Emotional weekend for Oshawa lacrosse star, with dad honoured and little brother remembered

Getting drafted number one, watching your dad get enshrined in the Hall of Fame and remembering the impact your little brother had on so many people made for an emotional weekend for Oshawa’s Dyson Williams, the newest member of the NLL’s Albany FireWolves.

Williams was the consensus #1 pick in Saturday’s draft from the Toronto Rock Centre in Oakville and despite efforts from dad Shawn – the coach and general manager of the Las Vegas franchise and the newest member of the league’s hallowed hall – to get him in Desert Dog colours, the younger Williams went to Albany with the top pick.

Vegas had orchestrated a deal last week to move up to #2 in the draft but Albany would not be swayed and took the Brooklin Lacrosse Club and Duke University star with the first selection.

It all made for an almost overwhelming weekend for Dyson Williams, especially when asked about his brother Tucker, a lacrosse prodigy in his own right who died in 2014 from Burkitt’s Lymphoma at the tender age of eight.

Tucker Williams wore #51 during his brief career, a number his brother Dyson wears today in Tucker’s honour.

Williams was asked at the draft about what his brother – who was chosen #1 in a symbolic Ontario junior draft this year by the Whitby Warriors – would think about the events of the weekend.

“It sucks he can’t be here and I can’t give him a hug but I know he’s proud,” Williams told Teddy Jenner, who played six years in the league and now hosts a lacrosse radio show. “We got to celebrate Dad’s career last night and we heard a lot of cool things about Tucker.”

“I see it as my job to continue his legacy and carry the ‘51’ legacy on.”