Robert A. “Bobby” Williams, the former Loyola High School athlete who as a young Notre Dame quarterback led the Fighting Irish to an undefeated season in 1949 and later became a construction company owner and banker, died Thursday from secondary Parkinson's disease at his Mercy Ridge home in Timonium. He was 86.

“Bobby was a remarkable athlete and a wonderful person,” said Vincent T. “Vince” Bagli, a retired WBAL-TV sports anchor who was a student at Loyola High School in the 1940s with Mr. Williams. “I admired him as a student, athlete and a gentleman.”

The son of Harold Ambrose Williams Sr., a Baltimore & Ohio Railroad executive, and Helen Schmidt Williams, a homemaker, Robert Allen Williams was born in Cumberland and later moved with his family to Burke Avenue in Towson.

While at Loyola High School, Mr. Williams lettered in football, basketball and baseball and was captain of all three teams. In 1946 he was named All-Maryland quarterback.

“He played basketball as a freshman, football as a sophomore and baseball,” recalled Mr. Bagli, who graduated from Loyola in 1944. “The last time Loyola won a baseball championship it was 1946 and Bobby was playing third base.”

“He always gave the great Ed Hargaden — who was director of athletics at Loyola — a lot of credit for his success,” he said.

After graduating from Loyola in 1947, Mr. Williams entered Notre Dame on a football scholarship. In 1948 he fulfilled a childhood dream of being a member of the Notre Dame football team.

On Oct. 30 of that year, before 64,000 fans, Mr. Williams played in the old Municipal Stadium on 33rd Street, helping his team defeat Navy, 41-7.

“We were so proud to see Bobby playing at the old stadium,” said Mr. Bagli.

He waited his turn behind Notre Dame greats Angelo Bertelli, Johnny Lujack and Frank Tripucka.

Then, at age 19, Mr. Williams led Notre Dame to an undefeated season and the Collegiate National Championship in 1949.

One of Mr. Williams' stunning performances came Nov. 5, 1949, when Notre Dame played Michigan State at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. He completed “13 of 16 passes, kicked a 50-yard punt that went out at the four [yard line] and ran 40 yards for a touchdown in a bootleg play,” according to his National Football Foundation Hall of Fame profile.

During the 1949 season, Mr. Williams completed 56 percent of his passes, setting a Notre Dame record that stood for 19 years.

“This was as great a year as any Notre Dame quarterback has ever had,” coach Frank Leahy said at the time.

On Nov. 11, 1950, Mr. Williams broke two all-time Notre Dame passing records when he led the Fighting Irish to an 18-7 victory over the University of Pittsburgh Panthers.

“Williams pitched two touchdown passes in the first half for a 12-0 lead then hooked up in a great aerial clash with Pitt's effective Bob Bestwick in the final half,” reported The Washington Post. In that game, Mr. Williams completed 13 of 23 passes for 162 yards.

“This performance was sufficient to give him a total of 172 connections in 330 attempts through 17 games of his Irish career for a new school record,” reported The Post.

One of his teammates in that game was future Baltimore Colts legend Jim Mutscheller. Mr. Williams tossed him a 15-yard scoring pass.

Mr. Williams finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1949 and sixth in 1950. He held the record for highest passing efficiency rating for a season for more than 50 years, family members said.

Other honors included being named first team All-American in 1949. The next year he was presented the Nils V. “Swede” Nelson Award for his conduct on and off the field. He was inducted into the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame in 1988.

After graduating from Notre Dame in 1951, Mr. Williams was drafted in round one by the Chicago Bears, the first player from Baltimore ever drafted by a National Football League team.

He played for the Bears in 1951 and 1952 before serving in the Navy during the Korean War. After completing his naval service, he returned to the team in 1955 and played one more year.

Mr. Williams married his high school sweetheart, the former Anita Galvin, in 1952.

After ending his professional football career, Mr. Williams founded the Arundel Woods Construction Co. in 1960, which he dissolved in 1996.

He also had a career in banking, and in 1964 was named president of Riverside Federal Savings and Loan, which later became Harbor Federal Savings and Loan, and finally Harbor Federal Savings Bank. He also served two terms as a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta.

He retired in 2000.

Mr. Williams enjoyed family vacations to beaches and ski slopes.

“Whether it be water skiing or body surfing it was always a competition to be followed by rehashing the stories over cocktails,” a son, Mark Williams of Parkton, wrote in an email.

“He believed in working hard and playing hard together.”

His wife died in 1998.

A former resident of the Hampton neighborhood of Baltimore County, Mr. Williams moved to Mercy Ridge in 2010.

He was a communicant of Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church, Baltimore and Ware avenues, Towson, where a Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 10 a.m. Thursday.

In addition to his son, Mr. Williams is survived by two other sons, Robert A. Williams Jr. of Washington and James Williams of Ruxton; three daughters, Anita Williams Feeley and Barbara Williams Case, both of Lutherville, and Susie Williams Simon of San Mateo, Calif.; 13 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

frasmussen@baltsun.com