Richard Williamson, A Carolina Panthers original – receivers coach , who has been with the team since its inception, retired on Monday.

Hired 19 days before Dom Capers, Williamson, 68 became the the team’s first head coach in 1995. From a appearance in the Super Bowl in 2003 season to a 1-15 mark in 2001, Williamson had witnessed all.

Williamson, who worked under all three Panthers head coaches – Capers, George Seifert and John Fox, was quoted as saying, “We’ve had a lot of good people, good players and good workers.”

After playing at Alabama under Bear Bryant in the early 1960s alongside teammate Joe Namath, Williamson worked on the coaching staffs at Alabama and Arkansas, till he became head coach at Memphis State in 1975-80. He has head coached Kansas City, Tampa Bay (head coach for three games in 1990 and all of 1991) and Cincinnati since.

Williamson’s idea when he was hired was, “big strong guys who catch balls in traffic and some guys who can really run,” . Panthers had receivers who passed the criteria, five of whom – Steve Smith, Muhsin Muhammad, Patrick Jeffers, Raghib Ismail and Mark Carrier – underwent 1,000-yard receiving seasons under Williamson.

For many a season, Smith and Muhammad were considered to be one of the NFL’s most accomplished receiving duos. According to Williamson, “they were kind of in the same mold, with different abilities,” . Williamson also played Panther’s offensive co-ordinator for part 0f 2001 and the entire 2002 season.

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