Bobby Watson
Bobby Watson (1942-1977)
Teams coached: Evansville Purple Aces
Evansville record: 1-3 (.250)
Overall record^: 1-3 (.250)
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA National Championships: 0
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 0
- NIT Championships: 0
- NIT Appearances: 0
Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):
| 1977 | Evansville |
| 1974-1977 | Oral Roberts (asst) |
| 1973-1974 | Wake Forest (asst) |
| 1971-1973 | Ferrum College |
| 1969-1971 | Xavier (asst) |
| 1967-1968 | Xavier (asst) |
Bobby Watson Facts
- Robert Lee Watson
- Born August 8, 1942
- Died December 13, 1977
- Hometown: Bethel Park, Pennsylvania
- Alma Mater: Virginia Military Institute (BA, 1965)
- A star basketball and baseball player at Bethel Park HS (PA), Watson played basketball for coach L.F. “Weenie” Miller at VMI
- Watson was team captain as a senior for a Keydets’ team that won the 1964 SoCon Tournament
- Started his career as the head boys’ basketball coach at William Fleming HS (VA) for the 1964-65 season
- Entered the US Army in 1965 and served two tours in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division
- Awarded two Bronze Star Medals, the Commendation Medal and five Purple Hearts for his service
- Returned to coaching in 1967, with two stints (three total years) as an assistant under Xavier head coach George Krajack
- Served as the head coach at Ferrum College (VA) for two years, amassing a 61-8 record and attracting the attention of Carl Tacy, the head coach at Wake Forest who previously worked at Ferrum
- Watson spent one year on Tacy‘s staff at Wake and then three years at Oral Roberts working under Jerry Hale
- Watson was hired in 1977 to succeed the great Arad McCutchan as the head coach at Evansville, which was entering its first year of D-I competition
- On December 13, 1977, the Evansville team and staff boarded a plane to fly to Nashville for an upcoming game against Middle Tennessee; after several hours of delays due to weather, the plane took off but shortly after suffered an engine failure and crashed not far from Evansville Regional Airport; all passengers and crew perished in the crash
- Despite only coaching four games, Watson was inducted posthumously into the Evansville Athletic Hall of Fame in 1978
- A memorial fountain, titled “Weeping Basketball” was erected on campus for all the players and coaches lost in the crash
Bobby Watson Coaching Tree
- coming soon
^ overall record includes head coaching positions at the NCAA Division I level only