Today we’d like to introduce you to Louis Williams IV.
Hi Louis, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am the oldest of 5 siblings born and raised in Milwaukee Wisconsin. Growing up in Milwaukee I was surrounded by a bunch of negativity and violence which I often found myself going down that path. I played football, baseball, and basketball in high school. I also played the clarinet while in high school. I’ve been playing football since 7th grade, basketball since 3rd grade, and baseball during freshmen year. During high school broke the fifth metatarsal in both my feet. This had me in a wheelchair for 2-3 months then I had to walk with 2 boots while it healed for 2 months after the wheelchair. I never had my father in my life. He was in jail for the most part of it. I met him when I was 16 years old, and we started to develop a little relationship, but he eventually got murdered after my freshman year of high school. I’m from Milwaukee Wisconsin came up to Minnesota in 2016 to play football at St. Cloud State University. They cut the team in 2021. I got my bachelor’s degree in manufacturing engineering technology. These were challenging times for me because I had to make a decision to stay or leave. I ultimately decided to stay and graduated last year in December 2021. I am currently working in Monticello at Tire Service International. While working here I also YouTube, TikTok, officiate basketball, football, soccer, volley and umpire baseball and softball. I don’t do the traditional work that other officials do. I go above and beyond to ensure that the kids I’m working with have a good time. I’m doing cheers with the kids, and when they make mistakes, I teach them what they are doing wrong while officiating them. I also make TikTok videos with kids before and after games. I am currently doing basketball where I put halftime shows on by backflipping and doing crazy trick shots. I work all across the state where I go to officiate. I impact everyone involved by making sure that the experience is the best. I started public speaking this year had my first event this year in November and got more speaking opportunities lined up for next year. I work 80-100 hours a week all year long. I just want to show people that if I can do it anybody can do it, but you have to chase success every day.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No, the road has not been smooth. Before attending college, I originally accepted an offer to attend Western Illinois to play football. However, I got into some legal trouble senior year of high school when I was facing felony charges that got me kicked out of high school. This caused me to lose my D1 football offer to Western Illinois and all the other schools that were interested. St. Cloud Recruited me my junior year and told me if anything ever happens give them a call. I was kicked out of school and gave them a call after. They offered me a walk on position after I graduated high school. I came to St. Cloud in 2016 redshirted my freshmen year of college. After redshirting I got suspended from the team my sophomore year for breaking team conduct rules. Was going to drop out of school at this point. I decided to stay and took a year off just worked and went to school. Junior year of college got back on the team and played a little that year. I eventually end up earning a scholarship for football. Then the football team got cut at St. Cloud State University for budget issues. I was faced with deciding to leave or stay. I ended up staying because not many schools offered my major. During my time in college, it was challenging because I was taking one of the toughest majors on campus. I failed a couple of classes. Had to retake, chemistry, calculus, and computer coding 2 times. I almost gave up because the classes were challenging. Eventually, I ended up passing those classes and getting my degree. I found a job right away. During college, I started to umpire baseball, softball, and ref basketball. I was doing the traditional stuff that we are taught to do. Then one day I started to add a little twist to it while umpiring. It was a little uncomfortable at first because nobody has ever done it, but I got out of my comfort zone and started trying new things. People loved it.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m currently working as a Manufacture Engineer Technician in Monticello, Mn at Tire Service International. We are a manufacturing shop that creates machines that have to deal with the tire. Machines that put grooves in the tire, recycle, take them on and off. We also sell other products. My job is to design the machines on Solid-Works which is a CAD program where each machine is designed first before going into production. I make the blueprints for each machine from start to finish. Showing what material to use; the size of the material any hole locations that need to be on the material. Also, make blueprints showing you how to put the machine together from welding it all the way to where each screw and nut go. Something that make me stand apart is that I am well to get along with and have great relationships with all my peers. I also figured out new ways to design blueprints to make it easier and less stressful for assemblers when they are putting the machines together. Also, came up with different strategies to save material and cut time during production.
I also umpire baseball and softball full-time. I go by the name of Blue Lou while umpiring softball and 2k ref while officiating basketball. I make TikToks with the kids before and after the games. While umpiring, I am not your traditional umpire; I go above and beyond. Before the games start, I’m bringing both teams together getting in the middle doing cheers with the kids and backflipping for them to get them pumped up for the game. During the game, I don’t do regular strike calls; I make them funny. I got bowling strike calls, dancing and funny ones. The most famous animation is the strike 3 call. I do a bow and arrow and backflip after, so everyone knows clearly that the batter is out. While the game is going on in between innings, I’m going dug out to dig out ramping the energy in the dugouts by doing cheers that I lead off and backflip for the kids when they cheer back. I’m doing cheers with the kids while I’m behind the plate umpiring to change the game creating energy that has never been seen before during a softball game. This led me to be featured in Kare11 News by Boyyd Hupert and NBC nightly news.
I also have YouTube and TikTok on the side. I started off you tubing doing public interviews. I got a podcast too. I also record basketball and flag football sessions and put together highlight videos after. I upload my TikTok and shorts to YouTube too. My TikTok videos are made with kids from the sports I am officiating. Often times just follow the TikTok trends adding my own little mix to it by doing backflips too.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
My mom is my number 1 influence. I see her working so hard to provide for me and my siblings. Never seen her complain at all. She worked hard to make sure that we needed everything that we need. She also was at almost every game me and my siblings played sacrificing a lot of her time to attend our games when you have 5 kids that can be challenging. I see her go back to school get her GED and high school diploma. After she got her GED, she went to college and got her associate’s degree as a nurse assistant. She never made excuses even during hard times. I have never seen her give out. She instilled discipline in me and never gave up on me when I was going through a rough patch in life. She was there for me even after I kept disappointing her. She is just a great provider, mother, and teacher. Always told me to learn from her mistakes and not make the same mistakes she did. Pushed me to go to college. She always supported any dream or thing I wanted to do never stopping me from trying anything I wanted to do.
My grade school football coach Gillie. He was the first coach that believed in me and gave me a chance to play football in the seventh grade. He would pick me up take me to get food and just talk to me about being a leader, hard work, and discipline at a young age.
My Highschool football and baseball coach Holfmann. When I got kicked out of school, I had nobody on my side. He was the one person that stayed in my corner and helped me get to college. He taught me to never waste a second of my day. I need to value my time and not waste it. Every challenge or disappointment I go through won’t last forever but it will make me a stronger person.
Big brother from big brother big sister program name David Trotter. He would pick me up when I was younger like 13 years old and helped me be more open-minded to trying new things. He took me to my first ever football Packer’s game, Milwaukee Bucks game, Brewer’s game. He also took me golfing for first time and introduced me to baseball. He was good to me because he just showed me life can be fun just got to try new things. Also, he was older than me so him spending time with me so young showed me that you can have older people as your friends. They will show you a lot.
High school football coach Zortmann. He took me on my first college visit. He also helped me choose my major in engineering. I thought I wanted to be a construction worker at first, but he made me realize you don’t need school for that. I wanted something I had to get a degree for, and he persuaded my decision into engineering. He also gave me my first chance to play varsity football when I was a freshman in high school.
Nancy Sundheim who was my college advisor. She helped me decide what part of engineering I wanted to go after. She was always there for me during my time in college. Anytime I would doubt myself about classes she would just tell me you can do it; I know you can. Just those small words kept my confidence and helped me get through it. She helped me realize that after I was done with school, the world was mine. Helped me stay focused on my goal and dream.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steveyyjayylou/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/louis.williams.5661/
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/louiswilliams22
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCStwLAGkya40cvhHzZ_EDrw
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@steveyyjayylou?lang=en
