Over the course of his four-year career at Kankakee, there have been plenty of wonderful basketball memories for Kays senior Lincoln Williams, the 2026 Daily Journal Boys Basketball Player of the Year.

After sharing the award last spring, Williams is a two-time Daily Journal POY. The three-time Class 3A Illinois Basketball Coaches Association All-State pick [twice as a first-teamer] is hoping to replicate that feat with the Associated Press next week after practically rewriting the Kankakee scoring record books.

But no matter how many memories are made on the hardwood, there’s one memory he’ll always keep room for, one that feels fresh around this time each year – being held in the arms of his late mother, Melissa, at an Easter Egg hunt.

Williams hadn’t turned 2 yet when his mother died in a car accident in 2010. But his dad, Sammy, and other family members are sure to remind Williams and his siblings of who their mother was.

“Hard working, nice, caring, beautiful,” said Lincoln of the most common descriptions of who she was. “Ever since I got my license a year or two ago, I drive out to the cemetery a lot. I sit there for hours and stuff like that.”

And there’s no doubt nobody would be prouder of his achievements.

“She’d be super proud, just knowing the type of kid he is, what he’s turning out to be and the future ahead of him. She’d be really proud,” Sammy said. “She’d just hug him, kiss him, tell him to keep striving and go forward.”

Sammy raised Lincoln and his older siblings, Samuel and Samantha, as a single parent, with the help and love of aunts, uncles and cousins. That included passing down his love of sports, especially basketball, to Lincoln. A 1991 Momence graduate, Sammy has noticed ways that their games are similar and different, although they disagree on who would win a one-on-one game today.

“The height and all that, he’s about the same,” Sammy said. “I was lanky in high school, just like him. He’s very athletic, very high IQ when it comes to the game. ... He’s a little more athletic, definitely jumping higher than what I was. He can shoot it, but can’t shoot it like I could shoot it. He just has to get a bit more confident in his shot because he can put it up.”

Baseball has always been a big part of the Williams household, too. Samuel was a baseball standout before graduating from Kankakee in 2021 and played at Kishwaukee College in Malta. But once Lincoln got to high school and started taking basketball more seriously, he left baseball behind.

His focus on basketball has paid off. Williams broke the Kankakee single-game (44 points) and career (1,853) scoring records, while his 703 points this season are the most of any Kay since the 1983 merger of Westview and Eastridge. He’s a four-star recruit and consensus top-ranked senior in the state after helping the Kays to a third straight regional title, a Sweet 16 appearance and a school-record 29 wins.

“Individually, I humbly think I had the greatest career in [Kankakee] history,” Lincoln said. “I think the stats show. As a team, we finished well but didn’t finish where we wanted to be. In my mind, it was state or a failed season. But overall, I had a great career with my teammates.”

A nonconference schedule full of showcase matchups across the state and region, as well as postseason games throughout Illinois, has meant lots of travel for the Williams family. So have national trips over the summer for the Mac Irvin Fire, the Chicago-based AAU team Williams played for in the Nike EYBL circuit, the most prominent national AAU league around.

And whether on flights or cross-country road trips, Lincoln has always had a familiar face in the crowd.

“I don’t think my dad’s missed a game since maybe sixth grade,” Lincoln said. “He’s always there for me. If I had a game or tournament states away he or my brother get me there. I don’t have to worry about a support system with them, my uncles, cousins, aunties. When I get to college, whether they have to drive or fly, they’re going to be there.”

That college decision, one that’s had fans of Kankakee and several NCAA Division-I programs on the edge of their seats, will be coming soon. Lincoln said that once this year’s coaching carousel slows down, he’ll be ready to make his decision.

Wherever Lincoln’s next chapter is written, and however he and the family have to get there to see it unfold, Sammy will be watching it all happen. And he’ll do so with the same advice he’s always had for his kids.

“Everything in life is a moment, and you just live in that moment,” Sammy said. “A lot of the things I like, with not just him but all my kids, is just being in that moment. Seeing Lincoln grow from 4 years old with his buddies around, Myair, [Thompson], [Cedric Terrell] III, Kenaz [Jackson], EJ [Hazelett], they all grew up playing ball together. It’s funny seeing these guys come into their own and start new chapters in life. Capturing these moments is a big thing.”