William Watson

William Delouis Watson (December 18, 1916 – 1973), also known as Big Bill Watson, was an American track and field athlete. Watson was the Amateur Athletic Union (A.A.U.) decathlon champion in 1940 and 1943. He was the first African-American to win the U.S. decathlon championship and the first African-American to be selected as the captain of any athletic team at the University of Michigan, being selected as the captain of the Michigan track team in 1939. While at Michigan, Watson won 12 individual Big Ten Conference championships, including three consecutive championships (1937–1939) in the long jump, discus and shot put. He served as a police officer for the Detroit Police Department for 25 years from the early 1940s until his retirement in 1966. Watson was posthumously inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor in 1982.

Early years Watson was born in 1916 in Boley, Oklahoma. He moved with his family to Saginaw, Michigan, at age seven. He was one of the most outstanding athletes in the history of Saginaw High School. Originally, Watson intended to become a boxer and took up track as a means to improve his fitness. In his sophomore, junior and senior years, Watson dominated his events, winning Big Ten Championships in the long jump, shot put and discus three straight years from 1937-1939. Watson's coach, Charles Hoyt, attributed Watson's amazing ability to "speed and an infinite capacity for detail."

With his talent in numerous track and field events, many believed Watson could have set a new world decathlon record in the Olympics. The favorites going into the 1940 AAU championship were Watson and two-time defending American decathlon champion Joe Scott, who had overcome infantile paralysis. One writer described the anticipated matchup between Watson and Scott as follows:

This time, however, Scott goes against the finest all-round athlete he has faced in his three years of competition -- Big Bill Watson, the negro who paced Michigan to three straight Big Ten titles. ... This is the first time Watson has participated in the grueling test and a comparison of his and Scott's abilities indicates the rest of the field will merely be a supporting cast for their act. Watson was the first African-American to win the American decathlon championship and also set two new decathlon records, with a discus throw of 151 ft. 3-5/8 in. and a time of 10.8 seconds in the 100-meter dash.

Watson did not compete in the 1941 AAU championship, but attempted a comeback at the 1942 AAU meet in Chicago. Watson won the shot put and finished in second place with a score of 6,076 points—nearly 1,500 points below his 1940 score.

By 1943, Watson had joined the Detroit Police Department, but took time to compete for the Detroit Police Athletic Club in the 1943 AAU championship in Elizabeth, New Jersey. At the meet, the Detroit policeman easily won his second American decathlon championship. Watson compiled a 513-point lead in the first nine events and chose not to compete in the 1,500-meter run, the final event of the decathlon. He finished with 5,994 points in nine events, beating runner-up Joshua Williamson by 186 points.

With World War II continuing, the 1944 Olympic games were again cancelled, and with the cancellation, Watson lost his second and final chance to compete for an Olympic gold medal in the decathlon. Watson continued training in 1944 to defend his AAU decathlon championship, but a sinus attack forced him to withdraw from the competition. At the time, Detroit police officer Watson said, "I sure am sorry to miss the decathlon, because I think I could have won it again."