Watts, Richard, Sr.

Richard Watts, Sr., born in Maben, AL, moved to Wheelwright, KY in the 1940s to play baseball on a mine team and to get a job.

Prior to coming to Kentucky, Watts had served in the Army and played baseball with the Birmingham Black Barons (at the same time as Willie Mays). In Kentucky, he became the first Black foreman and state mine inspector in Kentucky and the Martin District Supervisor of the Kentucky Department of Mines and Minerals, retiring in 1995. Watts was also a cook, known for his meals at picnics and dinners.

For more see "Ex-mine inspector, ballplayer dies," Lexington Herald-Leader, 8/25/2000, Obituaries section, p. B2; and his obituary in the Floyd County Obituaries at RootsWeb .