Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 1996
- Class:
- 1949
Lee Watts lettered for three years on the baseball diamond for Coaches Dudy Noble and Doc Patty in 1946 and 1948-49.
Despite never having played an organized baseball game before his freshman year in the Maroon and White, Watts quickly became one of the team’s best players. After taking a year off in 1947, he returned to the diamond as starting center fielder and hit .333 for the season en route to the program’s first SEC Championship.
Watts had a breakout senior year in 1949, batting .365 and being named First Team All-SEC and Second Team All-American. The Maroons won a second-consecutive SEC title and made their first NCAA Tournament appearance, where Watts was selected to the All-Southern Regional team.
He made a notable game-saving play in a 6-5 victory over Ole Miss in 1949, making a leaping catch over an eight-foot chain-link fence topped with barbed wire to end the inning and save three runs.
Watts signed a professional contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers and played a season with the Greenwood Dodgers of the Old Cotton States League before spending time in the Dodgers minor league farm system.
