international level were dashed. She returned home to Canada to study at the University of Alberta and the University of Northern British Columbia.

In 2005, Williams was recruited to play wheelchair basketball by fellow athletes. B.C. coach Pat Harris, inducted into the Prince George Sports Hall of Fame in 2016, was instrumental in getting Williams hooked on the wheelchair game.

Williams was classified in 2007 to play on her local club teams and later joined the Canadian Women’s Espoir program. In 2007, she was an alternate with the Canadian team that won the silver medal at the Parapan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Williams finally realized her dream of representing Canada at the international level in basketball.

Between 2007 and 2013, Williams excelled playing for Canada’s senior women’s wheelchair basketball team, helping Team Canada win seven medals in international competition and earn a sixth-place finish at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, England.

In 2010, Team Canada rolled to the bronze medal at the world championships in Birmingham, England; won gold at the Paralympic World Cup in Manchester, England; and earned the bronze medal at the Osaka Cup in Japan.

In 2009, the Canadians won the bronze medal at the Osaka Cup, following a gold medal at the Good Luck Beijing Invitational tournament in 2008 in Beijing, China.

Williams retired from the national team in 2013.

At the U.S. collegiate wheelchair basketball level, Williams enrolled at the University of Alabama on an athletic scholarship and helped the women’s team to the national intercollegiate championship in 2011 and to silver medals in 2012 and 2013. She was named to the 2011 Women’s College Wheelchair Basketball All-Freshman team.

Williams took over as Alabama’s head coach in 2014 and led the Crimson Tide to its fourth national title in 2015.

In between playing and coaching, Williams found time to complete four university degrees: a Bachelor of Arts in Physical Education from San Jose State University (where she was a two-time Academic All-Star); a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy from the University of Alberta; a Masters degree in Disability Management from UNBC; and a PhD in Exercise Physiology from the University of Alabama.

Her awards off the basketball court are impressive. She received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013 and the British Columbia Premier’s Award in 2008, given to athletes who, through their commitment to hard work and excellence, have left their mark on the province.