Ron Watts

Ron Watts

Ronald Watts, circa 1965
Personal information
Born	(1943-05-21)May 21, 1943 Washington, D.C., U.S.
Died	November 2, 2022(2022-11-02) (aged 79) Rockville, Maryland, U.S.
Nationality	American
Listed height	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Listed weight	220 lb (100 kg)
Career information
High school	Woodrow Wilson (Washington, D.C.)
College	Wake Forest (1962–1965)
NBA draft	1965: 2nd round, 13th overall pick
Selected by the Boston Celtics
Playing career	1965–1967
Position	Small forward
Number	12
Career history
1965–1967	Boston Celtics
Career highlights and awards
NBA champion (1966)
Stats  at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Ronald Michael Watts (May 21, 1943 – November 2, 2022) was an American professional basketball player.

A 6'6" forward from Wake Forest University, Watts played in the NBA for two seasons (1965–67) as a member of the Boston Celtics.

After his career with the Celtics, he was featured in a series of Clio-award winning commercials for AT&T with his good friend Bill Russell. The commercials showed Watts and Russell cracking jokes at each other's expense, and helped to launch AT&T's long distance telephone service. Ron Watts found fame with this commercial and its success was parlayed into the WATS line, standing for "Wide Area Telecommunications Service", which was AT&T's corporate offering for businesses. When AT&T was the largest company in the world, the revenue from the WATS line alone would have made it the 8th largest corporation in the world. However, this was before celebrities were highly compensated for endorsement deals and Watts received no profit share.

Watts died on November 2, 2022, at the age of 79.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from NBA.com  and Basketball-Reference.com
• College stats