This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Walter Watts III, a mainstay of Rick Majerus' first Sweet 16 basketball team at the University of Utah, died Friday of an apparent heart attack. He was 47.
Built like a football lineman — he spent time with the Oakland Raiders after his pro basketball career ended — Watts was recruited to Utah by Lynn Archibald from San Jose, Calif. He averaged 10.2 points and 7.0 rebounds as a senior forward in 1990-91, when the Utes went 30-4 and reached the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 before losing to UNLV in Majerus' first full season as coach.
Watts pitched at the rookie-level level for the Minnesota Twins' organization in the summers before and after his freshman year at Utah. After signing with the Utah Jazz and being cut late in training camp in '91, he played for Grand Rapids of the Continental Basketball Association and then joined the Raiders. The team kept him on injured reserve after training camp, but he never became an active player.
Even so, Watts' three-sport professional background led former Utah teammate Josh Grant to declare him "maybe [the] best athlete in Utes history."
Grant also tweeted, "Some of my best college memories are of Walter Watts."
His son, Walter Watts IV, played guard and tackle for the Ute football team from 2006-10. His daughter, Bri, plays basketball for Colorado. Watts is survived by his wife and five children, according to his daughter's Colorado biography.