Cameron Athletics Hall of Fame
Watkins played both baseball and basketball at Cameron after growing up in McAlester, Okla. He was 6’8” and was the first African American student athlete at Cameron and one of the first in Oklahoma. Watkins attended the University of Oklahoma as a freshman and transferred to CU for the 1957-58 season. In basketball, he led the Aggies in scoring with a 16.5 point per game average on the No. 1 ranked team in the nation that carried a 27 game winning streak into the National Tournament. The team finished with two losses, both coming in the 1958 tournament. That same year, Watkins led Cameron’s baseball team to the first ever Junior College National Championship. He was the ace of the pitching staff and a towering presence on the mound, getting the win in the National Championship Game. Watkins played under Hall of Fame Coach Ted Owens; he is now deceased.
