How 14-Year-Old BJ Williams Balances His Emerging Basketball Stardom, Giving Back and his Future with Gilas Pilipinas

 By Jennifer Redondo 

Do you remember what you were doing at 14 years old? More than likely, you were playing outside or playing video games with your friends – not starting a non-profit organization or traveling across the world to play basketball. Braylon J. Williams, who goes by BJ, is a mature young man who is wise beyond his years. When he was just in the fifth grade, he completed bonus work even though he didn’t need to. Instead of keeping the extra points for himself, he asked his math teacher to give his extra points to the student with the lowest grade – one who truly needed them! At 10 years old, he was already thinking about helping others. Now 14, he continues to be a good student and brother, but he’s also a star athlete and founder of BJ’s 38 Foundation.    

BJ is the son of Filipino-Canadian, Dr. Annabelle Manalo-Morgan and former NFL player, Roydell Williams, who played wide receiver for the Tennessee Titans and Washington Redskins. He is also raised by his step father Gramps Morgan, Grammy award winning musician. BJ comes from a sports-oriented family, but make no mistake, BJ started playing basketball through the influence of his mother, who played college basketball. At just 11 years old, BJ was featured in Slam Philippines online. He’s a rising star, an AAU World Champion, and he’s already been tapped to be one of the future players for the Philippines’ men’s national basketball team, Gilas Pilpinas. 

To learn more about BJ and the work his foundation has been doing, read on as we had the opportunity to sit with him between basketball and homework. 

1. Tell us about yourself, BJ. 

My name is BJ. I'm in eighth grade, and I am 14 years old. I go to school and live in Tennessee. I am half black and half Filipino. I play basketball – I play point guard or shooting guard. Basketball is what brought me to the Philippines for the first time last year in March. I played in the NBTC Live basketball tournament with Team Fil-Am Nation against Filipinos from all over the world. I was playing for the 14U USA team, and we lost in the semi-finals. Since then, I went back one more time to hang out with my family and, unfortunately, for my Lolo’s funeral. 

2. How was your first experience visiting the Philippines? 

I got a taste for Filipino basketball, the importance of it in our community, and the importance of knowing my roots. I got to be alongside Tito Coach Cris Gopez, along with some other folks in the Filipino basketball community, including UP coaches, that he introduced us to. 

I wanted to go see what it's like in the Philippines. I also wanted to see what the competition was like from other countries around the world. After going to the Philippines, I can truly say that it changed my life. It made me more grateful because after seeing what I saw, it was a really eye opening experience. My eyes weren't open until I came to the realization of how much opportunity I have and how blessed I am. When I went to the Philippines, these kids never played on a hardwood court! I play on a hardwood court every day.

Traveling throughout the Philippines, we went around many places and we were amazed at how much the country loved basketball. We saw a tree and there was a basket hung around the tree, just so the kids could play basketball. As a family, we realized basketball is really the center of a lot of these people’s lives and it was a center of hope. The basketball courts were the center of the community, so we wanted to give them something nice. That’s really how we came up with the idea to renovate or even build basketball courts throughout the Philippines. 

3. Who is your favorite basketball player? 

My favorite player is Kevin Durant. He wore the number 35, which represents his coach who was 35 years old when he got shot. So like him, having a number mean something is important to me. I wear the number 38 for my brother, Macario. When Macario was a baby, he was really sick and they had to perform surgery. They’ve never done this type of surgery before, where they had to remove 38% of his brain. He wasn't supposed to be able to walk or talk or eat by himself or anything. My mom, scientist Dr. Annabelle, made a medicine to help my brother to be able to develop. So now, he can do all those things that he wasn't supposed to and he's basically a normal kid. He’s now 8 years old, and he’s really big. He’s playing basketball, too. If he didn’t have any injuries, he could have been a really good football player. Macario has always been my number one fan. He is always sitting on the sidelines cheering me on. 

4. Tell us about your non-profit, BJ’s 38 Foundation. 

It's called BJ’s 38 Foundation, because it was built around me and my brother, Macario. The motto of my foundation is: “More stories like Macario”.  The point of my foundation is to give and help others who are less fortunate. Some examples of how we help is by giving kids shoes or helping families pay off medical bills that they could not otherwise afford. Really, just anything to make more miracles and more stories to help kids that don't have what we have. I just want to be able to give them some of what I have.

At first, when I heard I was going to the Philippines, I was thinking how I could give what I had to the kids. If I had my own camp, it would be way easier and more organized for me to give these kids a fun experience. We partnered up with Coach Cris Gopez and he set up most of it. One of our first donations came from JC Cares, which is Jordan Clarkson’s foundation. JC Cares donated a lot, and that helped us kick off my foundation. 

I launched my foundation on my 14th birthday, during a basketball camp that I had in the Philippines. During the camp, we gave away a lot of stuff to 150 kids who attended the camp. I started out by asking close friends and family to donate $38. After 3 months of raising money, I was able to raise some funds to get stuff in the Philippines. We rented out the Gatorade hoops facility for my camp. We gave away shorts, new shoes, and basketballs. Everybody got something in the end, but if you wanted to win an extra gift, you would enter a competition. We had knock out, king of the court, and some teamwork games. When it came to my own camp, I knew how I wanted to run mine from my past experiences.  

During my first trip to the Philippines, we were able to renovate a basketball court. The court now has my foundation’s logo on the center of the court.  I want to continue to build more and renovate more courts in the Philippines. Right now, folks can go and vote for the next locations on which courts get renovated. They can either vote for Batangas, which would be really cool because that’s my grandpa’s birthplace. The other two options are Cavite and Rizal. I’ve partnered with NABA Intercity, which hosts the Filipino-American Labor Day that I have been playing in for the past three years. I’m really grateful to my team FSA Jacksonville for inviting me every year. NABA has been helping me fund the next project and to figure out the next locations for our court renovations. We are looking into doing another covered outdoor court. We recently saw footage of our first court and how it is bringing the community together! 

My family and my foundation don’t just want to build and renovate basketball courts throughout the country, but we want the community to know us. We want to encourage the kids to do well in school and to train really hard and send them to camp. We print them new uniforms, and we like to keep in touch with the barangay and coaches of all the players that have been inspired. In the future, we want to be able to provide scholarships for these kids to go and stay in school. 

Since then, we have been gaining a lot of traction. People really love what we are doing. We had not put any marketing dollars, we really just wanted to see how far we can go and use all the funds to give to others. We don't want any big company coming to take over the camp. We want to make decisions, we want to touch people, talk to people, and we want to be readily involved. We won't go to the Philippines without going back to the courts that we’ve built and seeing the community and seeing what else they need. 

5. What are some of your goals, BJ? 

In my life, I want to play college basketball. My two favorite colleges are Kansas and Duke. My long-term goal is to play professional basketball, whether that’s the NBA or overseas. Short-term goals are to build at least five basketball courts and positively help at least one kid have a great future. I hope that someone my age will find me relatable, but just a little taller than them. I hope that I can inspire someone else to do great in school and basketball. 

6. What obstacles have you had to face during your 14 years on this earth?

One of the biggest challenges is managing schoolwork and basketball. Sometimes I fall behind in school because I have too much basketball, or I just don't balance it with all my homework. Another thing I struggle with is procrastination. I never get my homework done before 10 PM, so I have to wake up early. I wake up mad because I don't want to wake up, but if I did my homework earlier, then I probably would have more energy. 

7. In moments of self-doubt. What do you do to build yourself back up?

The first thing I think to myself is whatever happened – it was embarrassing or bad. My mom always tells me that it's always worse for me than what it actually looked like. So I tell myself that, and then I  just think about what inspired me and who I play for? Because if I quit now, then my three little brothers will see me as a quitter. But if I push through hard stuff and make it seem like I'm not going through anything hard, then my brothers will be strong mentally. 

8. What does it mean to be Filipino for you?

I am just proud to be Filipino. My lola and my mom are really hard workers. I never heard either of them complain about anything. Being Filipino to me means working hard and never giving up. My grandma was born in the Philippines, and she came to Canada. She was a singer and she would enter competitions and she would always win them. She did this to help her big family – they were not very fortunate. She was able to get a contract and moved to Canada to make money to send back to help her family. She taught me to never give up, even when it seems hopeless, you have to keep on trying.

9. What's your favorite Filipino food?

My favorite Filipino food is pancit. I don't know how to make it but my mom makes it really good.

10. Where can people find you? 

You can follow me and my foundation on Instagram @braylonjwilliams and  @bjs38foundation . To vote for the next court renovation, donate $38 and vote for Batangas, Cavite, Rizal or make a future suggestion here. For more information or to donate, please go directly to my website at www.BJs38Foundation.com. You can also cashapp/Venmo BJs38Foundation. We of course can take a check too and have it mailed to:
BJs 38 Foundation 
Attn: Dr. Annabelle 
2020 Fieldstone Parkway
STE 900-148 
Franklin, TN 37069

Kids should be able to dream, they shouldn't have to worry about their next meal. They shouldn't have to worry about needing clothes or shoes. Many of us are super blessed, so we should join BJ’s Foundation and his family, to share our blessings with other kids so that we can create “More stories like Macario”.  

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Written by Jennifer Redondo

Co-Founder and Co-Author of In Her Purpose

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