Xavier Watts

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The way Jeff Watson remembers it. Nothing much else mattered
in his life, the product of inner city Omaha, where
often accountability is a dirty word. Forget about Fallon, his
young wife. I got people to see, thought Jeff, eighteen
month old son. That's women's work. Kids get my way.
So on that night twenty years ago, Jeff took off late,

(00:21):
leaving Fallon and the baby at home, so he could
run with his boys, hang out, look for trouble, or
wait for it to find him. It did. Long. Black
suv pulls up, window comes down, Bullets spray the street corner.
One of them hits Jeff in the lower back. His
body goes dead, but he lives. Next day with Fallon

(00:43):
and the baby in the hospital room. Doctor shoot straight
with Jeff. You're paralyzed, never going to walk again, and
for the next year you'll be in physical therapy every
day just to be able to function. Did any of
that really matter to him, who had made a habit
of behaving badly inside Jeff Watts The answer was yes,

(01:04):
because it matters to them, Fallon and his eighteen month
old son, Xavier, who, thanks to Jeff's example, has grown
up to be one of the best college football players
in the country and a four to zero student with
a future in the NFL, the kind of kid you'd
lock your daughter in with. The Watts story is fresh

(01:25):
this week because x was named a preseason first team
All American. He earned it. Monster twenty twenty three was
National Defensive Player of the Week after a season of highlights.
In Notre Dame's blowout win of rival USC In that one,
he was the X factor, had two interceptions, a forced fumble,

(01:46):
and a scoop and score. It was the crowning achievement
of a college career that started as a highly touted recruit,
through two position changes, injuries, a new head coach, lots
of doubt. He rode the bench a law time early
in his career, but whenever things got tense for Xavier,
he'd look at a photo of Jeff, who may have

(02:07):
to live in a wheelchair, but he sure doesn't act
like it, or he'd call him talk about it. Jeff
would remind him to keep making deposits for the day
when it'll be time for withdrawals. After the shooting and
the rehab, Jeff relocated the family from trouble in Minneapolis
back to Omaha went to work doing menial jobs in

(02:28):
hotels before he was able to join the family screen
printing business. But every night he was home for Fallon
and Xavier, he'd help out. He couldn't shovel the snow
or mow the grass, but he could fold clothes, He
could wash and dry dishes. All of the things that
almost always infect the disabled lethargy, drugs, alcohol depression, self

(02:50):
pity never infected Jeff Watts. He never had the time,
too busy taking care of the house while Fallon earned
multiple college degrees, working jobs and being a mom. He
could show the way for his son, who was growing
into an elite high school football player, by directing him
away from the path that he took. Jeff was just there,

(03:13):
proving a parental truth. Half the job is just showing up. Today,
Xavier Watts is more than just a football All American.
He's also a graduate, earned a bachelor's degree in graphic design.
His future is as bright as the autumn sun bouncing
off the Golden Dome. He's a leader by example, an
example he got from the guy in the wheelchair. In

(03:36):
an age when seventy five percent three out of every
four black kids grow up without a father or a
male authority figure, which often leads them into poor choices, truancy, crime, incarceration,
and a cycle of despair. Jeff Watts gave his son
a gift so many of us take for granted himself