The former Arkansas great, who announced his retirement from the NBA a couple of days ago, is a man who brought a lot to the game of basketball.
Fearsome post scoring, muscle, desire ...
And a total lack of commitment to a single hairstyle.
When he first graced the national stage as a collegian, he had no hair at all, save for a little something-or-other down around the mouth area.
Many years later, he exited looking a tad older, but nearly the same.
If you were a historian of hair, you could look at the journey between these two photos and chart a straight course from point A to point B.
2007 (second photo) looks much like 1993 (at the top) plus maturity.
If only it were so simple.
I first became aware of the Williamson hair debacle in 2002, when he was with the Pistons. My friend Erin, a Detroit fan, emailed me to say, as I recall, "I think there's a dinosaur sitting on Corliss Williamson's head."
I checked it out, and decided that whether or not this was Jurassic, is was certainly worth noting.
So I started paying attention. Seeing THAT hair do -- the dinosaur -- was a sign of a situation in flux. This was clearly a middle stage of a longer-term plan. What was next?
Just about a week later, presto! WHOLE NEW DEAL.
Remember when cornrows were controversial? They were too dangerous, too wild, too black, or too ... something that the league felt weird about?
I have to think that even the most conservative of the league's image hawks welcomed this particular do as a tidy sign of progress.
The game was on.
WWCHDN? What Would Corliss's Hair Do Next?
He wasn't exactly new to the hair game. 2001 had been pretty exciting.
Standards had been raised.
And lowered again.
This is the "baby Dino" -- from 2002, before he really got it going. Who knew his hair life was about to change forever?
After the Dino phase, he lost his nerve, and for a while it seemed he was pretending he didn't have hair at all.
And eventually, probably inevitably, that's where we were headed. This photo from 2005 is one of the last signs of life on that Williamson scalp.
The game, apparently, is over. Gone the way of the dinosaur.
Fare thee well.
UPDATE: I'm hungry for online photos of Williamson with the super crazy multiple side mohawk/swirl 'do he had for a little while in college and the TNT shower cap interview. Can anyone help?
All photos via Getty Images, by Rocky Widner/NBAE, Fernando Medina/NBAE, Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE, Allen Einstein/NBAE, Joe Murphy/NBAE, Jessica Rinaldi/AFP, Tom Pidgeon/Getty Images, Gregory Shamus/NBAE, Tom Ewart/Getty Images Sport.
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