Roy Williams was a Commonwealth Games decathlon gold medallist (Kingston, 1966) and had a 15-year national and international athletics career. He represented New Zealand in basketball, was New Zealand Sportsman of the Year (now the Halberg Award) in 1966, and was made a Member of the NZ Order of Merit in 2002. He was also a sports journalist at the Auckland Star for 25 years, and coached athletics and basketball for many years. Roy is also the brother of Yvette Williams, first New Zealand woman to win an Olympic gold medal (Helsinki, 1952), winner of commonwealth gold medals, NZ basketball rep, twice New Zealand Sportsman of the Year, NZ Supereme Sportswoman of the Decade (1950-59), and was awarded an MBE in 1953 and made a Companion of the NZ Order of Merit in 2011.