Jay Williams: You Can Survive Your Worst Mistake

Oprah's Super Soul

Oprah

Society & Culture

4.6 • 32.9K Ratings

🗓️ 30 April 2018

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Former professional basketball player Jay Williams opens up to Oprah about his near-fatal, career-ending motorcycle crash, his regrets and how he's learned to fulfill his destiny despite those who say he threw it all away. Jay was poised to become one of the biggest superstars in the NBA until his devastating accident brought it all to a heartbreaking halt. After Jay's big mistake cost him his career, his dreams and nearly his life, he began to refocus his energies on overcoming not just the physical challenges of his injuries but also the spiritual and mental hurdles he faced in the aftermath. Jay explains why he says that the worst decision he ever made has turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to him. "I was lost. Basketball had defined me. My accident had defined me. And I had no idea what I wanted to do," Jay tells Oprah. "I don't think it was until later, a couple of years later, until I started going to counseling, started to try to go to church. I put my faith into something bigger."

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Oprah Winfrey. Welcome to Super Soul Conversations, the podcast. I believe that one of
0:07.5	the most valuable gifts you can give yourself is time, taking time to be more fully present.
0:16.1	Your journey to become more inspired and connected to the deeper world around us starts right
0:23.1	now.
0:24.9	Former NBA player Jay Williams grew up in Plainville, New Jersey. He was the only son, a parent,
0:31.3	David, who worked for American Express, and Althea, an elementary school principal.
0:36.5	Jay led Duke to an NCAA championship in 2001 and was hailed as one of the most electrifying
0:43.0	college basketball players in Duke University history. Poised to become one of the biggest
0:48.1	superstars in the NBA. Jay says his rookie season with the Chicago Bulls was one of the
0:54.0	most difficult years of his life. He struggled both on and off the court to find his confidence
0:59.8	and says he began to lose himself to everything he believed it meant to be an NBA star. At the
1:06.3	end of that season, Jay ignored the part of his Bulls contract that prohibited him from
1:11.6	writing motorcycles and instead bought one. Today, Jay opens up about the motorcycle crash
1:19.1	that destroyed his career and tested his will to live. His more than 10-year battle to
1:24.7	reclaim his destiny. And it's a big lesson, super-soulers, on how our worst mistakes
1:31.3	can be our best teachers. So I was living in Chicago when you crashed your motorcycle.
1:37.5	I often wondered, what were you thinking before you got on that bike?
1:41.9	I think that's a great question because I wasn't thinking at all. I think I was just
1:48.0	freely living in that moment. And I struggled with a lot. I felt I had a lot of pressure
1:53.8	on me to be this particular saver for a franchise. So there was that aspect.
1:59.7	Because you come in, you have Michael Jordan's locker. Exactly. Exactly. Which I chose to
2:04.6	have by the way. Yeah. I wanted to prove that I was running my own life. And it was interesting
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