How Demaryius Thomas’ dream inspired the creation of a new basketball prep school

When contemplating his impending retirement from coaching high school basketball, Paul Williams wasn’t certain exactly what his next steps would be, except that he wasn’t yet ready to completely walk away from the sport.

That’s when a dream he shared with a former player and longtime friend years ago came back to mind. 

Williams, who recently called it a career after a 31-year coaching journey that included local stops at West Laurens, Dublin and Trinity, and the late NFL receiving great Demaryius “Baybay” Thomas, with whom he shared a close relationship, had long discussed some imaginative plans for what they’d do together at the point in the future both decided to hang it up. 

As the Denver Broncos Ring-of-Famer envisioned it, they’d set out on a nationwide tour of speaking engagements at places like Boys and Girls clubs with a motivational message inspired by his journey from humble roots in Montrose to stardom as a pro athlete. 

“He wanted me and him to travel around the country telling kids that it doesn’t really matter the color of your skin, how much money you made or where you live at, and show everybody our relationship and that all you need is love to help people become successful,” Williams said. 

Sadly, the two never got a chance to revisit those plans due to Thomas’ tragic death only months after retiring from the league in 2021. 

But his old high school coach, five years later, is taking steps to honor the spirit of those designs by giving back to younger generations in a different way. 

Williams, this summer, is launching a postgraduate basketball prep school that will be based in Douglas. The program, established through a partnership with both South Georgia State College and the Douglas-Coffee County parks and recreation department, will offer athletes who aspire to play basketball at the next level, but don’t yet been offered an opportunity to do so, a landing spot as they work to continue their development while getting a head start on pursuing a college degree. 

Its name, “Flight 88 Elite,” is a nod to the title Williams had playfully proposed for their tentative venture, as a take-off on the well-known Michael Jordan-branded chain of retail stores “Flight 23,” in their hypothetical conversations. 

“He lit up and he was excited about that,” he said with a laugh. “It was probably the only thing he really liked that I ever suggested.” 

Williams and colleague Roger Whitehouse (an assistant on his staff at two schools, most recently Worth County) will serve as co-head coaches of the nonprofit organization, which has around 26 players currently committed to join for its inaugural season. 

Each, officially, will be SGSC students with regular academic commitments, on-campus residence and access to the school’s meal plan and amenities. But they will practice at off-site facilities offered by Douglas parks and rec, and travel as two teams (a regional and national squad) to compete against similar postgrad programs at regular tournaments around the country. 

Early plans have events in West Virginia, Orlando, Mississippi, Pittsburgh and North Carolina – as well as a tournament they will host on MLK Jr. weekend, Jan. 16-18, 2027 – on the season calendar. 

Flight 88’s incoming class of players will have a number of states represented, and even a foreign country in Nigeria. Its U.S.-based players will feature natives of New York, Massachussetts, Ohio, Minnesota, Virginia and Florida, along with a handful from the Peach State including local products Nas Jones, of West Laurens, Josiah Billups, of Baldwin, and a few already attending SGSC.  

In addition to offering training, academic support and mentorship, the program’s main goal will be bringing exposure to players, some of which left college on the fringe of college recruitment, in hopes that they can earn an opportunity to ultimately prove themselves at the next level. 

For those not yet ready to give up that dream, the prep school model – which has existed for years in various sports – is now an option that allows players to continue pursuing it while beginning their college studies, without having to sacrifice a year of actual eligibility. 

“The main thing is just helping kids,” Williams said. “That’s what Baybay would want, to just give kids the exposure and experience.” 

Re-creating a special relationship…

Their enduring bond goes back to time together as coach and player at West Laurens, during an era highlighted by the 2004 AAA state championship, which was only the school’s second basketball title.

The two would go their separate ways from there, Thomas on to Georgia Tech, where he earned All-America honors before his 2010 draft selection, and 10 seasons in the pros (with four franchises, though the bulk of his time in Denver), and Williams to a new opportunity at Camden County before his more recent return for stints as head coach at both Dublin and Trinity. 

He departed his hometown again in 2022, spending one year as an assistant at Marietta’s Sprayberry High School before making his final head coaching stop at Worth County, and coaching son Ashton (who played this past year at Southern Wesleyan) to a 2025 all-state nod ahead of this past year’s final season. 

Williams has now moved from Sylvester to Statesboro, where wife Lori recently took a new job as an assistant middle school principal with Bulloch County Schools, but will commute to Douglas each week during the season. 

The ball got rolling on the project as he and Whitehouse were tossing around some of the same speculative post-retirement possibilities during a recent season, and the two started putting their heads together on how to put a unique spin on Thomas’ dream that Williams was eager to keep alive. 

They settled on the idea of starting a postgrad basketball program. 

“Coaches always say that you can tell when it’s your last days of coaching high school. You can kind of feel it,” Williams said. “We kind of started saying, this is what we need to do.” 

Their heart for the venture is forging the same type of family-like relationship that Williams and Thomas shared. And the two often reflected on how reticent many athletes can be to communicate that compassion with others simply due to the ultra-competitive and often cutthroat nature of high level sports, whose continuing evolution into a bottom-line business in the ensuing years has only reinforced the false notion that money and notoriety are all that matters. 

“We’re going to pour a lot of love into all these kids,” Williams said.

That new world of college athletics is likewise something he hopes he’s able to help the current generation of young players navigate, as the transfer portal makes it more and more difficult to earn a “look” from coaches and programs until they’ve become more established prospects. 

“I’ve been in the game a long time. I know a lot of coaches, and I’ve sent kids to every level possible,” Williams said. “We’re going to travel around the country getting kids exposure, this is really their best shot if they didn’t get the big-time offer out of high school.” 

As the duo began laying the groundwork to get the program started, both were a touch surprised at how seamlessly all the pieces of the equation, from business to basketball, came together. 

For Williams, that was a sign from above confirming his calling to this new mission. 

“It just, all of a sudden, started happening at once,” he said. “I always believe God’s got a plan for everyone. I just loved the game so much, and talking to these kids all over the country about their dreams and what they want to do. How many of these kids knew Demaryius Thomas and his story, that’s really what I love doing, telling the story of Demaryius Thomas and how he became so successful by working his behind off and believing and by surrounding himself with the best people. I feel like this is God’s plan for me to carry on the next stage of my career.” 

Flight 88 Elite was set to mark its official launch Thursday with a media day at the Coffee-Douglas Recreation Center, where school and local officials as well as several members of Thomas’ family are scheduled to be in attendance. The program will also be sponsoring a free youth basketball camp as its introduction to the community on June 25-27. 

“It’s really blowing up right now,” Williams said. “I’m really excited about what’s about to happen.”