As John Williams walked out of the “American Idol” audition room, judge Randy Jackson turned to Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell and said, “he is nuts.”

Williams had just made it to Hollywood on the 2005 season of “American Idol.” In his on-air audition, he performed a rendition of “Human Nature” by Michael Jackson with an added beatbox breakdown. William’s live remix wasn’t received particularly well by Cowell, but received a yes each from Abdul and Jackson.

Earlier, his mother drove him all the way from Sacramento, California to San Francisco for the auditions.

“We get to a stop sign, and she’s like ‘get out, this is the American Idol auditions, go in there and do what I taught you how to do,’” he said.

So he did what he was told. He didn’t make it to the top 24 of the season country singer Carrie Underwood would go on to win, but he said he enjoyed his experience all the same.

Now, 11 years later, Williams will sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” Friday at the Veterans Day men’s basketball home game against Colgate.

“I’m very fortunate and very, very appreciative of that opportunity,” he said. “I’m not sure there’s ever been an armed forces veteran to sing the national anthem solo at Syracuse.”

Williams, who served with the United States Air Force for 15 years, is currently a senior information management and technology major. He served in Iraq and Afghanistan, but currently, he’s in the United States Army Reserves, and upon graduating in 2018, he will apply for a commission with the USAR.

He’s the kind of person who is all about helping others, and performing is just one of the ways he’s done that.

Williams previously sang with Tops in Blue, a performing organization not unlike the United Service Organizations. He traveled around the world to “austere” places like Afghanistan, where they entertained troops stationed there.

Tops in Blue members are expected not only to perform, but to also serve as their own techies. They are responsible for their costumes, stage lighting and cleanup after the show. Sometimes, they would work 22 hours, taking breaks in 15-minute increments, but Williams said he loved every second of it.

Military service has not only been a large part of Williams’ life, but also a family legacy. His grandfather fought in the Korean War, and his father was a Marine. But to him, Veterans Day is just another day — another day to appreciate and honor the lives of all who have donated their service to protecting American liberty.

“I sacrifice my life continuously for this country,” he said. “I’ll do it today, I’ll do it Veterans Day, I’ll do it after Veterans Day.”

Williams joined the military after high school in 1996. He lived in Memphis, Tennessee, at the time, and one of his first jobs in the military was helping Iraqi Kurd refugees adjust to American life. Many came to the United States after Saddam Hussein bombed their homes in north Iraq and south Turkey. Though he worked 18 hours a day, Williams “didn’t mind” because he loved what he did.

“I was like ‘come on let’s do it, let’s do it, let’s do it,’” he said, re-enacting his excitable 18-year-old self.

In 2001, Williams was living in Austin, TX. Earlier, he separated from the air force to pursue educational goals. He had a job interview scheduled for 10 a.m. the morning of Sept. 11, but two hours before the interview, he got a phone call and the interview was cancelled. The man on the other line mentioned the World Trade Center to Williams. He turned on the news to see the second plane crash into the twin towers.

“The next day, I was thinking I was like,” he said, “I need to go back in because they need more to help the mission.”

He turned down an offer to study theater at Dillard University in New Orleans, instead supporting the counterterrorism mission. He was then stationed at Beale Air Force Base in northern California, the same state he grew up in.

After that, Williams went back to working in military intelligence. In 2008, he volunteered to return to Iraq. He was there from 2008-2010, and then spent three years in Afghanistan.

When he returned to the states, he decided to reinvest in his education. He applied to several colleges, but when he saw in a magazine that Syracuse consistently ranked as one of the most veteran-friendly schools, he applied. He also was a little starstruck by famous Syracuse alumni, referencing Dick Clark and Joe Biden among others.

“I was in love — in love — with Vanessa Williams forever,” he joked of the famous actress. “And so when I found out she went to Syracuse, I was like ‘oh, yes, I definitely have to go to this school.’”

He was accepted, and a week later moved to central New York from Georgia in Jan. 2014. He was also completely unprepared for Syracuse winters. He did not have winter outerwear or snow tires, or even a full head of hair to help with warmth — his head was shaved at the time. But more importantly, he a had to deal with his housing situation.

Williams grappled with putting his Georgia home on the market, but the necessary renovations, cleaning and fixing up projects turned him off.  Ten family members occupied his home at one point, using his abode as a transition space while they got situated in Georgia after moving from Memphis.

“I’m always about helping people, especially my family, to get better, to do better in life,” he said.

When he got to Syracuse, he connected with Julie Walas Huynh, director of student engagement at the School of Information Studies. She teaches the transfer student forum, a “privilege” that has allowed her to meet plenty of students including Williams.

“She took me under her wing, she just really made me feel at home there,” Williams said.

But Walas Huynh doesn’t entirely agree.

“Maybe I had John for the first 10 or 15 weeks of his time at Syracuse,” she said. “But he really took off on his own.”

Walas Hunyh said he came in with a personal mission to become a mentor to other student veterans studying at Syracuse. One of those people was Nicklaus Brincka.

Brincka is a freshman economics major who came to Syracuse after serving in the Army. He met Williams when he went to his first Student Veterans Organization meeting. He remembers watching Williams introduce himself with confidence before a crowd of people.

“He was confident and he knew what he wanted to accomplish,” he said.

The two talked later in the meeting and discovered they did the same jobs in the military.

Since then, Williams has helped Brincka around campus, becoming his mentor. Brincka is trying to transfer into the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, and Williams has been helping him get in contact with people, network and put his best foot forward.

“He knows the vice chancellor, so he got me a lunch with him,” Brincka said. “He’s definitely helped me out.”

Brincka would someday like to become a leader in the SVO.

As the vice president of SVO, Williams plays an integral role in the organization’s operations. Over the summer of 2014, Williams helped organize an Independence Day car wash fundraiser. Williams, his mother and five other student veterans arrived at a Baldwinsville Goodyear tire location at 8 a.m. on a cool summer day, ready for the day’s work ahead of them. Otto the Orange made an appearance, as he often does at university functions.

Williams half-joked that Otto was crucial to helping the SVO raise their goal of $600 that day.

The participants in the car wash agreed to donate half the proceeds to the iSchool’s Road Trip program that brings transfer students to prospective employers, giving them the opportunity to experience a professional environment and network.

There were two checks, Walas Huynh said. One was from SVO. The other was from Williams’ personal bank account.

 

Published on November 10, 2016 at 12:21 pm

Contact: cmrussel@syr.edu | @caseymrussell