Steve Williams, a two-time wrestling state champion at Mt. Carmel High School, died Tuesday night while visiting family in Iowa.
Family members said it appeared Williams, 29, died from a massive asthma attack and an inhaler was found near the body. An official cause of death is pending an investigation by the Iowa medical examiner’s office.
Williams was with brothers Joe and T.J., who also were standout wrestlers at Mt. Carmel, at Joe Williams’ home in Coralville, Iowa, when he excused himself and went outside.
Several minutes later T.J. Williams found his brother lying on the ground. Steve Williams was taken to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, where he was pronounced dead at 9:43 p.m., according to a hospital spokesman.
Williams started wrestling at the Harvey Twister youth wrestling club in 1981 and won three youth state championships.
He won two state titles at Mt. Carmel, including pinning all four opponents en route to his 1991 crown, but never graduated. After earning an equivalency degree in 1994, he won the National Junior College Athletic Association wrestling championship at Iowa Central Community College.
But then he served 242 days in jail for violating probation on a suspended sentence for felony theft and official duties.
Williams enrolled at Kennedy-King College in 1999 and returned to wrestling. He ended up winning the outstanding wrestler, sportsmanship and greatest-number-of-falls-in-least-aggregate-time awards at the NJCAA nationals.
He coached for two years at the college and last year returned to the Harvey Twisters as a coach. He also started an organization called Champions for Life, to mentor and train troubled youths.
“It was one of those situations where a person goes down the wrong path but he turned around,” Joe Williams said. “And by him sharing that with the younger kids, it gave them insight that you can be on the wrong path and get off and make something of your life.”
