Algen Williams’ biggest contribution to Kansas University football might be what he’s doing now, two years after his playing career ended.

“Going around to different training facilities  between recruiting trips and playing games at other places  I realized our training facilities were on the lower end of the scale,” said Williams, an architect for HOK Sport+Venue+Event in Kansas City, Mo. “This new training facility will be one of the best in the nation. I wish I could have trained in the new one.”

The Lawrence High and KU graduate will settle for building it instead. Williams, 25, is a member of the HOK S+V+E design team that conceived the Anderson Family Strength and Conditioning Center, an $8 million, 42,000-square-foot project located on the northwest corner of Anschutz Pavilion. The facility, scheduled to open in March, will replace the Shaffer-Holland Strength Center.

“It means a lot,” said Williams, a 2001 KU graduate who still lives in Lawrence with fiancee Erin Niblo and 18-month-old son Mason. “It’s the most personal project I’ve worked on at HOK. I want to do a good job because it’s a reflection on me, as well as HOK.”

Williams, HOK’s site representative, visits campus two to three times a week to meet with Turner Construction workers, answer questions and make sure the project is progressing on time. On days he’s not on site, contractors talk to the firm’s architects by phone.

Deep impact

HOK S+V+E is the largest architecture firm in the metro area with 193 architects and 260 employees. With offices in London and Brisbane, Australia, the company has built notable sports facilities around the world. The firm’s endeavors in U.S. pro sports include baseball’s Comerica Park in Detroit, Coors Field in Denver, Jacobs Field in Cleveland, Camden Yards in Baltimore and Pac Bell Park in San Francisco.

HOK’s NFL stadiums include The Coliseum in Nashville, Heinz Field in Pittsburgh and Ravens Stadium at Baltimore. It also designs multipurpose pro venues, such as Chicago’s United Center and Denver’s Pepsi Center.

Closer to home, HOK S+V+E was involved in the renovation of KU’s Memorial Stadium and the expansion of KSU Stadium in Manhattan.

“It’s always fun to go back and work where you went to school,” said Mark Palmer, a 1982 KU graduate who is the project architect of the Anderson Center.

Project manager Jim Swords (1982) and project designer Scott Catstack (1994) also are KU grads working on the Anderson Center.

Unique perspective

Williams played two years at Hutchinson Community College before starting his KU career as a walk-on in the spring of 1997. After red-shirting in 1998, the wide receiver caught six passes for 79 yards as a junior in 1999.

Williams had high hopes for his senior season, but he injured his knee during the summer and never fully recovered. He didn’t catch a pass in 2000.

“It ruined my senior season,” he said. “I was 75 percent at best.”

Williams, however, has put his college experience to good use, offering an athlete’s perspective to a global sports architecture firm.

“It helped quite a bit during early design of the project to have an athlete’s perspective,” Palmer said of the Anderson Center. “He had acquaintances with people involved. It helped with dialogue with the athletic department and the university.”

Architects with major college athletic experience are hard to find.

Palmer knows. He played golf for one semester at Kansas before opting to concentrate on class work in KU’s rigorous architecture program.

“I played collegiate athletics for a short time, and the time you spend practicing, playing and traveling, and the time you spend in the architecture school make it really rare to find an athlete that’s made it through the program,” Palmer said. “A lot of classes only meet once or twice a week, so if you miss it, you’ve missed it for the week.”

Williams made it through. In addition to Anderson Center, he is involved in the renovation and expansion of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Georgia Tech, the expansion of Beaver Stadium at Penn State, designing a training facility for William and Mary and the renovation of Virginia Tech’s football stadium.

“He’s had to make some decisions on his own without a lot of supervision because we travel a lot,” Palmer said. “He’s a real hard worker and picks things up pretty quickly for as little experience as he has.”

On schedule

KU’s new strength and conditioning center remains Williams’ primary focus. HOK S+V+E is confident the facility will be ready by March. In fact, Palmer calls March a “conservative” estimate of when the facility will be completed.

Passersby shouldn’t be concerned that the building doesn’t look like a state-of-the-art facility yet.

“It’s going great. They have the support columns up, and they’re going to pour the first floor this week,” said Williams, who added that workers will begin building walls next week. “They’re trying to get it enclosed before the bad weather hits so they can work on it all winter. It’s gone real smoothly.”

Williams hopes his first project at his alma mater won’t be his last.

“Looking down the road,” he said, “I’d like to be involved in all the projects HOK does there.”