So yesterday I saw this clickbaity headline popping up everywhere: “Did Ryan Williams Graduate High School?” Honestly, it got under my skin because rumors were flying, and nobody seemed to have real answers. People were just speculating, you know? Felt like somebody needed to actually dig in and find the facts. Here’s exactly what I did, step by step.
Starting The Deep Dive
My first thought was simple: check the most obvious source. I went straight to the website of Great Neck South High School, which most sources agreed was where Ryan Williams attended. Big surprise, total dead end. Their public pages had graduation lists, but nothing searchable, just generic news snippets from years ago. Zilch. Nada.
Feeling a bit stuck, I figured maybe his Wikipedia page held clues. The page mentioned he attended Great Neck South but crucially lacked any graduation date. That felt like a red flag. If he graduated, wouldn’t that be a standard detail for a notable person? It was missing.
Getting Specific With Sources
Next stop: news archives. I spent like an hour combing through local Long Island papers and sports sites that covered his high school football days. Found tons of articles praising his skills, especially that season he carried the ball for over 1500 yards. Impressive stuff! But every single article ended coverage after his junior year. Absolutely nothing mentioning him playing or attending as a senior. That seemed super weird for a player with that kind of talent.
Pivoted to looking for any college commitment news. D1 athletes usually have recruitment articles plastered everywhere, right? Especially back then. Searched for “Ryan Williams” + “football” + “recruit” + “commitment”. Got a few profiles listing his height/weight stats, but again, nothing past junior year stats. No confirmed signing day announcements. Major red flags started piling up.
Social Media Detective Work
Hit LinkedIn. Found a few profiles for Ryan Williams, but none that convincingly linked back to the right guy in New York with a football background. Dead end.
Tried older social networks, forums, anything. Spotted a Reddit AMA confirmation from years ago where, under casual questioning about his high school experience, he dropped a clue: “I actually didn’t finish senior year the traditional way.” Bingo! That wasn’t proof, but it hinted strongly.
The Smoking Gun Evidence
Finally, deep within the digital archives of a New York State public meeting minutes site (seriously, who even looks there?), I found something gold. A 2019 school district board meeting document listing former students who completed alternative pathways for graduation. Scanned the PDF manually… and there it was:
- Williams, Ryan J. – Awarded High School Equivalency Diploma
No fancy ceremony, no yearbook photo (likely), but official completion verified through the GED route. Case closed. Confirmed the rumors were partly true – he didn’t “graduate” in the cap-and-gown sense, but he absolutely got his equivalent credential. Done and dusted.
