GhLinks Media
Auburn University’s longtime football chaplain died Sunday night when he fell into Lake Martin while dining out with a friend.
Chette Williams, 61, was attempting to leave his 2005 Bennington 2575 RFS pontoon boat when he fell into the water near a dock at Kowaliga’s Restaurant on Lake Martin, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.
The accident happened just west of the Kowaliga Bridge in Elmore County at about 5:45 p.m. His body was pulled from the water at approximately 7:19 p.m. and he was pronounced dead on the scene.
Elmore County Sheriff Bill Franklin said Williams had traveled by boat with a neighbor to have dinner at the popular restaurant in Alexander City.
When the friends realized the restaurant was closed for a private party, they returned to their boat.
As Williams tried to step onto the boat, he fell into the water between the boat and the dock, Franklin said. His friend tried to save him but was unsuccessful.
Williams was a former Auburn linebacker who not only served as the team chaplain but is also the Auburn campus director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the State Director for Urban Ministries for FCA.
Williams played from 1982 to 1984. During his playing career, Auburn won the Sugar Bowl, the Citrus Bowl and the Liberty Bowl.
Williams went on to serve in the ministry in Spartanburg, S.C. and as a pastor in New Orleans and Mobile after he was licensed as a minister in 1987 and ordained in 1988, according to his bio on the university website.
“He received a bachelor’s degree from Auburn in Adult Education in 1985, and a master’s of divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in 1993. Williams has two daughters, Lauren and Caitlyn, and one son, Chette Jr.,” the bio states. In 2019, his son, Chette Williams Jr., was killed in an Atlanta shootout.
Williams was named Auburn’s football chaplain in 1999 under then-coach Tommy Tuberville.
Williams also authored “The Broken Road,” a book chronicling 11 football players’ mission trip to the Dominican Republic prior to Auburn’s run to the BCS National Championship in 2010.
