Jason Williams, a former Duke All-American and current Chicago Bull, suffered a broken leg, torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and fractured pelvis in a motorcycle accident last Thursday in the North Side of Chicago.
Williams has been in the intensive care unit at Illinois Masonic Medical Center since the accident, having undergone two surgeries on his pelvis. In addition, several surgeries on his left knee are anticipated, though no schedule has been set for future procedures and, eventually, rehabilitation.
"Obviously, we're all concerned; he's got a long road ahead," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said Tuesday. "The good news, as far as a timeline is concerned, is that when it first happened he's lying on the ground there, the thought in his mind is that he's paralyzed, that 'I can't move my legs.' But he was very fortunate to be right near the hospital - it's right in the inner city of Chicago, actually about three or four miles from where I grew up. When [the hospital medics] got him in, because of what happened with an artery.... they were concerned if the left leg had had blood and how long it had gone without blood. The extreme case would have been that if the leg didn't get blood, there would have been a chance of amputation. But we dismissed that right away.... and by Friday morning he was already moving his left foot."
Krzyzewski visitedWilliams Friday evening on a return trip from a speaking engagement in Colorado. And all things considered, Krzyzewski said Williams was in good spirits, and reiterated the fact that Williams was more than an exceptional basketball player, but a superlative person as well.
President Nan Keohane said Tuesday she had written to Jason's parents, but was yet to speak to them or Jason directly.
"We are all concerned about him and wish him well," Keohane wrote in an e-mail.
Bulls general manager John Paxson is confident that Williams is on the road to recovery, as he and Bulls head coach Bill Cartwright have been in and out of Williams' hospital room every day since the accident.
"The first thing [Williams] said to me was that he was sorry, and I told him not to worry about it," Paxson said. "He's a conscientious young guy. His spirits were pretty good that day, and they've gotten better every day since. On Saturday he actually picked up the phone himself and talked to me, and he was feeling better."
Williams had purchased a Yamaha motorcycle just a week before the accident, which occurred Thursday around 5 p.m. While he was riding alongside a friend, Williams lost control of the motorcycle and crashed into a pole at a street intersection. A witness told the Chicago Sun-Times that Williams came to rest about 10 feet from the motorcycle, and she heard him screaming that he could not feel his legs.
He was immediately taken to the Masonic Medical Center, where his prognosis improved quickly.
"The good thing is the timeline has gone from 'paralyzed' to 'amputation' to 'I'm going to be okay, now I've got to the these operations,'", Krzyzewski said.
"I would be shocked if he didn't play [again]," said Krzyzewski, who also dealt with the automobile accident, recovery, and eventual return of another All-American point guard, Bobby Hurley, in 1993. "I just think that it will happen. He's different than all of us. In the assembly line of putting people together, somehow it stopped on him."
Still, Williams' accident is testament to the fragility of life, something Bulls teammate Marcus Fizer said was oft-forgotten among NBA players. But the incident has reverberated throughout the country, particularly at Duke.
"When we got the news, it hit home all the more because, just the day before, he was working in our camp, dunking on guys," Duke assistant coach Chris Collins told the Herald-Sun of Durham. "This is incredibly sad.... Now, he's just hoping he can have a life again."
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