Patrick Ervin
Special to the DD-T
The name continues to carry on year after year and decade after decade in athletics and public services. Nathaniel Watkins III (Nate) can’t believe that it has been seven and a half years since he was a star power forward for the Greenville-Weston Hornets.
He also knew that as he began showing interest in sports as a youngster that following in his father’s and late grandfather’s footsteps was something special.
“For some reason, I was always a popular kid and I knew that it was because my dad and grandad had paved the way,” Watkins said. “My dad played sports throughout his childhood and my granddad played at Valley and coached little league for a long time.”
There might be some disagreement within the family about which guy on the family tree is the best and it doesn’t necessarily reside only with the name that keeps getting passed down. Nate’s younger brothers, Natrone and Natrell begged to differ at the time of the interview. And just when the discussion got intense, his father, Nate Jr. arrived at his mother’s North Broadway home.
“You’re not first or second,” Watkins Jr. told his son. “You’re the third behind my dad and me.”
The debate will probably never be settled, but Nate III does hold the family scoring records for points in a game.
“It was a recreation league game and I put up 45 points,” he recalled. “But the story behind that is my little brother, Natrelle scored 40 points in a game before that and I wanted to outdo him.”
Always the biggest guy on his team growing up, Watkins had unusual quickness and dexterity which were often overlooked when it came to other sports.
“I was always encouraged to play football, but I wanted to play on offense,” he said.
“When I played Pop Warner, the coaches always wanted to put me on the line and didn’t want to play there.”
He said that his biggest regret athletically is not being able to go a little farther in the state tournament with the talented team that he was a part of his last two seasons at Greenville-Weston. “
We had four coaches in four years,” Watkins said. “Coach (Ernie) Watson was the best of that bunch. But my dad is the best coach I’ve ever had.”
Watkins played collegiately at Mississippi Delta Community College and at Jackson State University. In his first game at MDCC, he scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.
He hasn’t played basket competitively since leaving JSU in 2015.”
“I can still get you about 15 to 20 points if I played,” Watkins said. However, he does play recreation league softball in the summers
Not only does Watkins emulate his family legacy in sports, he also understands what contributions his elders have made in public service. His father and grandfather have held county constable offices and his grandmother, Betty served as a multi-term Ward 4 City Councilman.
“I often think about getting into politics a little later in life,” he said. Watkins works for Sherwin Williams and has a lawn cutting service. Now that the 25-year-old is a brand-new father, the name and the athletic tradition continues.
“I have a one-year-old son, Nate IV and I can verify that his first word was ’ball.’” He said.
