Hutchinson CC

Billy Watson is in his third year as the coordinator of events for Blue Dragon Athletics at Hutchinson Community College.

Watson oversees and coordinates athletic events from communications with officials to assisting in game operations as well as assisting the sports information department with photography, videography and other tasks. Watson is helping to expand the multimedia capabilities of Blue Dragon Athletics. Watson now oversees and coordinates the event planning for Gowans Stadium and the Hutchinson Sports Arena.

Among other duties in the department, Watson is also the public address voice for the Blue Dragon softball team.

Prior to joining the Blue Dragons athletic department, Watson was the sports reporter at The Hutchinson News from March 2021 to August 2022 where he covered the Reno County area high school sports scene as well as documented the 2021 Blue Dragons national championship football team.

Watson was the recipient of the 2023 Kansas State High School Activities Association's Oscar Stauffer Sportswriter of the Year award and was presented the award during the 2023 KSHSAA Class 3A State Basketball Tournament at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.

Watson graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from Texas Tech University in December 2020. Watson’s journalism career spans from Kansas back to deep south Texas where he is from. Watson found his love for sports a year into college and interned with Rio Sports Live, a live-streaming company. In his three summers and three months full-time with the company, Watson executed play-by-play operations, broadcast set-up and takedown, public relations, social media, and camera operation. He also co-founded and operated the revamping of the company Instagram account, which today has over 16,000 followers.

Watson got his first-hands on experience covering high school sports by sneaking into a high school football game and taking pictures. From there, he joined the Rivals website, Redraidersports.com, to cover Texas Tech football, basketball and baseball. He also freelanced for HubCityPreps.com, a high school sports website in Lubbock, Texas.

Watson’s life revolves around sports even outside of work. In addition to being a photographer, he officiates high school, and college men’s basketball and has done so in Kansas for the time he has been in the Sunflower State.

Watson was born in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. He attended La Feria High School in the Rio Grande Valley region in south Texas. Watson was a first-team all-District 32-4A selection in basketball.

He has a younger sister, Felicity. His parents are mother, Amanda, and father, William.