It wasn’t that there was something wrong with the academics, arts, or athletics offered at Pitt State.
“It was simply the one place I did not want to go because of my family connection,” he said.
Watts is the son of the late Ted Watts, and anyone who has been even remotely connected to high school and collegiate sports in this part of the country will recognize that name as the famed sports artist from Oswego, Kansas.
His work is everywhere: prints of Hall of Fame inductees, state and national championship teams, professional athletes, legendary coaches adorn walls for miles around.
“If there’s an alumni award, my father earned it,” the younger Watts said. “I did not want to live in his shadow.”
He earned an associate’s degree at Coffeyville Community College and had “a great experience, hosted the football coach’s show, and was there for a national title.”
His dream to become an ESPN sportscaster wound up propelling him to Pitt State, which proved to be much more affordable than a D-1 school and had the perfect program in which to gain hands-on experience: Communication with a broadcasting emphasis.
“The rest is history,” said Watts, who was one of the student videographers for Gorilla Football in 1991 when the team won the national title, and the night of the championship game was his first weekend on air on KKOW Radio.
“In a small way, it’s really neat to have been a part of that,” he said.
He didn’t make it to ESPN, but after graduating in 1994 he quickly became one of the most recognizable voices in the Four State Area as an on-air radio personality.
Since 2016, he’s been the program director and morning show talent for Zimmer Radio on 93.9 FM. Thousands of listeners tune in to listen to him each day during their commute, workday, or while hanging out at home.
He also loves hiring Pitt State students as interns and for full-time positions.
“I know they will have been taught well,” he said. “At Zimmer doing graphic design, web design, marketing and sales, I always look at Pitt, enter things in the Gorillas4Hire program, come to career fairs – we get so many great students and graduates with a great working knowledge and what we’re looking for.”
Watts joined the Alumni Association Board of Directors in 2016 as a way to give back.
“It was an honor, and I don’t say that word lightly,” he said.
In his latest role as president of the Alumni Association, he can’t help but follow in his dad’s footsteps: Ted Watts served in the 1980s.
“I still have his Alumni Association membership card – he carried that forever,” Thom said.
To other alumni, Watts has the following advice:
“Be involved. Don't forget about your time here. Know that there are students who are looking for guidance in what they do.”
“I’ve made so many friendships over the years and gained even more by being on this board,” he added. “It keeps expanding the network of people I know, and we all share something: a passion for our university and our time here.”
And to prospective students considering Pitt State as an option, he says this:
“Pitt State wasn’t my first choice – but it definitely was my best choice.”
-- Pitt State --