William Wayne Watters (born June 29, 1943) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

sports media Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...

personality and former

Assistant General Manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

College career

Watters was a fullback and

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

with the

Toronto Varsity Blues The Toronto Varsity Blues is the intercollegiate sports program at the University of Toronto. Its 43 athletic teams regularly participate in competitions held by Ontario University Athletics and U Sports. The Varsity Blues traces its founding to ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team from 1961 through 1964. He was a team co-captain and league All-Star at linebacker in both 1963 and 1964. In his final season (1964), he received the Johnny Copp Trophy as the team's Most Valuable Player. Watters also was a member of the Wrestling Blues for three seasons (1961–62, 62–63, 63–64) and practiced regularly with the

Varsity Blues men's ice hockey team The Toronto Varsity Blues men's ice hockey team is an ice hockey team operated by the Varsity Blues athletics program of the University of Toronto. They are members of the Ontario University Athletics conference and compete in U Sports. The Varsi ...

, although he saw limited action in league play. He earned a total of three First Colours and five Second Colours, and served on the UTAA Men's Athletic Directorate in 1963–64.

Professional sports career

Watters was selected second overall by the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

in the 1964

CFL draft The CFL Draft (also known as the CFL Canadian Draft, CFL College Draft or the Canadian College Draft) is an annual sports draft in which the teams of the Canadian Football League (CFL) select eligible Canadian Football League#Players and compensat ...

but chose not to play professional football after he was cut due to a knee injury. In the 2000s, his son,

Brad Watters Brad Watters (born 1971) is a sports executive who was president of the Toronto Argonauts and Toronto Rock. He ran Ottawa Rebel and the Ottawa Renegades.

, became the Argonaut's Team President.Watters the Younger chip off ol' Wilbur's block
from ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'' retrieved 17 April 2014 Following graduation, he embarked on a career as a

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then turned to professional sports as a broadcaster, player

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, and Assistant General Manager of Toronto Maple Leafs from 1991 to 2003.

Sportscasting career

Watters formerly co-hosted ''

Hockey Central ''Hockey Central'' is the brand used for programs and segments covering hockey (particularly the National Hockey League) on the Canadian sports channel Sportsnet. The ''Hockey Central'' name encompasses several programs, including segments aired ...

'' on

Rogers Sportsnet Sportsnet is a Canadian English-language sports specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. It was established in 1998 as CTV Sportsnet, a joint venture between CTV, Liberty Media, and Rogers Media. CTV parent Bell Globemedia then was r ...

, ''

The Bill Watters Show ''The Bill Watters Show'' is a former sports talk radio program on CFMJ AM640 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Hosted by Bill Watters and Jim Ralph, it aired weekdays from 4:00pm to 7:00pm. As of July 18, 2011 it is no longer listed as a regular pro ...

'' on

AM 640 640 AM - The following radio broadcasting, radio stations broadcast on AM broadcasting, AM frequency 640 Hertz, kHz: 640 AM is a North American clear-channel frequency. KFI in Los Angeles, California, KYUK (AM), KYUK in Bethel, Alaska, and CBN (AM) ...

Toronto Radio and has been a regular contributor on Q107's John Derringer morning show. Watters was also a former co-host of ''

Prime Time Sports ''Prime Time Sports'' was a sports radio talk show produced from the studios of CJCL, ''Sportsnet 590 The Fan'', in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The show was hosted by Bob McCown until June 21, 2019 when McCown left the show. After his departure, ...

'' back when it debuted in 1989. On January 14, 2011 his contract expired and left Rogers Sportsnet. The Bill Watters show on

Toronto Radio has been replaced by the drive-time show by Arlene Bynon as of July 18, 2011 due to Bill's contract expiring and a reprogram of the station. Watters is now a co-host on the bi-weekly live internet broadcast of "Next Sport Star" (NSS) along with entrepreneur and filmmaker Frank D'Angelo, hockey great Phil Esposito and sportscaster John Gallagher.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watters, Bill 1943 births Living people Canadian football linebackers Canadian radio sportscasters Canadian television sportscasters Ice hockey people from Ontario National Hockey League broadcasters National Hockey League executives People from Orillia Players of Canadian football from Ontario Toronto Maple Leafs announcers Toronto Maple Leafs executives Toronto Varsity Blues football players Toronto Varsity Blues ice hockey players