The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
12.15.2014 | Women's Basketball
Former Longhorn Joy Williams-Purnell ‘83 (1961-2014) passes after battle with ALS.
WACO, Texas – Former Texas Women's Basketball standout Joy Williams-Purnell, 53, passed away on Sunday after a battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Williams-Purnell was a student-athlete at The University of Texas from 1979 to 1983 under hall-of-fame coach Jody Conradt -- a period in which Texas did not lose a single Southwest Conference game. The Waco, Texas native was a four-year starter as a Longhorn and currently ranks third in games played (114), sixth in blocked shots (156), 10th in rebounds (883), and 25th in total points (1,162). She graduated from UT in 1983 with a business management degree.
Williams-Purnell, whose full legal name is Cassandra Joy Williams-Purnell, graduated from Richfield (Texas) High School in 1979 and was inducted into the Waco Independent School District Hall of Fame on Nov. 7, 2014.
On the ALS Dennis Sehorn Foundation website, Williams-Purnell and her family chronicles her journey with ALS leading up to her 53rd birthday on Aug. 3, 2014. Read the entry here.
Williams-Purnell is survived by parents Willie and Robbie Williams, daughters Jessica Purnell and UT-grad Jasmine Purnell, brother Willie Williams, Jr. and his wife Sharon, and brother Greg Williams and his wife Yolanda.
