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.
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

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.

Career statistics

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high
†	Won an NBA championship

NBA

Source

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	MPG	FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	PPG
1965–66†	Boston	1	3.0	.500	–	1.0	1.0	2.0
1966–67	Boston	27	3.3	.250	.696	1.4	.0	1.4
Career		28	3.3	.261	.696	1.4	.1	1.4

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	MPG	FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	PPG
1967	Boston	1	5.0	.167	.500	2.0	.0	3.0

External links

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