Family, friends, former players, and colleagues packed Thirsty Fellow to celebrate a surprise retirement party for Bob Watson Friday, April 11. Watson has been a part of the cardinal Newman community since the late ’60s.

“It’s hard to put into words what this means to me,” Watson said. “When you see probably five decades of people here, it’s amazing. My high school friends are here. Athletes from the 1980s and 1990s are here. It’s just amazing. It makes me feel that I had an impact in their lives.”

Watson’s Cardinal Newman career began as a student in 1969 when the school was on Forest Drive. While his family had been a part of the school since it’s opening in 1961, Watson blazed his own trail as a basketball player. During Watson’s early years, there were no athletic facilities on Cardinal Newman’s campus. That changed beginning in 1971 when Watson’s father, George, spearheaded the construction of the Cardinal Newman gym. According to Watson’s wife, Candi, a group of Cardinal Newman fathers, one of them a construction engineer, built the gym. The fathers weren’t the only people who helped. Watson’s class members gave up their prom and donated the money to buy the bleachers. The gym was completed for the 1971-1972 school year.

The first game held in the gym was against Lugoff-Elgin. Watson, who was the team’s point guard, scored the first bucket.

Watson had other great memories as a student at Cardinal Newman, such as playing together with his brother, Roger, after he missed an entire school year battling an illness.

Watson graduated in 1973 and earned scholarships in basketball and baseball to the University of South Carolina at Sumter.

He returned to Cardinal Newman in 1977 to begin his teaching and coaching career. He started out helping his dad coach the girls’ basketball team. In short order, they turned a struggling program into a winner. After George retired from coaching, Bob took over the program.

Later on, Watson helped his friend, Patrick Greenwood, coach the boys’ basketball team. Watson later took over the program when Greenwood stepped away. Watson guided the Cardinals to state championships in 1988 and 1995.

In 1984, Cardinal Newman was looking for more sports to offer girls. At the time, tennis, basketball, and sideline cheerleading were the only sports offered. Watson suggested volleyball and thus founded the Cardinals’ volleyball program. At the time, Watson didn’t know anything about the sport. However, he learned the intricacies of volleyball and began playing it himself. He built Cardinal volleyball into a powerhouse, winning state titles in 1996 and 1997. The program was named “Best Volleyball program” by The State newspaper.

Watson also coached baseball at Cardinal Newman, winning state championships in 1991 and 1995.

” When I grew up, we played football, basketball, and baseball,” Watson said of his passion for sports. “Slowly basketball and baseball became my thing. We had an almost regulation size court in our backyard. My dad asked us if we wanted a swimming pool or basketball court and we said basketball court. Every weekend 30 people would play. There weren’t a lot of places to play. We had Trenholm Park, but besides that, there weren’t a lot of places to play.”

By the time Watson retired from coaching, he was Cardinal Newman’s winningest coach with over 800 wins in four sports. He was also named Coach of the Year multiple times by many organizations including SCISA.

He taught United States History for 20 years from college prep to AP. During his teaching career he held many titles, such as department chair. He was also the first history teacher when Cardinal Newman expanded to include a middle school at Ursuline Hall, a former convent behind the football field.

Watson was the first person to win ” Middle School Teacher of the Year” and was the fifth recipient of the Carolyn McLendon Excellence in Teaching Award. What made it even more special for Watson was that McLendon had been one of his teachers.

Watson also served as athletic director and Dean of Discipline.

Then Watson oversaw an even bigger calling. When it was determined no further expansion at the Forest Acres campus was possible, Cardinal Newman officials began developing plans for a new school. Watson was asked to spearhead that project as a representative of the faculty and staff. By undertaking that project, Watson had to give up his time as a teacher in order to be the liaison with the architects and engineers. He took over as the facilities director. Part of his impact on the completion of the Alpine Road campus was having the cross brought over from the Forest Acres campus to the Alpine Road campus. It currently resides on the school’s dome. He also had the lettering “Cardinal Newman High School” brought over and put on the building as well.

“Cardinal Newman is home,” Watson said. “I’m one of seven kids. All seven graduated from there. All four of my kids graduated from there. It was our home. If you ask any of the guys who went there with me, it just was our home.”

While Watson has accomplished a lot professionally at Cardinal Newman, getting an opportunity to coach two of his four children has definitely left an impact.

“Overall it was an amazing experience,” Watson said. “It had it’s challenges as well. Luckily, my girls were good, so there usually wasn’t that argument about me playing them over someone else. The only time I had any issues was when I started Kendall (his middle daughter) in the eighth grade. I really had to handle it right. I had to communicate all the time with the kids. That’s the biggest thing.

“I do regret that I never got to coach my youngest daughter (Logan). She was a really good setter and won two state championships.

“I didn’t coach Kody (his son) in high school, but I did coach him in little league baseball and church basketball. It was amazing. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

” It was a unique experience,” Alex Watson, Bob’s oldest daughter, said about playing for her dad. “A lot of kids don’t get to experience that in a lifetime. Those were unforgettable times. We got to spend so much time together that so many kids don’t get. We both have similar attitudes. When I tell a lot of my friends about it, they ask if it was awkward or if we would fight or argue, and that was never the case.

“My dad is just the most amazing person. He’s so good at what he does. His retirement is so bittersweet for so many different reasons. I loved getting to spend all that extra time with him. He knew so much about the sport of volleyball. I got to have him as my club coach as well. I got to be around my dad all the time.”

” He meant everything,” Kody said. “I joke about this with him. He in his own right was really athletic; he played everything. As a coach it was cool to see that side of him because he coached all of us in just about everything, other than football. He coached me in little league baseball and church league basketball at St. Joseph’s and my sisters in volleyball for years and years. We did all the travel stuff. When he was a coach, you saw a different side. When we were home or when we left the field, he was so good at turning that off when it was time to. He would give it his all as a coach and then he was 110 percent as a dad. It was so cool. He pushed us, but he didn’t push us at home. He was amazing at wearing different hats and being fully present in whatever we were doing.

“To our family, this is so much more than a retirement party. This is celebrating a man who has given everything he has to everyone else his entire life. He’s impacted countless people in so many ways. Whether you were at a field, court, or classroom he made you better. He’s won numerous state titles and too many awards to display, but what people will remember the most is how much he genuinely cared.

My dad is the best role model I could’ve ever hoped for, and I’m so glad I was able to share him with thousands of students and athletes over the years because anybody who knows him is better for it. He’s given his all as an educator, a coach, and an administrator for four decades, all while showing me what it takes to be a great man, husband, and father at the same time. I’ll never be able to adequately thank him, so the best I can do is ask him for more free babysitting now that he’s retired, because as you can tell— my daughters have hit the ‘Pops’ jackpot. Being able to celebrate him with dozens of people he’s impacted is incredibly special.”

“When I think about playing for my dad I immediately go back to practices in the old gym,” Kendall said. “Whether it was the lack of air conditioning or rolling up the cheerleading mats, he always made practice fun as opposed to just the same old drills everyday. He genuinely cared that his players were enjoying the sport and it showed.

“As someone who got to play for him in high school and club, we definitely had a little bit of a silent language down, except for the few times (two) when he did not hesitate to bench me because I inevitably caught an attitude as a daughter and not as a player.

“Some of my favorite memories to look back on are either walking up to the captains meeting proudly next to him before every game or those few minutes before a game when, as the libero, I couldn’t go on the court yet, so we stood together off to the side either game planning or making fun of someone (sometimes mom) together. I never took for granted the time I got to spend with him on the court. I went out everyday not only playing for myself and the love of the game, but playing for him and wanting to make him proud, even though I definitely embarrassed him sometimes. He shaped me into the player I was and the person I am today, and I couldn’t be more proud to have him as a dad.”

” Although I never got to experience him as my own coach, I got to see him change the game for every player he coached,” Logan said. “I loved helping him out during practices and games. Whether it was line judging, keeping track of score, or being in the way and sitting on the bench (I did have to sit two chairs down from him in case he needed to throw a clipboard on the chair).

“One thing I got to experience with him was his kiddie camps. Those have some of my favorite memories because I also got to do it with my sister, Kendall. My dad truly made the camp fun for everyone not just the kids who attended but the older players who helped out. The drills, games, and breaks we had at the camp were so fun. He was patient and encouraging with every player no matter their skill level. He made sure that everyone was included and was having a fun time. He went to every single one of my games no matter how far and still got to help me learn the game off the court. No matter where I was I knew if I looked in the stands I’d see both my parents there supporting me.

“I always went to my dad for advice with volleyball and he always had the answers. Coaching and teaching weren’t just jobs for him. He really loved what he did, and I could tell not only by watching him but hearing what other classmates and players would say. A lot of my friends who hated history would take his class and say he was the first person to make history interesting and they actually wanted to learn in his class. My dad wanted to have a positive impact on kids lives and that’s exactly what he did. I can’t even count the amount of people I’ve had come up to me and say he was their favorite coach or teacher of all time. There is truly no other person I’d pick to be my coach, teacher, and father because he is the best at all three.”

The post Retirement, My Dear Watson first appeared on Columbia Star.

April 17, 2025 | Columbia Star, The (SC)
Author/Byline: ops@our-hometown.com | Section: Front Page