where have you gone?
Ricky Watters,
1987-90 Running Back
Former NFL star finds a new
calling as a high school coach
By Dan Murphy
T
A running back on Notre Dame's 1988 national
championship team, Watters ran for 1,814 yards
and 21 touchdowns during his four years in South
Bend.
photo courtesy notre dame sports information
he entire bottle of 5-Hour Energy
disappeared behind the mass of
Ricky Watters' two gigantic rings
when he cracked its seal in a South
Bend hotel lobby on the first morning
of September.
The bottom half was cloaked by the
five glistening diamonds on the Super
Bowl ring Watters won in 1994 with
the San Francisco 49ers. The top was
engulfed by the blue stone of the last
national championship rings given out
at Notre Dame. He set the full shotsized bottle on the table in front of him
and leaned his elbows on to his knees
and started to talk.
A day earlier Watters flew from
his home in central Florida through
a thunderstorm in time to watch the
second half of Notre Dame's seasonopening victory over Temple. He appeared as a guest on the school's postgame radio show before catching up
with old friends and teammates. The
day before he stood on a humiditysoaked high school football sideline
for the first time as a head coach and
watched his team come within a bad
quarter of upsetting the defending 8A
state champions.
The weekend had been long. But
