Ten Greatest VMI Basketball Players: Number 5

Hometown: Roanoke, VA
High School: William Fleming High School
Years at VMI: 1986–90
Position: Guard
-VMI Sports Hall of Fame Inductees

Ramon:
-9th all-time VMI point scoring leader
-All-time leader in 3P FG percentage
Damon:
-10th all-time VMI point scoring leader
-2nd all-time in 3P FG percentage


I guess I'm cheating here. Yes, there are actually eleven guys to appear on this list. And I could've done the same thing for Chavis and Travis Holmes, which would've allowed me to fit another person in. But when you look at how freakishly similar Ramon and Damon Williams' stats are, I just had to include them together.

The Williams brothers were born and raised in Roanoke and attended William Fleming High School. They were the youngest of five children to Odessa and Joe Williams. They were recruited to the school by then-VMI head coach Joe Cantafio, and much like the Holmes twins, VMI was the only DI school to offer both players scholarships. Ramon received more playing time as a freshman, but by their sophomore both brothers quickly made their mark. After leading VMI on an upset run to the SoCon finals against Chattanooga, Ramon and Damon were selected to the tournament's first team. Damon, in his junior year, made the league's Second Team, and Ramon did the same in 1990, their senior year. But looking at the stats, it is absurd how identical they were.

In their junior season, both brothers attempted exactly 406 shots. Ramon made 194, while Damon made 193. Ramon reached the 1,000-point mark with a 31-point game in February of that year. Not but several games later, Damon reached the same milestone...with a 31-point game.

After three years, Ramon and Damon had identical career point totals. By the end of their career, Ramon beat his brother out by all of eight points. Need I also mention that the twins were separated in three-point shooting percentage by .008 points (and Ramon's incredible .427 mark from three is most all-time).

And they loved to play a prank every now and then. Flashback to 1989, where the twins are getting interviewed individually by a TV reporter. The reporter talks to Damon, then turns around, while Damon walks away to where Ramon is standing. Damon then returns, with the reporter thinking he is talking to Ramon, and lets the reporter in on the prank 45 seconds into the interview. Classic.

Both brothers were inducted into the VMI Hall of Fame in 2001, and were given the "Keys to the City" by Roanoke mayor Noel C. Taylor. They went on to coach at various colleges as assistants, and Damon did some work as an NCAA referee. And nineteen years after their graduation, Chavis and Travis Holmes broke the NCAA record for most career points scored by a pair of twins; a record previously held by none other than Ramon and Damon Williams.