SEATTLE — "Like a factory baby! This is where the shooters come from!"
Donald Watts is cheering on his teenage basketball players as they hit bucket after bucket. For nearly 20 years, at the Watts Basketball academy he co-founded with his dad, the former UW shooting guard has been using basketball to turn young people into better people.
"That's what this game has the potential to do," Watts said. "And for me, I feel like that's my calling."
But ever since his father, NBA legend Slick Watts, suffered a massive stroke in 2021, his son has been under enormous pressure to care for his father and keep the academy going.
"As an athlete, you learn to listen to your body," he said. "You also learn to push your body. I wasn't listening. I was just pushing. And we all have a limit. And that limit manifested itself as a brain bleed."
It all happened Christmas Day in the parking lot of this Starbucks in White Center. Watts says he was feeling funny when he got out of the car and realized he left the keys in the front seat.
"And I went to grab them with my left hand and it didn't move," Watts said. "Mmm. That's weird. And then I went to shut the door, and almost shut my arm in the door cuz it kind of swung. And I was like 'huh?' but I had to go to the bathroom."
In the bathroom and still in disbelief Watts was determined to reach the toilet paper with his left hand.
"And I moved it and it just dropped and then I was like 'uh-oh.' And then I felt my legs," Watts said. "I was locked in the bathroom and I was like 'Oh you gotta get out of here.' And it was like in that moment I knew what it was. 'You're having a stroke!' But I willed myself out of the bathroom and I went to the barista and I said 'Hey, could you call 9-1-1'."
Watts recognized the symptoms because of his father's situation. He began planning his recovery before his ambulance ever made it to the hospital.
"I say 'Hey am I gonna be okay? 'Cuz people are depending on me.' You know, I'm thinking about my dad. I'm thinking about these kids that I train. That's been my driving force," Watts said. "And it's given me the juice and the energy to keep going and keep going fast!"
His left side weakened by the stroke Watts had to re-learn how to walk and then one of the best shooting guards this state has ever produced had to re-learn how to hit a lay-up.
The brain is an amazing organ. It can often find a way repair itself.
"In my case," Watts said. "What I try to do is give it help."
Watts meets with an acupuncturist. He meditates. He gives himself time to rest and gives himself a break when he makes mistakes.
It's a journey full of imperfect moment. When Watts lost a dribble in front of the kids he laughed it off.
"That's called stroke recovery," he said.
Watts is sharing the journey and its lessons with his kids.
"You guys just saw me," he tells them in a huddle. "I'm doing things that are difficult for me right now that I used to be like I could do in my sleep. But I'm not gonna back off those things. I'm gonna keep pushing, keep pushing. You guys do the same."
Marva Harris has two grandsons coached by Watts
"He's a great role model," Harris said. "And he is a survivor."
Watts likens his journey to a game.
"OK you're down 20 you know? And you still want to win," Watts said. "Where are you gonna put your mental energy and effort if that's the case?"
Life lessons learned from a game.
A fundraiser has been established to help the Watts family deal with expenses.
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