Jarvis “Teddy” Williams’ love for basketball started at a very young age from idolizing his older brother, Shannon Williams, Jr. (Kashmere Stage Band-1968). He started playing organized basketball and football at Francis Scott Key Junior High School in the 7th grade. During his summers off from school, he developed his skills by playing with the older guys during open gym at Key Junior High. This allowed Jarvis to be able to compete with his older teammates at Kashmere Senior High School and landed him a spot on the Varsity Basketball team as a sophomore.
Jarvis played at Kashmere High School from 1972- 1975 under the precise direction of Coach Weldon Drew. Coach Drew taught Jarvis the importance of being a leader on and off of the court as well as the mental part of playing the game of basketball. Under Coach Drew’s guidance, he truly felt confident that his team would win every game. Jarvis averaged 20 points and 18 rebounds leading Kashmere High School’s Varsity Basketball Team to win 2 state championships and have a 3-year winning record of 110-13. During those three years, Kashmere clinched a state record with a 78 game consecutive winning streak. The back-to-back state championship team was named number 1 in the Nation by EA Sports in 1975. Their team’s success resulted in Jarvis being named to the All-State Tournament Team as well as receiving All American Honors his junior and senior year.
After graduating from Kashmere High School in 1975, he received a full scholarship to Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. Jarvis started 16 games, averaged 7.9 points and 5.6 rebounds as a freshman on Texas A&M’s 1975-1976 Southwest Conference Championship team.
After college at Texas A&M University, Jarvis joined the Houston Fire Department. In addition to working for the Houston Fire Department, he was a substitute teacher for North Forest ISD from 1984-1992 and for Cypress Fairbanks ISD from 1996-2008. With Jarvis’ unwavering love for the game of basketball he also coached girls basketball at Awty International School from 2002-2010. Jarvis retired from the Houston Fire Department in November of 2015 after 33 ½ years of dedicated service.
