Richard Watts
Biography
Huntington East
High School / (Class of 1973) Huntington, WV
Classification:
AAA Boys
Specialty:
Distance
Marshall
University / (Class of 1977) Huntington, WV
Richard Wesley Watts (born on February 10, 1955) grew
up in Huntington, West Virginia. He is a 1973 graduate of Huntington East High
School and a former distance running standout at Marshall University. He is the
middle child of Wesley and Rosemary Watts. Richard has two siblings, an older
sister Patty and younger brother Mike.
Watts idolized Wilson Smith and his brother Steve when
he first started running. The Smith’s both ran for Huntington High, not East. They were coached by legendary coach, Ray McCoy.
High School:
Watts ran for Huntington East High School from the
fall of 1970 to the spring of 1973. He was coached at East by Hyman Smith in
cross country, by Cagle Curtis in track, and unofficially by Bill Drinkard (Corky), whose son was on their undefeated 2-mile
relay team. Bill later moved to Madison
(WV), where he has assisted the Scott High School team for years.
During his senior year, at the 1972 West Virginia High
School All-Boys Class State Cross Country Meet which was held at Morgantown,
St. Albans won the team championship as eleven teams competed for the title.
Keyser’s Dale Redman captured top individual honors, while Huntington East’s
Richard Watts placed 7th, earning him all-state honors.
Top 10 Individual All-State Runners over the 2.3-mile
course were:
1. Dale Redman, Keyser (13:10.3); 2. Kenny
Hensley, Montcalm High (13:14.0); 3. Kevin Schwing, John Marshall High (13:16.0); 4. Terry Wigfield, Keyser (13:18.0); 5.
David Rollins, St. Albans (13:20.0); 6. Charles Miesner, Washington Irving
(13:21); 7. Richard Watts, Huntington East (13:25); 8.
Allen Peters, St. Albans (13:26); 9. Steve Tucker, St. Albans (13:27); 10. Mike Redman, Keyser
(13:30)
Team Scoring:
1. St. Albans - (56); 2. Keyser -
59; 3. Huntington East - (99); 4. Brooke County - (137); 5. Tie between Morgantown and
Greenbrier East (150 each); 7. Montcalm (163); 8. John Marshall (170); 9. Fairmont (195);
10. Stonewall Jackson (240); 11. Huntington
High (301)
At the 1973 Class AAA Boys West Virginia State Track
Meet, it was a St. Albans-Charleston battle for the sixth straight year, with
St. Albans coming out on top for the fourth time in five years, 54 to 42 3/5
points. Charleston’s Mike Tyson and East Bank’s Claude Geiger tied for high
point honors. Tyson tied records in the 100 (9.7) and 220 (21.1), and also
defended his long jump title. He went on to make the ‘76 Olympic Trials at 100
meters.
In the distance events, Craig Casto of Parkersburg won
the mile in 4:26.4, while Damon Clark of Wheeling outlasted the field to win the
2-mile in 9:52.1. This was the first time the 2-mile run was held, which made
it a state record.
Huntington East’s Richard Watts placed third in the
1-Mile Run with a time of 4:29.3 and he anchored the Highlanders 2-mile relay
team to a state championship. Their relay team went undefeated the entire
outdoor track season.
Mile Run Results:
1. Craig Casto, Parkersburg (4:26.4);
2.
DeVault, Fairmont East (4:26.5); 3. Richard Watts, Huntington
East (4:29.3); 4. Brown, Martinsburg (4:31.2); 5.
David, Beckley (4:32.5)
Watts wasn't a superstar in high school like a lot of
his contemporaries, but he really improved in one year from high school to
college.
After high school, Watts increased his mileage and
intensity substantially while in college.
In 1973, Richard Watts, ran in the Charleston Distance
Run 15-miler inaugural race the summer before he started college at the age of
18 years old. He would finish 28th out of 213 runners with a time of 1:30:18.
He earned a second place finish in the 18-30 age division for West Virginia
runners.
College:
Cross Country
and Track (1973-1977):
Jerry Dotson was Watts
roommate for two years. His Thundering Herd teammates were Damon Clark, Dave
Kline, John Dotson, Tim Koon from Fairmont, Steve Carnohan,
Gary Sheets from Chesapeake (OH), and David Shafer from Maryland.
Watts set 18 records, both individually and as a
member of relay teams, in his career at Marshall, including the indoor mile,
the outdoor mile, the indoor 1,000-yard run, the steeplechase, the four-mile
relay and the 1,500-meter run.
He won the Marshall Invitational cross country meets
in both his junior and senior years.
He broke the Marshall Mile record during his freshman
year, and got all the way down to 4:13 that year. He ran 4:09 on Marshall's home
track as a sophomore.
Watts ran a school record for 1500-meters with a time
of 3:49, which converts to a 4:07.25 Mile.
As a freshman, he was "Most Valuable Runner"
(cross country), "High Scorer" (track). Then as a sophomore, Watts
was "Most Valuable Runner" (cross country), "Track Man of the
Year" (a co-winner with Hall of fame members Joe Johns and Dave Kline) and
First-Team All-Southern Conference in 1977.
He was the team captain of the 1977 team and a MU
scholar-athlete all four seasons.
Watts ran at Marshall for Dr. Don Williams in 1973-74,
for coach Andy Nameth in 1974-75 and for Hall of Fame
member in coach Rod O'Donnell from 1975 to 1977. He helped the Herd to a
third-place finish in the Southern Conference Cross Country meet, Marshall's
first Southern Conference competition, and he finished eighth to claim
All-Southern Conference honors, the first All-Southern Conference honors for
the Thundering Herd program in its first year in the league.
He finished third in the mile in the Southern Conference
Outdoor meet in 1977, again breaking his school record, and the Herd was fifth
in the league that year. In his final meet at Marshall, Watts won the
800-meters run and was second in the 1,500-meter run as Marshall beat Cleveland
State, 98-45.
Watts graduated from Marshall with a Bachelor of
Science in 1977, then received his Master’s in 1994.
Watts was Inducted into The
Marshall University Athletic Hall of Fame for Cross Country and Track in 2012.
Watts was invited to run the 1-Mile Run in the Inaugural
Hall of Fame Classic track meet held during the 1975 Induction Weekend at Laidley Field in Charleston, West Virginia. He got to run
against Frank Shorter who was the gold medal winner in the 1972 Olympic Games.
Shorter ran the Mile in 4:12, while Watts would finish two seconds back in
4:14. Watts was the only local that got to run the Mile, while Carl Hatfield
and David Duncan got to compete against Frank Shorter and Bill Rogers (the
former Boston Marathon record holder) in the Two Mile Run.
Post-Collegiate:
Watts won three consecutive Virginia State Mountain
Bike Masters championships, between 2000 and 2003. After graduating, Watts has
finished third in the National Steeplechase event in National Masters Meet in
California and was 15th in the World Mountain Bike Masters in Bromont, Canada (City in Québec).
On September 1, 2012, Watts (57) ran in the 40th
Annual Charleston Distance Run, while placing 202 out 633 runners with a
respectable time of 2:13:42.7.
Personal:
Richard Watts currently lives in Charleston, West
Virginia. He is employed by Ackenheil Engineers and
Geologists, Inc. in Nitro, WV as Senior Geologist and Vice-President.
Submitted by Coach Mike
McMillion (04/12/19)