Delvin Williams

• Born April 17, 1951, in Houston, Texas.
• San Francisco's second-round choice in 1974, played eight seasons with the 49ers, Dolphins and Packers.
  
• “Speed, Inc. Like trying to catch a jet upon takeoff … Set a 49er rushing record with 1,203 yards as he overtook a Jet—Joe “The Jet” Perry … Had back-to-back games of 194 and 180, the latter against Washington when he scored on 80- and 22-yard runs and on a club-record 85-yard pass … On ensuing Monday night game, he WAS the halftime highlights … ‘I’m not what you would call a thinking man’s runner. Everything I do is by instinct’ … Redskins’ linebacker Harold McClinton says Williams is a better back than Walter Payton.”[1]
• “… Talented track star-football player at Kansas, where he graduated—a rarity in the NFL—in four years … Had a rough life growing up … Someone with a head on his shoulders, Williams attends graduate school while playing for the Dolphins …”[2]
• A knee injury reduced his effectiveness at the end of his 1,200-yard 1978 season for the Dolphins. "In one streak of six straight games, (Williams) was called on 28 times to convert a first down with three yards or less to go—and he succeeded 20 of those times."[3] Williams was leading the NFL in rushing, ahead of second-place Earl Campbell, going into the Dolphins’ Week 12 matchup with the Oilers’ on Monday Night Football on Nov. 20, 1978. His 12- and 19-yard runs helped Miami stake a 7-0 lead. His 1-yard touchdown run near the end of the first half made it 14-14. And his 23-yard reverse on third-and-13 in the third quarter led to another game-tying score, at 21-21. But the Oilers lost 35-30, and Williams lost his NFL-rushing lead to Campbell, for good.
• In the July 27, 1981, Sports Illustrated, John Underwood wrote, "Delvin Williams, the premier running back for whom Shula had traded four years ago and who had gone from the penthouse to the doghouse in record time, said he wouldn't be caught dead in a Dolphin uniform again, and demanded a trade. Last year Williams reportedly fell asleep in team meetings; he was subsequently benched for running as if he were asleep. His agent said the sleeping problem was a 'physical' quirk—that Delvin falls asleep in restaurants, too, and 'when he's talking to you on the phone.'"
  
• The running back on Paul Warfield’s South Florida Sun-Sentinel ballot for Dolphins’ all-time team.
• At a Sept. 18, 2007, Gridiron Greats event in Washington, Williams said he spent more than seven years in court with the NFL pursuing $160,000 in retroactive disability payments associated with 16 surgeries. Williams said the NFL sought reimbursement from him for $1.2 million in legal fees.
  
• Inducted into the African American Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame on Feb. 9, 2009.
• "After retiring," read a Dec. 2, 2008, African American Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame press release, "Williams turned his energy and experience as a professional athlete to helping underprivileged youth by promoting sports and developing drug abuse prevention programs, including founding and running, including founding and serving as executive director of 'Pros for Kids,' which pairs professional athletes and young drug offenders. He organized a consortium of community, private and public sector organizations to create an employment clearinghouse called Jobs for Youth. Williams has also served on the boards of several organizations in San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Contra Costa and Alameda counties."
  

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[1] 1977 Edition The Complete Handbook of Pro Football Zander Hollander, ed. (New York: Signet, 1977) 240.

[2] 1980 Season The Complete Handbook of Pro Football Zander Hollander, ed. (New York: Signet, 1980) 106.

[3] The Pocket Book of Pro Football 1979 Herbert M. Furlow, ed. (New York: Pocket Books, 1979) 10.

1978 and '79 Miami Dolphins

The 1978 Dolphins had gone on a three-game win streak to close the regular season in which their defense allowed a total of nine or so points. In the season finale against the Patriots, Bob Griese had pounced on a fumble by halfback Gary Davis. In the ensuing melee, Griese's ribs were bruised, and this injury was apparently severe enough to limit his throwing motion in the playoff loss to Houston. I hate the Patriots. Also, Miami's leading rusher, Delvin Williams, had suffered a knee injury at the end of his 1,200-yard season. Plus:

• "In one streak of six straight games, (Williams) was called on 28 times to convert a first down with three yards or less to go--and he succeeded 20 of those times."[1]
• Garo Yepremian owned a hamburger restaurant.
• Rookie third-string quarterback Guy Benjamin completed six of eight passes for 91 yards and a touchdown during 1978.
• "During '78, the Miami cornerbacks played much deeper than they had in the past--this considered by some as a concession to defensive weakness."[2]
• Cornerback Curtis Johnson, one of my all-time favorite Dolphins and, I think, one of the absolute heroes of the championship seasons, was a vegetarian.

Finally, I just want to point out that Larry Csonka returned to the Dolphins as a free-agent signee on Feb. 22, 1979, and I remember this news being met with total joy by Mom and me. Dad, of course, thought Csonka was through. But, alas, Csonka ran for more than 800 yards in 1979 and scored 13 touchdowns. Then he retired.

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[1] The Pocket Book of Pro Football 1979 Herbert M. Furlow, ed. (New York: Pocket Books, 1979) 10.

[2] The Pocket Book of Pro Football 1979 Herbert M. Furlow, ed. (New York: Pocket Books, 1979) 15.

Bulgaria Month

Following the news of the day out of Bulgaria is not for the faint of heart ... Reuters' Irina Ivanova writes that "Bulgarians are set to punish the Socialists in July" and that "Bulgaria's average monthly salary of about 300 euros ($420) remains the lowest in the EU." Despite the country's poor economy--forecasted by the International Monetary Fund to bottom out this year--versatile Nick Iliev's Sofia Echo reporting indicates that "ATM skimming" is a growing industry.

Of course, following the news of yesterday is pretty grim, too. Check out the Bulgaria exhibit at the Global Museum on Communism, which launched yesterday. Its history section includes these two paragraphs about Bulgaria's "People's Courts," which show up again and again in the Collier's Encyclopedia Yearbook reports from the second half of the 1940s:

"... The next stage of the communist takeover began in December 1944, when the government installed special People’s Courts authorized to prosecute 'fascists.' Similar tribunals were established in every European state that was occupied by or collaborated with Nazi Germany; in Bulgaria, however, the purges were of a magnitude unseen elsewhere. In Hungary or Czechoslovakia individual members of parliaments and governments were indicted – whereas in Bulgaria the government put on trial all members of all governments and all parliaments between 1941 and 1944. Each one of these individuals was sentenced to death – 2800 death sentences overall – and the verdicts were carried out immediately. In contrast, People’s Courts in Hungary handed out 322 death sentences 176 of which were commuted.

"The term 'fascist' was applied to anyone who had opposed the communists in the past or might oppose them in the future. In addition to the judicial and extra-judicial murders, 'fascists' were subjected to imprisonment (the People’s Court sentenced to life imprisonment more than 2,000 defendants), deportations (5,000 families were sent into internal exile), and incarceration (by the end of 1945 approximately 10,000 people languished in concentration camps). ..."

Bulgaria Month, June 16

Here begins what is for me the most stunning sentence of Bulgaria Month proceedings thus far: European Social Survey (ESS) reports that more than half of Bulgarians feel unsafe to walk through their neighborhoods at night.

In other happy news of the day, 80 schools are closing, and 1,500 teachers are losing their jobs. And the first "Intercontinental Round" weekend of World League men's volleyball went badly for the Bulgarians.

Bulgaria Month, June 10

Dudaktan Kalbe and other Turkish soap operas are all the rage in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria Month, June 11

The Bulgarian education minister says literature classes will cover Bulgarian-to-Latin translation to help students text message in accordance with the country's new, state-supported Law on Transliteration dictionary.

In other news today, SETimes.com seems to be suggesting that an alleged organized-crime boss in southwestern Bulgaria might be trying to escape prosecution by getting elected in Kyustendil. The sister city Cocoa Beach, Fla.--home to more than 51,000 people--looks like a pretty place.

Bulgaria Month, June 13

Might women's volleyball be Bulgaria's sport ...?

Bulgaria appears to be emerging as the Western Balkans whip and banner toter within the European Union. Since joining the EU, Bulgaria has become a higher-revenue customer for Italy, and Italy is apparently going to in some way give Bulgaria free advertising as an Italian tourist destination.

Finally, the very-great-idea Heifer International says financial problems will keep it from launching projects in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria Month, June 14

The prenup is coming to Bulgaria. Reports Radio Bulgaria: "Bulgarians can now divorce Hollywood-wise that is a few days after the marriage. The new rules ease divorce procedures, lifting regulations whcih forbid divorce before three years of marriage pass." The Heritage Foundation says the 2002 divorce rate in Bulgaria was 21.1 per 100 marriages--less than half than in the United States, about twice as much as in Italy.

Bulgaria Month, June 12

Through the (Collier's Encyclopedia) (Y)ear(book)s with Bulgaria:

• 1945--Four parties (the Agrarians, Right Wing Zveno Group, Socialists and Communists) comprise the ruling Fatherland Front. The yearbook says that the most influential person in the party is a woman named Tsola Dragoytchova but doesn't go into any details. A Google search on her name appears to confirm the name and importance, but that's about it. Two other things from this year ... It is said that, through, March 26, 1945, 2,138 people had been convicted (of treason, it appears) by Bulgaria's People's Court and executed. Also, it is said that in October, Louisville editor Mark Ethridge visited Bulgaria to report on the elections there and contributed to the U.S. position that they failed to reflect the democratic opinion.
• 1955--"Of all the satellite countries in Eastern Europe Bulgaria has been the one most Sovietized. ... Little news came out of the country." So, for example, while Western media were allowed to visit some Communist lands in summer 1955, Bulgaria "remained secluded." Among the news that did seep through were these two items. Bulgaria in August shot down what turned out to be a passenger plane from Israel, killing 57 on board. (The Bulgarian government eventually apologized for the error.) Also in 1955, Bulgaria cut a deal to buy 500 Chevrolet passenger cars for a little more than $1 million, "but the agreement was cancelled by General Motors under a company rule against sales to Communist countries."
• 1973--Some interesting legislation from this year ... Citizens may own no more than one residence and one villa, neither larger than 120 square meters (about 1,290 square feet). Property being used to generate "non-labor income" was to be expropriated, with violators additionally either being resettled or jailed. Moms were extended six months of additional paid leave after their first child, seven months after their second, eight months after their third and an additional six months for each new child thereafter. Minimum wage was raised to 80 leva per month. Top teacher salary was raised to 145 leva per month; beginning physicians, to 130 per month.

Bulgaria Month, June 9

Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007, and Sunday was the first time it voted in sync with the rest of the EU for Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). Bulgaria elects 17 of the 736 MEPs (Germany holds the most seats, 99; Malta, the least, 5), and on Sunday an estimated 38 percent of Bulgarians voted to shift more of those seats to a center-right/populist party led by the Sofia mayor. The Financial Times reports that the results suggests the mayor, Boyko Borissov, is the favorite to become Bulgaria’s next leader when citizens return to the polls July 5 to elect their national leaders.

It's sort of interesting to read the (Google translation of) results of an online poll at the winning party's web site, "Who should be the leading priority for the next administration?"

• Combating Corruption and Organized Crime 31.8%
• increasing incomes of citizens 26.1%
• absorption of EU funds 9.2%
• building infrastructure 7.0%
• Reform of the judiciary 6.5%
• investment in education 5.6%
• reducing unemployment 5.4%
• Energy Security 4.3%
• accessible and quality health care 4.0%

It's significantly more interesting, however, to read this story.

Finally, there's this, which is definitely interesting but difficult to figure. The person who posted it appears to have roots with both Bulgaria and Macedonia.

Bulgaria Month, June 7

Bulgaria 1-1 Republic of Ireland

The postmortem from The Sofia Echo's Nick Iliev: "It was a decent encounter on a sunny afternoon in Sofia that saw the travelling merry contingent of 3000 plus Irish supporters who had arrived to back their team, singing and drinking constantly. The carnival atmosphere was augmented by the 35 000 thousand Bulgarians who also created a wall of noise in support of their team. It was a good day of football, without crowd trouble, and although the score could have been a little better for the hosts, it will go down as a pleasant encounter for both sides."

And, so, while not definitively eliminated, Bulgaria appears unlikely to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup and instead likely to extend vigil for its next "Golden Generation." That's the nickname for the 1994 national team, the only Bulgarian side to ever achieve the World Cup semifinals.

Later during Bulgaria Month, we'll look at where else in the Bulgarian sports world resides excitement. More importantly today, however: http://www.sofiaecho.com/2009/06/06/731292_bulgaria-falls-in-love-with-fast-food?p=0#comments!

Bulgaria Month, June 6

In my dream episode of Wide World of Sports today, Jim McKay would be ushering me among:

• this morning's Graham, N.C., 5K,
• tonight's A's-Orioles game (Oakland's on a four-game win streak!),
• whatever Bob Griese happens to be doing today (going to a hardware store, watching TV, whatever) and
• the Bulgaria-Ireland match beginning in Sofia starting at 12:30 p.m. U.S. Central today.

Vasil Levski Stadium is probably already aflutter with fans anticipating a World Cup-contention-saving victory, but "The Bulgarian Billy Reed" is sounding a cautionary alarm.

"The fact is, if Ireland are not exactly a 'force' in football, well then neither are Bulgaria," writes The Sofia Echo's Nick Iliev. "The glory days of 1994 are long gone and the current football generation has done little to prove the Bulgarian supporters that a "Second Golden" generation is coming up through the ranks. At least at skin-deep level It appears, that the Irish are taking this game a little more professionally and more seriously than the overflowing with confidence Bulgarians."

Bulgaria Month, June 5 (belatedly)

I'm very excited to announce that I am enhancing my Bulgaria Month activities with some hard-hitting, College Heights Herald-honed investigative reporting.

Will advise as events warrant!

Props again to the BMDepGM for tipping me off to the USA Today coverage of this story. I found the last sentence of this Sofia Echo version illuminative of Bulgarian life: "Perhaps Bulgarians' new-found love of fast food could be attributed to its novelty value?"

Bulgaria Month, June 4

Organized crime is said to be an unusually big problem in Bulgaria, and here's a story from Today's Sofia Echo that might lend credence to the notion. Meanwhile, the BBC reports that three players missing from Bulgaria's 1-1 March tie with Ireland could prove useful in Saturday's key rematch.

In other news, here's my shopping list for the Bulgarian dishes I plan to make over the course of Bulgaria Month:

5 Large Potatoes
1 Pound Sauerkraut
4 Cups Vegetarian bouillon
Butter
Salt And Pepper
3 Tablespoons Flour
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Cloves Garlic
Plain yogurt
5 carrots
stalk celery
2 cans pinto beans
200g white beans
4 bell peppers
medium-sized cabbage
2 onions
7 tomatoes
1 beetroot
1 tsp. paprika
dozen eggs
sunflower oil
parsley
4 hot peppers
Mint
1 pound+2 packets of phyllo dough
600 grams of cheddar and mozzarella mixture
1,050 grams of feta cheese
soda water
spinach
2 roasted peppers
oregano
3 Pounds Pie Pumpkin
Brown Sugar
Cinnamon
Walnuts

And the recipes:

• Vipava Corba
• Zelenchukova Supa
• Bob Chorba
• Banitsa
• Sirene po Shopski
• Tikvenik
• Gyuveche

Bulgaria Month, June 3

The country's first cases of swine flu, the heart-attack death of a mayor while competing in the Bulgarian version of Survivor and Motley Crue's first concert in the country are among the stories in today's news. Furthermore, the country is turning its attention to Saturday's soccer game with Ireland.

A Kentucky schoolboy friend of mine about 10 years ago decided to become a fan of European football. Stephen started reading all sorts of books, monitoring Internet sites, ordering videos, etc., and manufactured for himself a deep love for all doings on and around the pitch. So, according to Stephen, even a draw would likely eliminate Bulgaria from contention for a World Cup berth. Bulgaria's hasn't done much in World Cup competition since reaching the semifinals in 1994. Stephen says this was the equivalent of Mississippi State winning the Sugar Bowl and finishing fourth in the national polls.

The big star Bulgarian player on that 1994 team was Hristo Stoichov, who in 2003 was voted by the Bulgarian Football Union as the country's "Golden Player" of the last 50 years (very cool award). He went on to a short, mostly unsuccessful and highly controversial tenure as coach of the Bulgarian national team. This guy sounds a little bit like Pete Rose.

Bulgaria Month, June 2

Most of the media sites are in Bulgarian, but there are a couple I intend to monitor during Bulgaria Month. In today's news were the following two tidbits.

From http://news.dnevnik.bg/: "Bulgaria dropped from the top of the rankings in terms of highest spikes in housing property prices, with an increase of just 3.3% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2009, according to the latest report of British property advisors Knight Frank. The country slipped to ninth spot from year-ago’s second, when home prices skyrocketed by 30%. ... Israel strode atop of the first-quarter table with a 10.9% increase, followed by the Czech Republic, where home prices soared by 9.9%. Bulgaria was leapfrogged also by Switzerland, India, Indonesia and Russia. Dubai and Singapore trailed at the bottom of the table with falls of 32% and 23%, respectively. Thirty of the 46 countries in the ranking saw their housing property prices collapse, with Dubai and Singapore again marking the steepest drops of a respective 40% and 16.2%. The worldwide economic deterioration and the mounting unemployment continue to pinch the global housing market, according to the analysts, who predict that the sector will stay in the doldrums by the end of the year."

And from http://www.sofiaecho.com/: "At noon on June 2, sirens sounded in honour of one of Bulgaria's most beloved heroes and revolutionaries, poet and rebel Hristo Botev (1848-76). Following custom, people stood still for a minute until the sirens stopped. Even traffic on Sofia's busy roads was halted for one minute. The sirens are a reminder to remember the day on which Botev died after several days of fighting the Ottoman army in the days when Bulgaria was under Ottoman rule. The sound of the sirens at noon marks the beginning of a minute of silence in honour of Botev and his comrades who fought on the last day of the April uprising in 1876."

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hristo_Botev, Botev in 1848 was born a liberal teacher's son from a southern Bulgarian mountain-valley town. He goes away to study in Ukraine and falls in love with Russian, Polish and French revolutionary writing. When he was 19, he returns home to substitute teach in place of his sick dad and speaks at a nationalist festival that his dad had actually helped launch. It turns out to be a screed against Ottoman rule and wealthy, Uncle-Tom Bulgarians, and it gets Botev pegged as a rabble-rouser. Feeling the heat, he again skips town--this time for Romania, a popular destination for Bulgarian exiles.

Over the next few years, Botev lives hand-to-mouth, writing poetry and befriending Vasil Levski, the key organizer of Bulgarian insurgency from Romania. This had to be absolutely great. Oh, what a perfectly heady gas it must've been to spend ages 20 to 25 sleeping on couches and spewing out poems with titles ranging from "Patriot" and "Epistle (to the Bishop of Tarnovo)" to "To My First Love" and "In the Tavern" that come to be received as the moral compass for a bunch of fast-talking, jittery revolutionaries! At some point along this era, Botev marries a woman named Veneta with a son, Dimitar, and they eventually have a daughter of their own, Ivanka.

But, alas, the fun and games end when Levski is tried (for treason, I suppose) and executed on Feb. 19, 1873. This splits the Bulgarian revolutionary movement in Romania. Botev is the voice of a camp that says now is the time to gather a revolution, while there forms another, more moderate position that suggests regrouping, retooling and waiting for the next train. When the leader of that group becomes ill and steps out of the scene, Botev becomes the singular head of all things "Take Back Bulgaria."

If you've read this far, I encourage you to scroll down to the "Death" section at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hristo_Botev. Here's some lively writing involving Botev and his band disguising themselves as gardeners, seizing control of an Austro-Hungarian passenger steamship but eventually converting the captain to their side, kissing the homeland upon their invasion across the Danube (only to find the locals not very interested in confronting the Ottomans) and, despite limited training and equipment, putting up a sticky and inventive mountain defense against the authorities that exploited the Ottomans' custom of suspending any operations at nightfall. Botev took a bullet to the chest on May 20, 1876, and died.

The legend of Botev grew not only in Bulgaria but also in Russia in the decades following his death, and today he's a national icon. In addition to a bunch of streets and public buildings, a number of soccer stadiums and teams are named after Bodev, including http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PFC_Botev_Plovdiv.

Given all of this, I hereby expand the list of topics of my Bulgaria interest:

-- Bulgarian National Revival,
-- feuilletons,
-- bashi-bazouks,
-- the Paris Commune,
-- the organized-crime problem,
-- NATO membership after being on the losing side in two world wars,
-- the Bulgarian Orthodox Church,
-- Saints Cyril and Methodius,
-- music,
-- food,
-- John Ross Beryle (U.S. ambassador to Bulgaria),
-- star speedskater Eugenia Radanova,
-- 2014 Olympics candidacy and
-- the June 6 soccer must-win vs. Ireland/Hristo Stoichkov.