In Black America; Michael Williams, (3I Construction); Part 1

From the University of Texas at Austin, KUT Radio, this is In Black America. Dallas has been great for me and I love the city of Dallas. That's one of the reasons why after playing 11 years in NBA, I've always told a lot of the athletes that if I can be honest with you and bluntly honest, I would tell a lot of the black athletes, it's still the knowledge. So when I was playing, I used to work at different companies and I would tell them, I said, listen now, when you get out of the league, you're going to be one or two things. You're either going to be ex-athlete with some money or ex-athlete without some money, but you're still going to be black. So why you this starting point guard or starting power forward, all these people sitting on these front rows, a CEO of the president, how would it feel to want it in?

In fact, power forward at Senate State. Listen, I'd like to work at your company. Michael D Williams, founder and president of Three Eye Construction, located in Dallas, Texas. What do you do after 11 years as a professional athlete? Well, if you're Williams, you start your own construction company. As a member of the NBA World Champion Detroit Pistons in 1989, he knows firsthand what it takes to be a winner. He applies the principles of teamwork and reliability, perfected as a professional basketball player in Detroit, Minneapolis and Indiana. There were many opportunities available to Williams who was an All-American at Baylor University after he retired from the NBA. He wanted to build his own company in order to demonstrate success in another arena and to serve as a role model to the youth in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Founded in 2001, Three Eye Construction started as a drywall and finished out company. In 2005, Williams Company in partnership with J.E. Dunn, Construction of Kansas City, won the construction contract to build the new $650 million

Dallas Cowboy Stadium in all its in Texas. I'm John E. Johansson, Jr. and welcome to another edition of In Black America. On this week's program, Three Eye Construction, with President and CEO, Michael D. Williams in Black America. When I was in Indiana, I worked at a company called Logo 7, doing the outseason. And that company arrived with Fruit of a Lone and Starter. They did all of the sporting uniforms for the NCAA. And a guy named Tom Shine was running that company. And he said, I said, yeah, I really want to work there. He said, okay, Mike, I give you $22,000, $22,000, $24,000 a summer, I said, no, you don't have to pay me anything, as long as I work with you every day. Because I wanted to learn what it takes to hire the right people. What it takes when you're running at the top of that pyramid in an organization. You don't type it out. You're only talking about two months before you have to go back to getting into, you know, basketball shape.

I did that in Indiana. And when I went to Minnesota, I worked at a company called New Mechanical, which is in the construction industry. I worked right alongside Ron Pearson, who was a president, CEO. And I never forget him telling me one day. He said, Mike, I've been watching you for the last two summers. I said, yeah, he said, you really want to learn this business. Yeah, I said, I could be doing a lot of other things. He said, Mike, let me, let's just face it. You have some money, I have money. Let's go make some more money. And I'm sitting here puzzling. I said, what do you mean? During his professional sports career, William always thought about his future after his playing days were over. Also, he understood the importance of developing relationships. That mindset led him to take non-paying jobs during the off season. Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Williams attended Dallas, Carter High School, where he led the Cowboys to the state playoff twice and set the state record for 63 points in one regional game. He graduated from Baylor University with a degree in finance. At Baylor and Carter High School, he earned all American honors. In 1988, the Detroit Piston with the 48th pick of the NBA draft

selected Williams. In 1989, he was a member of the World Champion Motor City bad boys, Detroit Pistons. Williams played 11 seasons in the NBA. He county holds a record for the most consecutive free throws. Today, Williams is founder and president of Three-Yah Construction in Dallas, Texas. His career in sports has helped him build a solid foundation for his company. As a chief executive, he sees his role to that of a team owner, emphasizing that selecting the right people in key positions is what ensures his company's success. Recently, in Black America, spoke with Michael D Williams. Well, I mean, it was great. I mean, I was listening to a show the other night and it said, Chris Rock said, you really don't have a choice and where you're born or who you fall in love with that other, but you have a choice of how you love. And Dallas has been great for me and I love the city of Dallas. That's one of the reasons why, after playing 11 years in the NBA,

I've always told a lot of the athletes that if I can be honest with you and bluntly honest, I'll tell a lot of the Black athletes is still the knowledge. So, when I was playing, I used to work at different companies and I would tell them, I said, listen, when you get out of the league, you're going to be one or two things. You're either going to be ex-athlete with some money or ex-athlete without some money, but you're still going to be Black. So, why are you this starting point guard or starting power forward? All these people sitting on these front rows are CEOs and presidents. How would it feel to one of them if that power forward that's synthesized? Listen, I like to work at your company. So, I did that while I was in Indiana and in Minnesota, once I finally got established, because you can't get established playing behind Isaiah Thomas and Joe Dumas and Vity Johnson as a player, but once I got established. So, I had an opportunity to work in those different cities in Indiana and Minnesota, but I said, you know what? I love Dallas. I want to give back to my community. So, why not give back to my community, which is Oak Cliff community,

and showing them that a Black man can own a company and run it successfully? And that's why I came back and I love the city and I'm going to continue to work in Dallas. Why don't you realize that you had a decent jump shot? Actually, in Detroit. This is the truth. When I was a plan in at Baylor and in high school, I was a score. You know, I'd go 63 points, and I'm going to make a note there. That was without the three point line. But I was a score, average 18, 19 points in college. But when I went to Detroit, we had a shooting coach. I can't remember his name, but he had me to put my left hand behind my back and have me to grab the basketball with my right hand. And he told me to, you know, just shoot a shot from the dotted line, not even the free throw line, but it fell out of my hand because I had a flying elbow. And not until he showed me the right techniques of how to shoot it, I would say probably about two years later when my jump shot started really following. When I wanted it to.

How was it going to Baylor? And how did you happen to select Baylor as your college choice? My dad graduated from SMU back in the day. And he wanted me to go to SMU. A lot of my friends wanted me to go to SMU. But I noticed that a lot of the athletes that came out of Dallas area that went to SMU either didn't get their degree or they kind of fell out by the wayside because when you were a player that played at SMU, they treated you like a pro player in a city of Dallas. So I wanted to get away from Dallas, but still be close enough to come home. It scored the 63 points like I mentioned earlier in Waco. I played in Texas Hall of Fame game in Waco. And we won the Waco Optimus Tournament two years of road my junior and senior year. So Waco was almost like a second home. And the old coach Jim Hall have really recruited me hard. So it was the way I can still stay close to home, but still get away and be my own man.

So that was the reason why I picked him. Keeping it real was it difficult being a student quote end of quote athlete quote end of quote? You mean a black student? Yeah, yeah. I really believe that my experience going through Baylor really helps me in the construction industry because it wasn't a lot of blacks on campus. And the percentage of those blacks that were on campus were 90% athletes. And going through the Baylor Business School was very difficult because one, it was already a stereotype. I made the Omaha National Honor Society. I made all academic two years in the road at Baylor. And I remember when we had games, it was certain teachers would say, well, I don't want you to take the test with the other class. I want you to take it in my office in your office. Yeah, you got to take it with me because they thought I was indirectly possibly cheating. But they end up graduating there from there with a finance degree. And

today I sit on the Baylor Business School Board. So it worked out pretty good for me. Was it a cultural adjustment coming from South O'Claire and then going to the Bible University Baylor? Well, a little bit. But again, my dad always exposed us. You know, I played soccer growing up. So he was saying soccer in the 70s and what a lot of us. And the older I got, it was kind of funny. My soccer team, I played on select soccer team. We had 15 players. You ready for this? We had five blacks, five whites, and five Hispanics on a 15 day team. Yeah, you just kind of worked out that way. And going through Carter and my elementary school junior high was predominantly white until I got to my junior year. Then my senior year seemed like it was like a totally evacuation of white people. My junior senior year, it began to be predominantly black, but had good experience and got me somewhat ready for that. But it was still a difference.

When you were playing at Baylor, did you have aspirations of moving on to become a professional basketball player? Initially, no. Until I made a freshman out of America with David Rivers, Danny Manning, Vincent Asquie. And I think we only won the 11 games that year. But to be first team, AP and UPI, freshman out of America, I started going, maybe I could get to the next level. And I remember Vinnie Terry Teagle coming back to Baylor. And I remember when he was playing with Golden State, he had just gave somebody 40 in the playoffs. And he said, Mike, let's work out together. And he beat me in the majority of the time, but I beat him a couple of times on one on one. And I started going, hey, maybe I can make it to the next level, but it was after my freshman year. What was it like that draft day? The draft day was one of those days where I tried to kind of put it aside. Matter of fact, I was outside working on my car, but I was really trying to hide my anxiety.

But to finally get drafted by the Pistons and after they come from the championship series against the Lakers of which they lost, I don't know if I should be happy or sad because they had a great group of guards at one of the greatest point guards they ever played a game. And I remember the guys last year that got drafted in the second round didn't make the team. So I'm going, I got to get ready. And how did you go about getting ready? I started doing my research. I started asking, what did they do on the first day of training camp? And I remember asking somebody that was the year before that they had to run the mile. And they had to run the mile under six minutes or something like that. So I started practicing the mile. I knew I had to be in great condition because they already had great guards. So I went in the camp in the best shape of my life. And I remember my dad always told me this because I had a few more hours of school. He said, you can always go back. You got one chance to make the league. So I was going to take full advantage of that.

And me and Finns Dembow, we were rookies on that team. We both made the team. So it was a great feeling. Give us an idea of what life is like being a professional athlete. It's a business, it's entertainment, but it's also, I would assume, physically, strenuous. It's going to wear you off. And that's the truth. If you are a rookie on a championship team, like the pisses with a guy like Rick Mahorn, Bill Lambert, Buddha, that's going to give you a hard time. It's murder. I mean, you've really got to earn your stripes. I remember Bill Lambert only called me rookie. Can you imagine? Never call me by my name until we won a championship. A whole year of rook. Come to get this from me. Rook. I'm going to do it. We won 60 games. Rook. And not until we won a championship, he said Michael, good year. But so that was a great feeling. And what Chuck Daley used to do was have me and Finns Dembow come to practice our early

just to get our reps in because he knew we weren't going to get a lot of minutes. And I used to tell Finns Dembow that I'm not going to let the situation break me. That's what happens with a lot of the young athletes. They're not getting minutes. They used to be in superstars on a high school and college level. And you get to a good team. You're not going to play. And I know Finns Dembow and I used to always have one on one talk because he's from Texas. We made our stay team together. I said, Finns, this is not going to break me. I said, you know what? I'm going to come in here. I'm going to work out hard every day. I'm going to try to bust Isaiah up. You know, even I know I couldn't beat him, but I was going to try to break him every day. And that helped me. So when I moved on, it made me a better player. Once you got past that rookie season and you played 11 seasons in the NBA, is there, they keep saying this, this wall won't hit somewhere in January or February due to the traveling schedule or just due to the nature of the sport? Is that truth?

Yeah, that's true, but I think it's more so because you are used to being either like I played in Texas in high school. They used to see in your family. So you have a loneliness that you see. A lot of times they think it's because of the physical nature. It's not really because you deal with 19, 20 year old kids. It's the mental wall that you hit because all the people that you love are not around you. You know, I think that's one thing to help the guy like LeBron James because he was from that Cleveland or Ohio area. So he was always able to see the people that love him and he loved. So I think that's the main thing. Now, it has been said and I don't want to try to perpetuate this falsehood that African-Americans can't shoot free throws. You hold an NBA record in shooting free throws. How did you get so proficient? Well, it's like and I'm going to equate this to a golf shot and you know, they always would say that you know, free throws has nothing to do with physical. You know, if that was a case shack

with average, you know, would shoot 100%. So that is true, but they said the same thing about a golf shot. A lot of times the kids that are shooting and scorn, they don't take free throws that seriously. See, when I began to shoot the ball, I finally got a chance to play. That was in Indiana. Now, let me tell you that team. We had Chuck Persson, Reggie Miller, Deadly Shrimp, and Rick Smith that had to touch the ball. So I'm trying to figure out, how am I going to have a double figures? And that's when I started taking free throws seriously. You know, I shot 66% from the free throw line my rookie year with Detroit. And then going to my third year, I shot 85% at an 89, 80% at an 80% and you know, you hold the record. But I think it's like anything else. It's practicing, but you got to practice the right technique. A lot of times, even on a golf shot, you see guys that play golf a lot, but they never have the right fundamentals. But since they play a lot, they're shooting the 80s, but they don't have the right fundamentals. So if they take two

weeks off, they're going to shoot in 100s. When you learn the right techniques of anything, you can always walk away from it and come back. And that's how I look at free throws right now today. If I had to go and make 10 free throws where I can do it, and I hadn't shot a free throw in two years. What was it like winning that that championship, particularly winning the championship, but then the following season first night out or receiving the ring? Oh, man, that's, I mean, that's a dream, a dream come true. I remember Finis Dembo and I looking at each other and going through the playoffs. We said, man, if we don't win this championship this year, man, it's been a rough year, you know, going back to, you know, giving us a hard time because we were rookies, but to walk out of a baler coming out of Texas, getting drafted, not in the first round in the second round and being on the championship team your first year. It's a dream come true. The first thing I got there was got on my knees and thank God for just the blessing because there are so many times that you see players that have played 9, 10, 11, even 15 years. They still have no

championship and it still helps me in business today because anytime I really want to get that contract a slap on that ring and I make sure, you know, I flash it a little bit so it really helps. My basketball coach is real Robinson passed away last year and I'm quite sure you have some interaction with them with the piston. Tell me your thoughts in reaction about Will. Oh, man, Will was probably one of the smartest basketball minds in that organization, probably even in the league. He's one of those old school guys. He's looking at not only the talent, but he's looking at what's inside that person. And that's what I see what's going on in the league today. You see these guys that can fly, can jump, can dribble behind the back, twin legs and all that. But at crunch time, what do you have? That's what make Kobe Bryant so great. That's what makes a LeBron James potentially to be great. That's what made that whole group of Detroit pistons when they beat

the Lakers made them great because they had a lot of players that dug deep inside. You know, that's what they're really hurting with what a chance he built not being there. It's the little bit of things and Will could recognize that in players. And that's why every year, that Will's involved with the weather when they win the old Coliseas, they were always competitive. So he's a great guy and a great leader. You know, that organization has missed him. You're currently president and founder of three-eyed construction company here in Dallas. One first question is what does the three-eyed stand for? Integrity, innovation and information. When I start thinking about, you know, opening a company here, everybody said, be Williams construction, be 97-bit of road construction. I said, no, no, we're not going to do that. What we're going to do is really have what I really stand for. What I really wanted it to be called was integrity, integrity, integrity. That just didn't catch. But we really inform our clients and we haven't

really hit the innovation part because it's going to take a certain amount of dollars to do that. But we're going to have video animation for our potential design and build and integrity is what I stand for, you know, in business there's so many opportunities for you to be unethical. You know, whether you're taking a job because you're black and it's a pass-through, those opportunities have come my way and I've turned them down every time and it hurts because you need the money of the young company. But I believe in just, you know, standing by your name, we have a really good name here and being patient and over time, you know, we might even be doing a job in Detroit one day. One does not just go into the construction business on a whim. What preparation did you take to position yourself in founding this company? That's a great question. Again, going back to what I mentioned earlier, while I was playing, I always said still the knowledge. You know, I was, I made the all-deafensive team going against John Stockton every year who was going to get the most steals. I was not only still in it, but I was on the floor. I want to

make sure I stole the knowledge while I was playing. So when I was in Indiana, I worked at a company called Logo 7, doing the outseason and that company arrived with Fruit of the Moon and Starter. They did all of the sporting uniforms for the NCAA and a guy named Tom Shine was running that company and he said, I said, yeah, I really want to work there. He said, okay, Mike, I give you $22,000, $22,000, $24,000 a summer. I said, nope, you don't have to pay me anything, long as I work with you every day because I wanted to learn what it takes to hire the right people. What it takes when you're running at the top of that pyramid in an organization, you don't type it out. You're only talking about two months before you have to go back to getting into, you know, basketball shape. I did that in Indiana and when I went to Minnesota, I worked at a company called New Mechanical, which is in the construction industry. I worked right alongside Ron Pearson, who was a president, CEO, and I never forget him telling me one day. He said, Mike, I've been watching you for the last two summers. I said, yeah, I said, you really want to learn this business.

Yeah, I said, I could be doing a lot of other things. He said, Mike, let me, let's just face it. You have some money, I have money. Let's go make some more money and I'm sitting here puzzling. I said, what do you mean? He said, Mike, in the construction industry is very free African-American owned companies that can really bring value. Now, all this was new to me. This isn't Minnesota. And I said, okay, he said, you're serious about this business. I said, yeah, he said, I want you to look to open a company here. And at that time, I don't know if you remember my career, but I had nerve damage in my foot. And he said, Mike, if you retire and open your construction company here, you're doing $11 million your first year. I went, really? He said, yeah, because it's not a lot of qualified African-American owned companies. Well, it wasn't a lot of black folks in Minnesota anyway, you know, but he said that it's not a lot of qualified African-American owned companies. I never forget one day I was watching my face and I looked in the mirror because it's a temporary world off of me, the TV job. And I had the opportunity to construction. I said, I asked

myself, who am I? Do I just give up on my body? Because one day, I'll be asking myself, could I have come back? And I turned down an opportunity and they hired someone else or they partnered with someone else and a plan maybe two more games the next year. But I found out what it takes to come in and provide a service. And it's not really about black, white, Hispanic. It's about providing a service. And that's why I started it. You remember that first project? Oh, man, the very first project we did was a subcontracting project for the hospital over here, Parkland Hospital. It was a small project and that was about $50,000. Three I, we started out doing drywall and acoustical ceiling. And it was so many people because I have a good name here. Dallas wanted me to go into construction management because it's so subjective and it's about who you know and the relationship you have. And I wanted to start it at the grassroots level of learning what it takes to be a subcontractor. I always, my aspiration to design was to build GC. But I wanted to be patient with it. So I started

out doing drywall and acoustical ceiling. And then the next year we started doing a small interior finish out. We did all interior finish outs in the business and the building that I'm in here. And then we started doing in caps like subways. We started doing smoothie factories and smoothie kings. And then when I moved into which was four years ago, I moved into ground up. But I said, well, if I'm going to do a ground up, I'm going to do find me a joint venture with a company that's been around for 80 years and give with those guys and say, how do you really do it and how do you really get into the market of doing a five or six million dollar project because they'll be competitive. So that means you got to lower your fees. That means your efficiencies have to be that much better. So that's how I kind of migrated into doing what we do. And I'm really proud to say that we became a minority construction company to get for the city of Dallas in 2008. So, you know, it's been a good progression. You tell me you're working on the new stadium in Arlington. How did you pull off that? Well, five years ago, the Jesse Owen stadium

was going out for bed. And some friends of mine said it's a good project. Go out there was 30 million. I didn't have the bond in other reputation. And man had an arena that built reliance arena and they built a stadium across the country. I went out to the president, John Dixon, and I had maybe four employees. But they had really good experience in the construction industry. And I said, hey, let's go out to this project together. He said, why did you make it? They weren't doing a lot of DISD work. I said because of your history in stadiums. So he got an opportunity to meet my estimator, my project manager and superintendent. He got an opportunity to work with me every day. Three years passed and the cowboy stadium came about. And all these people using the political relationships and the religious relationships, I just called John Dixon up. I said, John, you remember my company four years ago? And I like for you to come and interview the people on my

team now and see what we've grown. Because at this time, we hadn't worked together since that time. By the way, we didn't win that project either, but it got an opportunity to work with me. I said, I like for you to interview my people without me. I said, I'm looking for a long-term relationship with you. I said, if you feel that we bring you value, high risk. If not, I'll continue to do the small projects that I'm on. He said, Mike, that's all you want? I said, yeah, I'm not asking. I'm not having a politician to call you. I'm not asking to preach to call you. I said, I want you to interview my people. If we bring you value, high risk. He said, Mike, I appreciate it. In two weeks past, he said, Mike, I got about four companies. I got to get out of way, but I want to work with you. That's how I did it. When did you start that construction project and I assume it has to be completed by August of this year 2009? Yeah. Actually, the project is a head of schedule. The project is head of schedule and it's always a bonus when you're working with a company like my head. They know what they're doing. We've learned a tremendous amount. Now,

the eyes of another stadium going to be built in the state of Texas with Houston, maybe San Antonio, but that experience is really going to take me to the next level with NBA. See, I want to take my knowledge of building big humongous buildings like that and take it to the relationships in the NBA. I'm already targeting Oklahoma because Seattle moved. I said, they got to build a new stadium. So that's going to be my high-hanging fruit, but I'm still going to definitely go after that target. Michael D Williams, founder and president of Three Eye Construction. We will conclude our conversation on next week's program. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions asked your future in Black America programs write us. Also, let us know what radio station you heard us over. The views and opinions expressed on this program are not necessarily those of this station or of the University of Texas at Austin. You can hear previous programs online at kut.org. Until we have the opportunity again for technical producers Cliff Hargrove and David Alvarez, I'm John L. Hanson Jr. Thank you for joining us today. Please join us

again next week. CD copies of this program are available and may be purchased by writing in Black America CDs, KUT Radio, one university station, Austin, Texas, 78712. That's in Black America CDs, KUT Radio, one university station, Austin, Texas, 78712. This has been a production of KUT Radio.