Coach R. W. “Red” Watkins was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. During high school, he played four years of football and was an All-State center for R. J. Reynolds High School. While in high school, Watkins also played baseball four years and basketball two years. In 1928, he attended Duke University and was a member of the football and wrestling teams. He then transferred to Maryville College in Tennessee where he played football and was captain of the baseball team. While a student at Maryville, he organized and wrestled on the first intercollegiate wrestling team in Tennessee. Watkins returned to North Carolina working at High Point College as a teacher and the school’s first wrestling coach. In 1931, Watkins began a long tenure as coach at Appalachian State Teachers College. Watkins organized the first wrestling team at Appalachian and compiled a record of 240-18 from 1932 to 1959. His teams boasted five undefeated seasons and his1950 team set a national record by scoring 379 points. Watkins' Appalachian State teams also won fourteen North Carolina AAU titles. Watkins served as the head football coach at Appalachian State from 1940 to 1942 and as the Athletic Director and chairman of the Health and Physical Education Department from 1940 to 1944. Watkins recruited and coached Al Crawford, one of the top wrestlers in the United States who competed in the Olympic wrestling trials and went on to coach at North Carolina State University. Watkins was an early leader in promoting amateur wrestling and encouraged many of his students and athletes to become wrestling officials and coaches. To help young wrestlers learn the techniques of the sport, he organized and directed the Appalachian State summer wrestling camp which is still in operation and one of the largest wrestling camps in the nation. In addition to coaching, Watkins served as an official for over 35 years. He was inducted into the first Appalachian State Athletic Hall of Fame in 1975 and posthumously into the North Carolina Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2011. Watkins was known as a fierce competitor both as an athlete and coach. He is not only remembered as a tough coach with well-conditioned teams, but also for having a great sense of humor.