About Jayson Williams

Former NBA All-Star JAYSON WILLIAMS is a nine-year veteran of the NBA and a graduate of Saint John’s University. He is a recipient of the NAACP Trailblazer Award for community service and sponsors the Jayson Williams Foundation for underprivileged youth. His charisma, generosity and high-energy hustle made him one of America’s most popular pro athletes during the 90s, and eventually landed him a remarkable $86 million contract with the New Jersey Nets. Referred to as “The People’s Player,” Jayson’s magnetic appeal and tenacity on the boards made him a fierce, yet beloved competitor who spent his time off-court flying planes, building houses, and tending to his chores on the farm alongside his father.

Jayson’s sharp wit, outspoken candor, and sidesplitting one-liners made him a perennial member of NBA sportswriters’ “All-Interview” team and an audience favorite on the national and local television and radio circuits. However, his cheerful smiles and easy charm masked a life marked with heartbreak, tragedy, and addiction that very few knew about. After suffering a career-ending leg injury on April 1, 1999, he went on pursue a career as a national sports commentator. Despite his success in television and radio, losing his basketball career began to take its toll and his world slowly began to unravel. He soon returned to many of the habits that defined his early “wild years” in the NBA—but this time, the alcohol and recklessness would collide in a tragic and irreversible accident that would cost a man his life and send Jayson to prison to face his demons.

Once in prison, Jayson began writing— yielding so much more than journals or letters to his father who passed away. Within the pages of Humbled are Jayson’s failures, blessings, secrets, and shame– along with his personal commentaries on the many tragedies and absurdities he observes behind bars. Humbled ~ Letters From Prison is a collection of these letters and journals, written with the same call-it-like-he-sees-it style that made his first book, Loose Balls, a New York Times bestseller.