Dallas Cowboys Sam Williams’ Christmas gift after car wreck: I’m thankful I’m still here
Dallas Cowboys defensive end Sam Williams believes he is a walking testimony and lesson for everyone about the appreciation of life and your loved ones.
He says you never know when it’s your time is up.
Williams learned that first hand on Thursday when he was driving home from practice in his new Corvette ZO6, which he picked the night before at Allen Samuels Direct in Euless and was T-boned in Plano by a driver who did not yield the right of way to the rookie second-round pick from Mississippi.
Williams emerged largely unscathed from the horrific accident which resulted in significant damage to the car’s driver’s side. His front wheels flew off and debris scattered across four lanes.
“I was driving straight. All I remember is that previous car went by really fast without yielding. And then I was driving straight, I guess another car went and I looked over and I was getting hit from the side driver side,” Williams said. “And I just held on real tight to the steering wheel and tried to brace myself. When it stopped, all I was hearing was ‘Get out the car, it’s smoking.’ Once I got out everybody had their phones out and was like ‘there’s no way you lived that. There is no way you lived that.’
“I turned around and I was like ‘look at my effing car. I just bought that car. And then we tried to help the lady out but her door was jammed so we had to wait for fire department get there and open it.”
Both Williams and the other driver were taken to the hospital for precautionary reasons.
Williams first thought was about his car then reality set in for him. It allowed him to put Christmas and his family in perspective.
“Yeah, my first thing was like, ‘thank you god’ because it could have been worse,” Williams said. “I was thinking about my son and his mom. I could have been gone like that fast without seeing them and saying goodbye or anything. And I was going home to them. I think I was like five to six minutes from my house. I look back over at the accident and I am just thankful for life. Christmas was right around and like the biggest gift we have is life everyday because you never know.
“I encourage everybody to like hug their loved ones. Any dispute with family members like end it because like you’ll never know when that day is. Me going through that, I called family members and everybody to check up on them because like I said you never know. And I’m just thankful like that I’m still here because if you looked at the car, it’s like man. God works in mysterious ways. I know he has something in store for me.”
Williams woke up on Saturday and felt good enough to play against the Philadelphia Eagles as he said he only had scratches to “his beautiful face.”
But the Cowboys decided to hold him out for precautionary reasons and for fear he might have suffered a head injury.
He has been cleared and is not in concussion protocol. Williams plans to play against the Tennessee Titans on Thursday.
He was certainly all smiles Monday after a wonderful and blessed Christmas with his family.
“I had fun with my son and my family,” Williams said. ”My son got everything he wanted and plus more. It’s just a blessing. It wasn’t a sad day.”
This story was originally published December 26, 2022 at 1:52 PM.
