Saddened Washington players joined Arizona players at center field in Tempe, Ariz., for an emotional moment of silence before Saturday’s game to honor fallen teammate Curtis Williams.
The senior defensive back sustained a critical spinal cord injury during the Huskies’ Oct. 28 win at Stanford. Williams watched from his intensive-care hospital bed at Stanford Medical Center in Palo Alto, Calif., as Washington erased a 25-10 third-quarter deficit to win 35-32.
“He was excited as he could be,” UW head coach Rick Neuheisel told the Seattle Times. “His brother [David] says he continues to be encouraged.”
After the game, Neuheisel attributed his team’s tentativeness in the first three quarters to a carried-over fear from Williams’ injury.
“You can never imagine what a toll it takes, seeing one of your teammates lying motionless on the field,” he said. “You have to imagine every one of those kids said, ‘It could have been me.’”
“It’s been a hard week because everybody’s been thinking about what happened last week,” said Washington linebacker Derrell Daniels, one of Williams’ best friends on the team. “And going out, at the beginning of the game, I guess you could tell that a lot of people were still thinking about what had happened.”
Washington athletic director Barbara Hedges announced plans Monday to create a special fund to help support Williams’ long-term care.
Hedges said the fund will be established in Washington’s University Central Development Office to help pay expenses beyond those covered by the family, the university and the NCAA catastrophic injury insurance programs.
“We appreciate this outpouring of support and want this special fund to address extraordinary expenses that may not be covered by existing insurance,” Hedges said.
If the time comes when Williams no longer needs support from the funds, the remaining money will be used to create a “Curtis Williams Scholarship,” Washington officials said.
Donations to the fund can be sent to The Curtis Williams Fund, c/o The University of Washington, 1200 Fifth Avenue, Suite 500, Seattle, WA, 98101.
Contact Curtis Williams
People can post messages to Williams on an online message board, provided by FansOnly. The message board can be accessed from www.gohuskies.com, the Washington Athletics Web site.
Those wishing to mail a card or letter to Williams can do so by addressing it to Curtis Williams, c/o Washington Football Office, Box 354070, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195.
The hospital asks that no correspondence or flowers be sent.
BCS update
When Washington beat Arizona, it also beat its most-heated Pac-10 rival.
That’s right, Oregon.
The Huskies leap-frogged the Ducks in the Bowl Championships Series rankings, jumping from No. 8 to No. 6 after their comeback win. Oregon remained at No. 7, while Oregon State improved to No. 9.
Washington still has to play UCLA and Washington State, and Oregon must face California and the Beavers. Depending on who wins and loses, the Ducks and Huskies remain mathematical contenders for the National Championship game at the Orange Bowl in Miami.
Oregon beat Washington, 23-16, Sept. 30.
Oklahoma, Florida State and Miami are first, second and third, respectively, in the BCS rankings.