Our people: Baseball fan readies for historic season

Jamaal Williams may have been born in an Air Force town, but when it came time to join a branch of the military he chose the U. S. Navy.

His Navy tour took him to the Mediterranean, the North Atlantic, Paris, Rome, Croatia, Jerusalem and other locales.

And when he was done, he came home.

Sitting in his Clovis home Tuesday, Williams shared stories of his life with The News.

Q: So you are an eastern New Mexican by birth?

A: I was born and raised here in Clovis.

I went to Cameo Elementary, Gattis Junior High and Clovis High schools.

Q: Tell us about your family.

A: My grandfather was posted here in the military so he moved his family here from Virginia in 1970, among the last people to arrive here on an Amtrak train. They stopped service here not long after that.

My mother lives here, so does my aunt, Joyce Pollard, my dad's sister.

My father came up here from the Matagorda Bay area of Texas.

I met my wife, Constance, at Eastern New Mexico University her senior year.

We have three children, 13, 10 and 7 years old.

Q: What did you want to be when you grew up?

A: I was a regular ol' Clovis kid.

I remember telling people I wanted to be a baseball player.

Right out of high school I joined the Navy.

Q: Tell us about your time in the Navy.

A: I started working when I was 15 or 16.

Then some time later some of my buddies were talking to a Navy recruiter. So I went and talked to the recruiter and a couple of weeks later I signed up.

I was a gas turbine systems technician. I was an engine room operator.

Q: What is your career these days?

A: I am an instrumentation tech at Southwest Cheese.

Basically if there's trouble with an automated system we have to figure out what went wrong.

Q: You ran for Clovis city commission in 2020. What did you learn? Would you do it again?

A: I learned we're in partisan gridlock.

I think it's unreasonable because when I was campaigning I stopped at Republican and Democrat homes and I found common ground.

We care about most of the same issues.

There are some "hot button" issues.

It's really easy to see the complaints and problems when you walk the street and talk to people.

Run again? Probably not.

You have to be a Republican or say you're a Republican.

Q: You have a love of kids baseball.

A: I think I'm a little crazy.

I played when I was little. I hung around the ballfield a lot.

I want to make sure these kids who are not supported can play.

I'm the president of Clovis Western Little League.

Q: What's the best sandwich?

A: A fried bologna sammich.

Fry some bologna, get some nice bread, maybe some condiments, maybe some cheese, some tomato.

Just like my grandmother used to make.

Q: What was your first concert?

A: It was a Naughty by Nature concert in Virginia Beach, Va.

Q: You have a favorite movie?

A: Eddie Murphy movies. I don't have a favorite.

Q: Do you have a favorite vacation place?

A: The past few years I've been traveling all over New Mexico.

I've been enjoying what I've seen.

Q: What's the worst smell?

A: Whey protein.

The first time I smelled it I thought it smelled like breast-fed baby poop.

I'm used to it now.

Q: What's your favorite food?

A: Buffalo wild wings.

I love them with their hot and Caribbean jerk sauces.

Q: Do you have a favorite saying?

A: Everybody wants to be the boss until it's time to be the boss.

Q: There is an event you want everyone to attend Saturday, what is it?

A: We are having our opening ceremony for Clovis Western Little League.

The ceremony is at 11 a.m. and the first game is at 1:30 p.m. Both are at Potter Park, 501 Upsilon St. in Clovis.

Some background, 2020 was 100 years since the Negro League baseball started. But we didn't get to celebrate that year.

So now we're going to celebrate it with an homage to the Negro League and naming this year's teams after historic Clovis teams like the Clovis Buzzers and Clovis Pioneers.

The first game at 1:30 is going to be inter-league play with an American Little League Team.

It'll be high drama with Coach Moses Bibbs' Baltimore Black Sox against Dewey Patton's Orioles.