Youth fl ag football tournament in Jamaica honors
the legacy of fallen NYPD Detective Keith Williams
BY GABRIELE HOLTERMANN
Honoring the legacy of fallen
NYPD Detective Keith Williams,
his daughter Tennile
Williams relaunched her dad’s
charitable fund with the inaugural
Detective Keith Williams
Flag Football Kickoff and BBQ
event in Jamaica on Aug. 14.
The event was held at the
Detective Keith Williams Park,
which was named after the detective
in 2019. Looking at the
large crowd that had gathered
in the park for an afternoon of
flag football, an NYPD helicopter
flyover, fun and barbecue,
his widow Rita Williams said
it was an honor that people still
remembered her husband —
even though he has been gone
for 32 years.
Det. Williams and his partner
Det. Richard Guerzon were
shot and killed by Jay Stoney
Harrison, a 25-year-old career
criminal, on the Grand Central
Parkway in Queens on Nov. 3,
1989, as they were transporting
him back to Rikers Island from
the Queens district attorney’s
office.
In an unsupervised moment,
Harrison, who was
handcuffed to a pipe on the
wall in the detective’s squad
room of the Queens district
attorney’s office, was able to
break into a locker within his
reach and steal a gun, which he
used to kill the two detectives
who were assigned to the DA’s
detective squad.
“Keith was a wonderful,
wonderful person,” Rita said
of her late husband, who devoted
his free time giving back
to the community, sponsoring
after-school and youth sports
programs. “And you can tell
that by the people that are here
today. They never forgot, and
as long as we’re alive, we never
will forget. So I’m elated.”
Rita started the Detective
Keith L. Williams Memorial
Charitable Fund Inc. in 1991
and raised over a quarter of
a million dollars for scholarships.
She pointed out that
some of the police officers who
attended the event were scholarship
recipients.
Her daughter, Tennile Williams,
who was only 12 years
old when her dad was murdered,
officially took over
the “torch” on June 26. She
explained that the flag football
tournament in her dad’s
memory was a means to “revamp”
the fund and teach the
younger generation about her
dad’s legacy.
“My dad ate and slept his
community,” she said of her father,
who was the pillar of the
community. “There was never
a ‘no.'”
Her focus is on providing
scholarships to students and
establishing an academic recreation
center for young people
to offer them an outlet, keep
them off the streets and lower
the rate of violence amongst
teens.
“Kids are being killed by
the hour. They have nowhere
to go. They have no form of
recreation. There’s nothing really
out there,” Tennile said.
“If you don’t know and do your
homework, those platforms
are not presented to our Black
and brown babies. I want to get
these kids off the streets and
give them somewhere to go.”
She shared that the charitable
fund will have a breast
cancer awareness walkathon
in October, and she’ll continue
her black-tie affairs and dances.
“I want the children to know
that this is not something that
just was brought about yesterday,”
Tennile said. “This is
over 30 years in the making.”
While the games went underway,
Det. Nicholas Masi
TIMESLEDGER | Q 2 NS.COM |AUG. 20 - AUG. 26, 2021
with the Detective Endowment
Association, which provided
their mobile canteen handing
out beverages and snacks,
said it was a wonderful event
in memory of a great detective
and provided an opportunity to
forge relationships with kids.
“It keeps them out of trouble,
and it gives them something
to do and gives us something
to look forward to,” Det.
Masi shared.
Undeterred by the scorching
heat, the players gave it
their all, competing for the
coveted championship trophy
accompanied by the cheers of
family and friends.
One of the teams, the Far
Rockaway Colts, is part of the
“Neighborhood Coordination
School Initiative” (NCSI) in
Far Rockaway, an NYPD mentorship
program for at-risk
youth.
NYPD Lt. Lenora Moody
and Detective Patrick Blanc
of the NYPD’s Community Affairs
Division, who helped organize
the flag football event,
started the program three
years ago after Lt. Moody
learned about a similar program
in Los Angeles. After
a trip to LA, they built on the
program, which aims to break
the cycle of violence and provide
at-risk youth with tutoring,
mentoring and flag football
training while improving
the relationship between the
NYPD and the community.
In partnership with the Department
of Education (DOE),
which helps pinpoint students
who would benefit from the
program, 117 boys receive after
school tutoring provided by
the DOE. They are mentored
by 14 police officers under the
leadership of Lt. Moody, Det.
Blanc and Sgt. Kai Bowen.
Since last year, the NY Giants
are on board, providing additional
mentoring with regular
Zoom meetings between the
players, the officers and the
kids.
A crucial aspect of the program
is the strong relationship
between the kids and their
mentors, who are available for
them around the clock.
Lt. Moody told her officers,
“I don’t care what time of night
it is. I don’t care if you went to
Haiti; you pick up that phone
because there is a reason why
that child is calling you.”
Twelve-year-old Far Rockaway
Colts player Anthony
Child has been part of the program
for three years, and when
he found his mom unresponsive
on the floor before she died
of COVID-19, the first person
he called was his mentor Det.
Blanc, who was immediately
there for him.
“They’ll be right there to
show up to my house and help
me, especially when my mom
passed away,” said Child,
whose favorite subject is math.
“They came and helped me and
got me through it. It feels really
good to have someone you can
rely on, and they do the best
that they can, so I really appreciate
it.”
Lt. Moody and Det. Blanc
pointed out that the program
not only benefits the boys but
also positively affects their
families.
Lt. Moody explained that
many parents didn’t want to
deal with the police before
their kids enrolled in the program
but now feel comfortable
reaching out if they need help.
“Isn’t that what we strive
for is to have that connectivity
with the community? And not
have that tension, contention?”
Moody asked. “It’s all broken
down with the game of football,
a simple process that the LAPD
got right. All we did was take
their concept and enhance it.”
“They are becoming better
human beings,” Det. Blanc
said. “Not only the boys but
our parents have become better
human beings. And it’s one
big family. We got 117 boys.
Multiply that by like five or
six. That’s a lot of people in Far
Rockaway.”
After the Playmakers from
Queens won all three games,
NYPD Chief of Community Affairs
Jeffrey Maddrey didn’t
miss the chance to hand out
the championship trophy to
them, reminding the players
that competitive sports leagues
were “all about love, respect,
teamwork and working together.”
Denis Urena of the Playmakers
and Far Rockaway
Colts player Anthony Childs
shared the desired MVP award
because of their “phenomenal
skills” on the field, Det. Blanc,
aka “Coach Pat,” said.
Former correction officer
Hicks was inspired to join the
NYPD after seeing the program’s
positive impact on her
two boys, ages 12 and 13.
“The kids are more responsible,
independent, and
are more into school, and they
know that they can be anything
in life,” the freshly minted
NYPD officer said.
Of her switch from NY’s
Boldest to NY’s Finest, Hicks
said, “The coaches motivated
the kids so much that it
made me feel like I want to
be a part of something that so
awesome.”
NYPD Chief Jeffrey Maddrey embraces MVP Anthony Childs during the trophy ceremony of the inaugural
flag footbal tournament in memory of fallen Det. Keith Williams. Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
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