Sport Oregon Announces Passing of Damian Williams

Sport Oregon has announced that Damian Williams, the organization’s former sports tourism services manager, passed away on June 12 after a battle with cancer.

Williams worked with Sport Oregon from July 2021 to June 2022, helping the state return to live events following the pandemic and contributing to the development of the new sports tourism department.

“From the moment he walked into our offices on his first day at Sport Oregon, it was clear that Damian was a special guy,” said Jim Etzel, Sport Oregon chief executive officer. “He was the type of person who would light up a room and build a special connection with everyone in it. While he was with Sport Oregon for a relatively short period of time, he was the perfect fit to help us start our new sports tourism department. He was such a wonderful connector of people, and his contributions were immense.”

In addition to working in sports tourism and as an educator, Williams was also a successful softball coach as the winningest coach in the history of Willamette University. He then broadened his professional pursuits in the tourism and sports industries with Travel Salem and Sport Oregon.

In 2022, Williams returned to teaching as a professor at Linfield University. There, he founded the Front Office Sports group to give students an opportunity to work on real-world projects with sports teams and organizations across the Pacific Northwest.

“Even when Damian moved on from Sport Oregon, he stayed closely in our orbit with the involvement of his students at Linfield University and their help with some of our most important events in the region,” said Matt Reed, chief operating officer of Sport Oregon. “Without Damian, this pipeline of volunteers and future talent simply would not exist.”

Despite his illness, Wiiliams taught a full course load this past spring at Linfield. He was recently honored with Linfield’s R.J. McIntyre Distinguished Professor award for his work with the school’s business students.