Published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette on Feb. 14, 2015
NORTHAMPTON — Johnny Williams used a lot of different words — unreal, blessed, grateful — to describe what it felt like to be the 100-yard butterfly record holder at Northampton High School.
The same three words, and many others, could be applied to much more in his life.
“We’ve really just been working really hard day in and day out,” said Williams, who set the 100 fly record multiple times during the season, including last weekend when he won the Western Massachusetts title in 50.67 seconds.
“Once you do all that work and sit back and just look how far I’ve come, it’s sort of amazing and really humbling,” he added.
For the junior, the concept of being a sectional title holder — and potential state Division 2 champ as the No. 1 seed in the 100 fly — seemed like a fantasy 10 years ago. Even walking normally was questionable.
At age 5, Williams was diagnosed with Perthes, a condition in which blood flow is disrupted in the hip and the femur breaks down, while the head of the bone loses its round shape and no longer fits into the hip socket.
“The doctors told me one leg could be like two inches longer and I would need specially made shoes,” Williams said. “Just to know what I went through, I was so blessed to be able to come out pretty normal and be able to swim. I’m just really grateful to be able to do it.”
Perthes causes excruciating pain and rarely has a quick fix. To make matters worse, the first diagnoses Williams’ parents, Ray and Pam Oddis, received was growing pains. A second doctor, however, had no hesitation that something was seriously wrong after seeing X-rays, Ray Oddis said.
“They didn’t know if it was bone cancer,” Oddis said. “Of course we were really dismayed (at the diagnosis of Perthes), but also greatly relieved (it wasn’t cancer). … They let us know right there that he wasn’t going to have a normal childhood.”
According to the Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, some cases are cured by physical therapy and rest, but surgery is commonly associated with the disease. Perthes is also five times more common in boys and typically effects children between 4 and 10 years old.
Williams’ case was severe and by fourth grade he had four surgeries to help blood flow to the hip. Williams had bone graphs as well as pins, screws, plates and hinges inserted. It meant weeks in the hospital, months in a wheelchair and on crutches, and years of rehabilitation.
“They don’t really tell you how long it is going to be,” Oddis said. “They tell you it’s not going to be weeks or months, but that it’s going to be months or years.”
To this day, Williams isn’t allowed to run, but that’s just one of the few restrictions left from the disease that he said he’s “clear” of. Williams also can’t play hard contact sports and has never participated in a physical education class. But Perthes gave him swimming and a nine-inch scar on his right hip.
“On a conscious level, I’ve always loved swimming from when I was really young, and maybe even on an unconscious level, from those really important parts of the rehab,” Williams said. “I think it’s helped me develop a passion for swimming.”
Williams grew up in Las Vegas, where his dad trained boxers as a strength and conditioning specialist and worked with rehabbing veterans. Last year, a position rehabilitating the blind opened locally with the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind and Ray Oddis jumped at the chance to bring his family to New England and be closer to his Connecticut roots. Oddis met Pam while rehabilitating blind veterans in Tuscon, Arizona, before moving to Vegas, the heart of the boxing world. Pam Oddis works at Perkins School for the Blind, covering western Massachusetts.
Back in Vegas, Ray and Pam had a pool in the backyard and it became a huge part of Williams’ recovery.
“I would go in the pool and would just stroke it. I couldn’t move my legs at all. I think I had braces in the water sometimes,” said Williams, whose legs are the same length. “My dad had to take off three months of work after each surgery so he could be there with me. I’m extremely grateful for that.”
Williams has some mobility restrictions in his hip that prevent him from swimming the breaststroke, but that is the only true hindrance.
His natural stroke became the fly from the way he pulled himself around in rehab sessions. Ten years later, Williams is chasing the Western Massachusetts 100 fly record of 49.14 seconds set in the 1976 sectional meet by South Hadley’s Bob Hagberg. A good swim at Friday’s rescheduled state meet at MIT could push his personal best closer to 50.0.
“It’s kind of ironic that originally I couldn’t kick at all,” Williams said. “I had no power in my legs and now it’s kind of the opposite. My legs are my strong point. It’s interesting to turn a negative like that into a positive.”
Northampton coach Jim Hirtle said that Williams’ lower-body power, combined with his upper-body strength, is what makes him so strong in the pool.
“If you watch him, he’s got a lot of flexibility through his ankles, through his lower body, which make that underwater dolphin kick so efficient and so powerful,” Hirtle said. “When he was swimming the 100 fly at Western Mass., there was a group of Longmeadow guys standing behind me hitting each other going, ‘Look at the kickout! Look at the kickout! What’s he doing?’ That’s really where is strength is.”
Ray Oddis still trains Williams and keeps him in top form with body weight strength training as opposed to powerlifting. Using body weight is helpful for swimmers as it adds strength without building excessive bulk, Oddis said.
“You don’t see many 17-year-olds as strong as he is,” said Hirtle of the 6-foot-1, 180-pound Williams. “In swimming, that’s not a normal occurrence at this age. In college, and if you’re making a run after college, if you’re trying to make Olympic trials or do something, those 20-something guys, especially the ones that win up on the U.S. National Team, are all big the way Johnny is. They are all big, strong men at that point. So, he’s really got a leg up there.”
How far Williams will go is unclear, but continuing his career through college is a must.
“I’m really thankful to be swimming in the first place and to have a sport that I’m able to be kind of competitive in and have a chance to do something fruitful with it,” Williams said. “It’s been a really painful and long process to get to where I am. I’m really happy now because it’s just what I love doing and it feels so natural.”