An old quote Zion Williamson had a few years back about signing autographs went viral this week, but the way it is being presented is not entirely accurate.
Williamson made it a point to spend extra time signing autographs during his lone season in Duke, and that is something he has been passionate about since high school. When he was 16, Williamson said in a documentary about his team that he tries to sign every kid’s autograph because he knows how he would feel if an athlete he looked up to snubbed him.
“When I was little, I looked up to high school players and wanted their autographs and sometimes I couldn’t get it, I’d be hurt,” Williamson said at the time, via Marc Berman of the New York Post. “I said when I grew up, I don’t want to be like that. I want to sign every kid’s autograph. No matter how long it takes me.
“I try to sign every kid’s autograph. I don’t want to turn a little kid down because I know it will hurt them because it hurt me. Anthony Davis, John Wall turned me down. So I try to sign everybody’s.”
Apparently what Williamson said came off wrong. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, he didn’t mean that Davis and Wall actually turned down his autograph request. He was simply using them as part of an analogy.
Some context on Zion Williamson/Anthony Davis/John Wall autograph story being rehashed: Williamson has never met Davis or Wall, per source close to him. Neither snubbed him. Williamson was providing analogy using athletes he looked up to in high school, on why he signs for kids.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 21, 2019
That makes sense, because Williamson said in the video clip that he never actually got a chance to see Wall and Davis play:
I checked the video And it seems Zion was misquoted by they NY Post, he not only says he’s never met AD and John Wall but he also says he always signs autographs for kids because he would have been hurt “IF” AD and John Wall wouldn’t have signed their autograph for him https://t.co/E8LaDBeQRJ pic.twitter.com/AWRmdvR0XW
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) May 21, 2019
Everyone can relax now. Davis and Wall aren’t heartless autograph snubbers — at least not that we know of.
For such a young guy, Williamson seems to have the right attitude about being a superstar player. We saw that with the way he handled his unique situation at Duke, and the fact that he goes out of his way to sign as many autographs as possible is another great example.
