Howe grad is mayor of Arlington

front of the high school. My dad was on the school board at that time and that was a special memory. We set records for the amount of money that a class would raise."

Four teachers at Howe High School stood out to Williams as being major influences at his time there Janie Finney, Pat Stewart, Bettye Mullins and Norman Bennett

He's the mayor of the city that has the most known professional football team in the universe One of the star players on the Dallas Cowboys is veteran Jason Witten who wears the jersey number 82 and is one of the most known players in football history But Arlington, Texas Mayor Jeff Williams once wore the number 82 and played his games, not at the new legendary Cowboys Stadium, but at one of the oldest football stadiums in all of Texas - Bulldog Stadium in Howe.

The Leon and Linda Williams family lived in the north edge of

Sherman for a specific reasons so that their three boys and a daughter could attend Howe schools Jeff Williams, the oldest of the four started school in Howe in the fifth grade in 1970

Williams' class of 1977 was the first to start the tradition of the ribbon-cutting ceremony which is still a part of outgoing senior activities at the end of each year

"Our class was really close." said Williams. "We did a lot of good projects and actually helped start the fall festival. We also raised money to put a marquee sign in

"Those are just some of the examples of the quality teachers that we had " said Williams "When I left Howe and went to Texas Tech, I didn't know hardly anyone, but they had prepared me very well That was a big step to go from 48 in our graduating class to go a university of 24,000."

Williams said that being in a small school meant that almost everyone was involved with a lot of projects and activities, which made everyone feel needed

"I think that translated into our lives realizing that we needed to contribute to the community and the schools for our kids " said Williams "It taught us a lot of responsibility"

Williams went to state in UIL speech and served as class president for several years. Those leadership skills that would later make him mayor of a major city were being honed and developed in Howe While at Howe High, he took a test that would tell a student what they might be suited for in a career field Williams tested high for becoming an attorney His score was so high in math, that the school counselor, Norman Dickey, told him to consider getting an engineering degree before law school

Williams, with his family deeply trenched in the construction business went on to get his civil engineering degree from Texas Tech and while there was elected vice president of student body.

"The reason I ran for that instead of president was because the vice president was the student lobbyist said Willliams "So I spent my senior year in Austin and Washington D C a whole lot "

Seeing so much corruption in both of those high-powered capitol cities soured him in politics But he wasn't soured by a girl he met