Orlando Magic family mourns Pat Williams' passing

Dennis Scott is known for his gregarious nature. He and Shaquille O'Neal became the comedic duo that defined the youthful bravado and rambunctiousness of those 1990s Orlando Magic teams.

Even a few decades into his broadcasting career, Scott remains light-hearted and good-natured. The personality that made him one of the most popular players in Magic history shines through the TV screen.

But during Thursday's broadcast of the Orlando Magic's Summer League game with the Brooklyn Nets on NBATV, Scott was notably down. Everyone noticed it. The broadcast even noted it.

It was a dark day for everyone associated with the Magic. For longtime Magic fans and people around the team during its earliest days, like Scott, the driving force and father figure for the franchise was gone.

The whole NBA world was mourning the passing of Magic co-founder Pat Williams on Thursday. He died from complications of a viral pneumonia at 84 years old. But no one felt it more acutely than members of the Magic family, especially those who knew him in those early years.

Williams was the Magic's general manager when he was the fourth pick of the 1990 NBA Draft. Scott said it was Williams who encouraged him and funded his early endeavors into broadcasting, where he has carved his career since retiring in 2000.

Scott knows he owes a lot to Williams and felt that loss acutely as he spoke about Williams on the NBATV broadcast at halftime. That is how a lot of players on the Magic felt.

"It's tough. A lot of great relationships come from being in Orlando," Scott said during the NBATV broadcast. "Pat Williams had a dream to come down to Central Florida, going down there in 1990 and seeing all the orange groves and knowing it was a football town. The next thing you know, Nick [Anderson] and I, we're the show. A few years go by and we get this guy named Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway and all of our lives changed."

Williams was a visionary as a salesman and an executive just as much as he impacted the lives around him.

The most iconic photo in Orlando sports might be Williams kissing the lucky ping pong ball that brought O'Neal to Orlando and changed the franchise completely, catapulting it into contention. The team always had a touch of luck.

But Williams took advantage of that luck with hard work and a vision for the future.

Williams always had his eye on a bigger picture and the things he believed in. That was what helped him sell the league on a new market and a young city on dreaming big.

Everyone was along for the ride.

Williams was revolutionary in the league, building a roster that focused on 3-point shooting at a time when the 3-point line was still a novelty. He made one of the first moves solely to clear cap room to make the space to sign Horace Grant (getting a tampering investigation in the process).

"I was hurt. Just kind of shed a tear because he has been so impactful in so many ways in all our lives," Hardaway told Scott in an in-game interview on NBATV during Thursday's game. "Not just for the city of Orlando, the DeVos family, for us as players, but anybody who came in his path. He was such a smart guy and such a touching guy and a guy who saw things before it happened. He was revolutionary and before his time."

Williams was ahead of his time seemingly in every facet. And the Magic benefited from that audacity.

It was the kind of vision that brought the Magic to Central Florida to begin with. Orlando was never supposed to happen. But Williams believed in the challenge and quickly believed in the community. He had to work to get others to believe in the vision too.

That started with getting residents to pledge season tickets to its first player—a young kid from Chicago going to Orlando for the first time.

It is clear how impactful Williams was on the players for a young franchise.

Williams left a mark on everyone who seemed to know him

Nick Anderson penned an emotional response on Instagram:

The emotion of what Williams meant to everyone who met him is evident. Williams is someone who changed a community. But his impact on individual lives is also clear. That may have been the work that he relished most.

There are a lot of similar stories of how Williams always encouraged the people around them to pursue their dreams. Williams himself was a dreamer—who could have imagined basketball in Central Florida in the late 1980s? And he had the means and curiosity to help everyone pursue theirs.

That is something that stood out about those who took the time to memorialize Williams throughout the day Thursday.

Magic broadcaster David Steele was doing play-by-play for the Florida Gators in when he called a dream job when Pat Williams called him to be the play-by-play voice for his new team. Steele has not left Orlando since, starting off as the radio play-by-play voice before becoming the TV voice of the Magic.

Williams was always in sell mode. But the generosity was always present too. As Steele remembers, while he was interviewing for the job, he lost a family member and Williams was quick to send him a book on dealing with grief. That was something that clinched his belief in the Magic as an organization and in Williams.

Williams often gifted books to people in his circle. He was a constant learner, writing more than 100 books on topics ranging from Walt Disney to John Wooden to leadership to his diary on founding the Orlando Magic and that improbable story.

It is no wonder Williams affected so many people's lives. Williams always wanted to do more.

"He never stopped. he was tireless as we all know. Behind the scenes as well as out in public. I never understood how Pat got it all done," Magic CEO Alex Martins told Amy Kaufeldt of FOX 35 in Orlando. "He was tireless. That's how he was all the time. Just an encourager and always motivating."

There are dozens of these stories and tributes, if not hundreds. It is abundantly clear the kind of impact Williams had on those around the Magic organization, the Orlando community and the NBA at large.

Thursday and the days ahead will be one of mourning for such an important figure in Magic history. Orlando lost one of its titans and one of the most important figures in the city's growth—and certainly one of its most important sports figures.

Everyone feels blessed to know Williams. And all of us are thankful for believing in Orlando.