One of the greatest athletes of all time from Tacoma has died. Dave Williams, a 1963 graduate of Lincoln High School, died on Wednesday after a long illness at his home in Amelia Island, Florida, his youngest son Steve Williams announced. He was 78 years old.

Williams was a star in football, basketball, track and the decathlon as a youth and is considered one of the best high school athletes in Washington history. He was a star athlete at Lincoln before embarking on an All-American career in football and track at the University of Washington. He was selected 16th overall in the first round of the 1967 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals.

Williams earned 12 varsity letters at Lincoln: three in football, three in basketball, three in track and three in the decathlon. He was named All-City, All-Conference and All-State in football his junior and senior years and was selected as an All-American his senior year.

At UW, Williams was a second-team Associated Press All-American tight end and a four-time All-American in track and field under coach Jim Owens in 1965. At the time, he set the UW single-season record for receiving yards with 795 yards in 1965, averaging 79.5 receiving yards per game, and set a Husky record with 257 receiving yards in a game against UCLA in 1965.

He played five seasons as a receiver in St. Louis after being drafted in the first round in 1967. He was signed by the Seahawks in 1976, but suffered a knee injury in an offseason track and field competition that ended his career and ended the season for him.

Williams was inducted into the UW Husky Hall of Fame in 2014 and is also in the Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Hall of Fame.

After his football career, Williams worked in commercial real estate. Funeral details are pending.