3 days ago
Remembering a Washington legend
Hey, Commanders fans, do you recall Zema Williams?
Or perhaps you might remember him better if I were to refer to him as "Chief Zee?" Yes, that Chief Zee! For those unfamiliar with this part of Redskins history, Williams passed away on July 19, 2016, nine years ago today.
Williams, better known as "Chief Zee," is reported to have begun attending Washington Redskins games during the 1978 season. By the way, that season was one of the most disappointing for me while growing up in northern Virginia. You see, the Redskins started that season 6-0, only to finish the season with a record of 8-8. One of the primary reasons that occurred was that Joe Theismann was injured and attempted to play through it, but his performance was severely hindered.
Back to Chief Zee. He would appear at home games wearing a full feathered headdress and a Native American costume, complete with a toy tomahawk. Local news media in print and television broadcast stories on him, and pretty soon, the entire DMV fan base loved Chief Zee. Some may even recall how he became friends with his Dallas Cowboys counterpoint, Wilford 'Crazy Ray' Jones. The two teams would visit each other's stadiums and get together to put on a show for the fans of both teams. Crazy Ray in his Cowboys attire and Chief Zee wearing his Redskins attire.
Chief Zee would become such friends with Jones that Chief Zee determined to skip a Redskins home game in 2007. Redskins fans learned after the fact that Chief Zee felt it would be a higher priority for him to attend the funeral of 'Crazy Ray' and honor his friend. It was only the second game he had missed since the 1981 season, when his own father had died.
When watching one of those NFL Films productions of the Washington Redskins 1982 season, you will see Chief Zee all the way out in Pasadena to cheer on his favorite team at Super Bowl XVII in a 27-17 win over the Miami Dolphins, and in his own Redskins uniform, of course.
Some may recall Chief Zee riding around FedEx Field on his moped in his later years. At that point, Chief Zee had suffered one of his big toes being amputated. But still wanting to attend the games, cheer on the team, and interact with fans, the Redskins helped and purchased the moped for him. When things got tough for Williams and he was only living off his Social Security, some fans united together via a GoFundMe campaign, paying both back rent and some future rent as well.
reported on July 20, 2016, that Williams had died the previous night in his sleep and that he had been suffering from bad health for his last months.
This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Remembering a Commanders' legend
