Robert Williamson took the long road to the ULM L Club Sports Hall of Fame.

The former assistant athletic trainer accumulated countless miles on bus rides and logged countless hours on the job away from his wife Emily. A tireless worker who wore many hats, Williamson arrived on campus in 1977 and never left. His career started as a student with late Hall of Famer Charlie Martin and took him all the way through retirement in 2008.

“At one time, I said I served four masters, maybe five,” Williamson said. “The head athletic trainer, the athletic director, the head coach, the department head and the president. Any number of people could have pulled my one-year contract.”

Clearly, that never happened. For a lifetime of contributions to the ULM Athletics Department, Williamson is part of the 2020 ULM L Club Sports Hall of Fame class.

“I felt it was a home place for me,” Williamson said. “I got my start there. Charlie Martin gave me a chance coming out of high school. He saw me at three summer workshops while I was in high school and he took an interest in me. I was grateful for that and felt it was a blessing for me.”

Originally selected in 2020, the Hall of Fame class includes former coaches Dave Roberts from football and Ray “Smoke” Laval from baseball. Their induction was delayed last fall due to COVID-19 protocols.

Although Williamson worked with multiple sports, his primary assignment was men’s basketball. He assisted former coaches Lenny Fant, Benny Hollis, Mike Vining and Orlando Early. The bulk of his career was spent alongside Vining, ULM’s career leader in wins. Williamson was there for each of the basketball program’s seven NCAA tournament trips.

“I couldn’t imagine doing my job without him,” Vining said when Williamson retired. “He was always my most valuable assistant.”

Williamson became the university’s full-time assistant athletic trainer in 1983 and served in that role until retirement. Williamson, who worked as an instructor of kinesiology at ULM, was inducted into the Louisiana Athletic Trainers Hall of Fame in 2012.

A Pineville, Louisiana, native, Williamson figured out in junior high that athletic training was a field of interest. His lack of success as a football player helped him move into a different role as team manager, where he learned basic first aid.

During a series of summer camps for student athletic trainers, Williamson met and made an impression on Martin. He was originally interested in attending another college, but Martin remembered the kid he’d met and helped recruit him to Monroe.

Williamson never left. He honed his craft under Martin, a quiet man with an even-keel demeanor. Williamson learned not to internalize the highs and lows of winning and losing and to focus on the tasks at hand.

That same steady approach allowed Williamson to remain a constant and familiar figure in a department that saw many changes over his career, including six different athletics directors, in John David Crow, Hollis, Richard Giannini, Warner Alford, Bruce Hanks and Bobby Staub.

Williamson was involved in a number of sports over the years. He’s traveled with softball, baseball, tennis and track and worked with football, primarily during the preseason.

“When basketball season started in October, I’d move over there and was almost totally with them,” Williamson said. “I’d fill in as needed in other sports.”

While Vining was winning 402 games over 24 years as head coach, Williamson was right by his side. Williamson knew what Vining liked on his pizza and how he liked his fast-food chicken sandwich prepared. He knew where Vining liked to shop on certain road stops, like the Polo shop in San Marcos, Texas, or Cavender’s Boot City in Arlington.

“Mike was very cool to work for,” Williamson said. “He never got really up or down. He was similar to Coach Fant a little bit. Coach Fant reminded me of a grandfather getting mad at you. But once he got mad at you, it was over with. Mike would be perturbed. But if I brought a situation to Mike that somebody couldn’t play or somebody was going to be out for a couple of days, he didn’t holler or yell or ask for a second opinion. He just said, ‘OK.’ He let me do my job and that’s what I appreciated.”

On top of teaching classes and serving as the primary trainer for men’s basketball, Williamson evolved into the team’s travel agent. He’d book rooms and knew where to get the best meals on road trips, like the family-style barbecue from a church in Huntsville, Texas or po-boys in Lake Charles. On late-night bus trips, he’d even stay alert to keep the driver awake.

His career highlights are familiar memories for the ULM booster. He worked with numerous ULM Sports Hall of Fame athletes, including Calvin Natt, Carlos Funchess, Ryan Stuart and Anthony “Greyhound” Jones.

Williamson, who only missed a couple of games in his entire tour of duty, was part of the program’s seven NCAA tournament trips in 1982, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1995.

“The best run was the four years straight,” Williamson said. “We had the initial one against Iowa in Mike’s first year and that was the closest one we came to winning. Then we played UNLV in Long Beach after that. Then we hit that string with Greyhound and that bunch and went to four straight. We had some really good teams there.”

Although he spent time with football, he didn’t get to make the trip to Pocatello, Idaho, in 1987 to see the National Championship in person.

“I didn’t get to go to the title game because basketball was in a tournament in Dayton, Ohio,” Williamson said.

Williamson became part of a power couple at ULM too. His wife Emily was director of the ULM Child Development Center for 16 years, from 2003 until her death in October 2019. The center was renamed the Emily Williamson Laboratory School in November 2020.

“She’ll be there with me in spirit on Saturday,” said Williamson, who was married 27 years. “I appreciate the support she gave me. There were some times when things didn’t go as well as I hoped they would but she was there for me and supported me. She helped a lot and she understood.

“We were a unique pair in that we helped each other out, but we also allowed each other to be alone to do whatever we wanted to do. She had service clubs and organizations and I had stuff as well. We were good together and okay apart.”

To go: Hall of Fame weekend begins with a Friday night social at the L Club House on Oct. 15 and is highlighted by the enshrinement brunch at 10 a.m. Saturday at Bayou Pointe on the ULM campus. The inductees will also be recognized during ULM’s home football game against Liberty University later that day.

For information on attending the ULM L Club Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, please contact the Alumni Association at (318) 342-5420 or by email at alumniassociation@ulm.edu.

Tickets are $25 and may be purchased online at ulm.edu/alumni.