Todd Leaper Williams cheers on the Kansas University Jayhawks recently. For the past 45 years Williams has worked as the football team's equipment manager and one of the team's biggest supporters.

Despite Kansas University’s football team completing its 2015 season without a win, Todd “Leaper” Williams doesn’t let anything dampen his spirits.

Instead, he holds his head high and earnestly looks toward next season with a positive attitude.

“We’re going to be really good,” said the KU equipment manager. “We’re going to have to work a little bit harder and go from there.”

Todd Leaper Williams cheers on the Kansas University Jayhawks recently. For the past 45 years Williams has worked as the football team's equipment manager and one of the team's biggest supporters.

Up or down, thin or flush, Leaper, 62, has seen all kinds of seasons in his lifetime and through his 45 years with KU’s athletics department.

Leaper was born and raised in a home that lived and breathed Kansas University athletics. The athletic department’s revenue-generating vehicle, the Williams Education Fund, was named after his father, uncle and grandfather.

Old family photo albums show dinner parties with the likes of Bob Billings, Olin Petefish, Wilt Chamberlain, Arthur C. Clarke and Truman Capote in attendance.

And although Leaper, one of four sons, was left with a mental development impairment due to anoxia — a lack of oxygen to the brain — at birth, he grew up cheering for the Jayhawks alongside the rest of the family.

“When it comes to walking into a room and knowing who 500 people are, he’s extraordinary,” said Leaper’s younger brother, Sean Williams. “But when it comes to making change for a dollar, he’s just not very good at that.”

Growing up as an avid sports fan, Leaper immediately began memorizing the names of local and professional athletes, game statistics and more, Williams said.

“He knew everybody on the Chiefs, the Kansas City Athletics and everybody on KU’s teams,” he said. “He can still rattle off everybody on the 1968 Orange Bowl team.”

Leaper was so passionate about sports, in fact, that in 1970 he approached the football team’s then-equipment manager, Ray Coughenour, to ask for a job, Williams said. Leaper was immediately set up with several responsibilities and set out on his new position.

“They got him collecting gym bags at the end of practice and handing out towels and stuff,” Sean Williams said. “He memorized everybody’s pin number, knew their height, weight, hometown, girlfriend’s name, dog’s name. He knew everything about them.”

Dave Aikins, a former offensive guard for KU who graduated in 1970, said he’s kept in touch with Leaper over the years and clearly noticed that he provides the team with a giant psychological boost.

“They absolutely feed off him,” he said. “He’s always energetic and always up and fun to be around.”

Williams said Leaper’s friendly and energetic demeanor especially helps new players adjust to being a part of the group. All the while, he works himself up each game, emulating coaching phrases and terminologies he’s heard over the years.

“Here’s this disabled guy that’s barking out stuff, and he’s so enthusiastic that he’s really made a difference. He makes the guys feel like a part of the team,” he said. “He loves what he’s doing, and he’s happy doing it.”

Leaper became so involved with the team that each year on his birthday his mother would host a chili feed at their home for a number of the players, Williams said.

The two brothers looked over an old photograph of one such dinner in the 1980s as Leaper hovered a finger over the musky picture, calling out the names of the teammates.

“That’s Dan Wagoner, Roger Foote,” he said. “And Tony McNeely. He was allergic to chili.”

Over the years, Leaper was given more and more responsibility, he said. For a period of time, he even held a set of keys to Allen Fieldhouse.

Not only has Leaper worked to better KU’s athletic department, but he’s worked as an ambassador for people with disabilities everywhere, Aikins said.

Aikins’ son, Kurt, who also has a disability, works for KU’s athletic department, and Leaper helped blaze the trail for that opportunity, Aikins said.

Leaper said he has also been quite active with a number of local sports teams, including Lawrence High School, his alma mater. He holds a gold medal from the Kansas Special Olympics softball team in 1987.

Although Leaper’s not as spry as he once was, he’s still as passionate. He plans on continuing his work as long as he’s able, he said.

And as far as losing seasons go? KU has had a few, he said. But that’s no reason to give up hope. They’ll be back at it next year.

“We just had a young team,” he said. “But you’ve got to realize these new kids are going to turn around and grow.”