For Sixth Former Josh Williams, there was always something to chase and live up to. His two older siblings, Cameron and Gaven, built their reputations as talented track and football players, and Williams tried to make a name for himself.
Over time, jealousy overcame Williams, wishing he had what his older siblings had, feeling overlooked as the youngest.
“I didn’t like it when people called me ‘Gaven’s brother’ or ‘Cam’s brother,’” Williams said. “I wanted to be known as ‘Josh’ for who I am and what I can do. Not miniature versions of them.”
“I didn’t try to make friends, and I didn’t go to my first Haverford sporting event until my junior year.”
Josh Williams ’25
He chased his brothers’ shadows by becoming an athlete himself.
“It was out of spite more than anything else,” he said.
Williams came to Haverford as a Second Former, despite wanting to stay in the Radnor school system. School felt monotonous and forgettable.
“I was in autopilot mode. I’d come to school, go to class, play football, and then go home. I didn’t try to make friends, and I didn’t go to my first Haverford sporting event until my junior year,” Williams said.
This isolation at school took a toll on him.
“I had a lot of outside friends from Radnor, but I started to feel lonely since I spent the majority of my day at Haverford,” Williams said. “I felt trapped inside this house of resentment I built in my stubbornness to accept the school.”
By the end of his Fourth Form year, nothing had changed.
“I didn’t want to be at Haverford, and all I really cared for was getting recruited to play football in college,” Williams said.
Then, he received an email from Chair of the Performing Arts Mr. Darren Hengst, offering Williams a lead role as Chief Bromden in the 2023 fall play, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
“I never expressed interest in doing the school play, and here I was being offered a role in the play without really needing to audition,” Williams said. “It was a big welcome into their community. Mr. Hengst told me they weren’t going to do that play unless I was a part of the cast.”
Still, Williams was skeptical, despite his passion for acting. He was the lead in the fifth-grade school play and also performed in fourth grade. But by middle school, theater was no longer the popular thing to do, and he strayed away from it. Even at Haverford, where he took theater classes with Mr. Hengst, he kept himself from fulfilling his passion. So, when Mr. Hengst offered him the role, Williams hesitated.
“Football and theater didn’t exactly go hand in hand. I wasn’t sure how people would be perceived,” Williams said. “I didn’t really give him a yes or no answer for a few months. Right before the 2023-2024 school year started, I finally told my parents about it, and they said that I should do it.”
Williams quickly realized that participating in the school play was much different at Haverford than at co-ed schools.
“I didn’t do the play in middle school at Radnor because of the general feeling that you need to, for a lack of better words, aura-farm, and look cool for the girls,” Williams said. “At Haverford, I quickly realized I didn’t need to worry about that.”
The play kept his schedule busy, with football practice until 6:30 p.m. and play rehearsal until 8:30 p.m. However, it soon became a source of joy.
“I started talking to people in school more, and that feeling of loneliness I had for my first two years at the school decayed.”
Josh Williams ’25
“It was exhausting but filling. It brightened my day after butting heads at football, and really helped keep my mental state together. I love football, but it can really eat your soul and tear you down,” Williams said.
The play also allowed Williams to come out of his shell and join the community.
“When rehearsing scenes of the play I was not a part of, I could just hang out in Centennial Hall with other people,” Williams said. “I got really close with Finn Kelly. He really turned me over, and things spiralled from there. I started talking to people in school more, and that feeling of loneliness I had for my first two years at the school decayed.”
He had also set a trend for other athletes.
“It’s not really common for sporty people to also do their school play. I broke that standard,” Williams said. “A lot of other football guys also joined the play, like Phillip Okala, Walt Frazier, Brennan Apple, and Riyadh Rolls.”
In a way, Williams’ legacy is not as a football player.
“Being an actor and an athlete gives me something special that makes me ‘Josh Williams.’ I’d like to think my impact on the school is from doing theater, not from playing football,” Williams said. “During a play rehearsal earlier this school year, a student asked me if I knew where I was going to college. He didn’t know I even played football, and that made me grin ear to ear.”
Williams credits the school play to his popularity.
“If I turned down Mr. Hengst’s offer, there’s no chance I’d be the school president now,” he said. “I’m not saying that the school play is the best or only way to become involved with the community, but it was what worked for me. I’m so glad I was ever a part of it.”
He has plans to continue theater in the future.
“I want to pursue a career in football or business, but after I retire, I want to do acting because it has been and will always be a passion of mine.”
