Connecticut District 5: My Site News

Robert Watson, Sr., who served as Connecticut District 5 Administrator for 30 years, passed away on Tuesday. He was 80.

Mr. Watson of Plainville, Conn., was a police officer in Bristol, Conn., for 26 years (1958-84).

A native of Hartford, Conn., Mr. Watson coached his first Little League season in 1955 as a volunteer in nearby Forestville Little League. For 40 years, he served as a coach, manager and in many other roles with the league, eventually becoming known as “Forestville’s Mr. Little League.”

In 1976, Mr. Watson managed Forestville Little League to a fifth-place finish in the Little League Baseball World Series played in South Williamsport, Pa.

He was later elected as Connecticut District 5 Administrator, serving in that position from 1979-to-2010. Mr. Watson was instrumental in bringing the annual Eastern Region Little League Baseball Tournament to Bristol’s A. Bartlett Giamatti Little League Baseball Leadership Training Center, and in 1995, Little League volunteers from across the state recognized him as Connecticut’s “Little League Volunteer of the Year.”

Mr. Watson is survived by his wife, Mona; brother, Thomas; his eight children, and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Funeral services were held on Monday, Feb. 15, 2010. at the Union Baptist Church of Hartford, 1921 Main Street, Hartford. Burial followed in Peacedale Cemetery, Bristol. 

Memorial donations may be made to the Forestville Little League, P.O. Box 9142, Forestville, Conn., 06011-9142.