Jeral Williams began higher education at Hutchinson Community College with dreams of a basketball career. He attended Washburn University in order to work at the Menninger Clinic, and his future in psychology was cast. He completed his graduate work at the University of Iowa and then taught at Illinois State University and the University of South Alabama.
In retirement, he continued to be around young people by working as a volunteer sport psychology consultant to various university athletic programs. Throughout his career in higher education, he and his wife opened their home and their lives to Christian college students, hosting a variety of denominational and nondenominational fellowship groups. They reside in Mobile, Alabama.