ALUMNI FEATURE
36 JESUIT PERSPECTIVES • WINTER 2020-21
his standard, he and his wife, Juanita,
cancelled Christmas.
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to get these grades back up,” Samaras
said. “So, he packed up all the presents
and the tree, and I think it was in May or
June, he took it out when they got their
grades back.”
Both of Watts Jr.’s sons, Watts III
and Rhonne, became college football
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State, respectively. Today, Watts III is a
detective for the Hillsborough County
Sheriff’s Department, while Rhonne
lives in Houston and works as Senior
Portfolio Analyst for BNY Mellon. Eldest
daughter Nancy Grace graduated from
the Academy of the Holy Names and
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dad’s footsteps into education as a
teacher in Valdosta, Ga.
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52, just a year older than the age at
which his father died, Watts Sanderson
Jr. was killed by a heart attack. On his
headstone it reads, “Make the most
of yourself. Serve others. Make an ‘A’
every day.”
Watts Jr. and his brother, Rhonne,
were Shriners together,
and each year since
Watts’ passing, the
Ancient Arabic Order of
the Nobles of the Mystic
Shrine in Tampa awards
a $500 scholarship to
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of Watts Sanderson Jr.
One school day shortly
after his death, the
students departed from
school on their buses,
waving the “I love you”
sign out of the window.
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Blake Junior High (now known as Stewart
Middle Magnet) back in his West Tampa
stomping grounds. He remained there
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away from the school’s campus.
Rhonne was a frequent visitor at the
middle school, often coming in to speak
to the children on career day.
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(pounds),” Rhonne said. “So, he didn’t
have much discipline problems.
“I never saw a middle school before
where the students weren’t loud and
verbose. They were very disciplined
(at Blake Junior High), and he was really
connected with the kids. They had a
great deal of respect for him.”
Watts’ special connection to his students
was evident in his ritual of waving
goodbye at dismissal. As they loaded the
buses and motored home, rather than
extend a typical wave, he made the sign
language for “I love you” and shook it
above his giant frame.
He also helped organize the school’s
summer lunch program, as well as obtain
grants to take children from families with
lower socioeconomic backgrounds to
Disney World.
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assistant principal at Stewart who was
hired by Watts. When he came on
board as a science teacher, Samaras
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but his principal noticed more potential
and pushed him to become an admin-
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Nova Southeastern under Sanderson’s
guidance and was hired by his mentor as
an assistant principal.
Samaras soon realized this wasn’t an
isolated occurrence. In his approximately
10 years working under Watts Jr.,
Samaras noticed the principal liked to
hire young, hungry teachers and groom
them to become administrators either at
Stewart or elsewhere in the county.
“Twenty-two people became administrators
out of his teachers,” Samaras
said. “And I’m sure there were more
before me.”
Samaras remembers how fair and
patient Watts Jr. was with his students,
even when they were in trouble. But
he also remembered how the principal
held his own children to a high academic
standard.
One year, when his sons Watts III
and Rhonne’s grades slipped below
ABOVE RIGHT
Rhonne
Sanderson '70
BELOW RIGHT
Brothers Watts
Sanderson Jr. '68
and Rhonne
Sanderson '70 were
two of Jesuit's first
African American
students and later
became Shriners in
Tampa
The Sandersons participated in the Jesuit band,
pictured here in the 1968 yearbook (standing next to
each other 5th Watts and 6th Rhonne from the left)