Art Williams has known life from two different ends of the career spectrum: that of a high school football coach and that of CEO of the largest insurance corporation in the world.
However, Williams said he was equally happy in both occupations.
Williams said while growing up he wanted to emulate his football coach--his father.
After graduating from Mississippi State, Williams became head football coach at Kendrick High School in Columbus, Ga.
"I never planned to leave coaching," Williams said. "I started out making $4,600 a year. But I loved the relationships I had with the other coaches and with the players."
Williams began attending Auburn part time while coaching to earn his master's degree in school administration in the 1960s.
Out of personal tragedy came great success and happiness for Williams.
After being left with no inheritance and little life insurance when his father passed away of a heart attack in 1963, Williams learned about term insurance.
He began to sell term insurance part time, as he believed it could help others avoid the pain and hard times he had experienced.
Seeing that selling insurance was more lucrative than his coaching position, Williams began his own company A.L. Williams and Associates in 1977, even though he had no business education nor corporate management experience, according to his website.
A.L. Williams quickly became the most successful company of its kind in the world.
In 1989, Williams sold his company to Citigroup and retired from the business.
These days, Williams, who lives with his wife, Angela, in Palm Beach, Fla., owns Old Edwards Inn and Spa in Highlands, N.C., and does motivational speaking, although he says he primarily spends time raising his seven grandchildren.
He is the author of four books on personal motivation and individual success, including New York Times best-seller, "All You Can Do Is All You Can Do, But All You Can Do Is Enough."
"Art Williams has inspired me in my own business aspirations," said Alex Helm, 2005 Auburn graduate. "He has taken the time to meet with me personally and give me advice."
Helm has also found success in the insurance industry since his graduation from Auburn.
Williams' time at Auburn was during the age of Pat Sullivan and Terry Beasley. All three years he was in graduate school, Auburn defeated Alabama in the Iron Bowl.
His wife also got her master's in English from Auburn.
"Auburn has been great to my family," Williams said.
Williams has a granddaughter who will graduate this year, as well as six other grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
"We love Auburn," Williams said. "We come back to visit for football games and other things about a half dozen times a year."
Williams went from making less than $5,000 per year to being on the Forbes list of billionaires.
He said the key to his success in both football and the business world was devoting his life to something he loved.
"Every day, when I woke up, I had this desire and belief in what I'm doing," Williams said.
He said it was an "incredible, mind-boggling passion."
Williams encourages students not to graduate with a degree in a field where they think they can make a lot of money, but in something they enjoy doing.
"The No. 1 thing I tell people is that in order to be successful, you have to be passionate about what you do," Williams said. "You can always do something that is going to make a lot of money, but if you want to be successful, do something you love."
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