#Bob Waters January 15

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For January 2024 several of us will be participating in the “30-Day 6 Degrees of Separation Coach4aday Challenge”-today we learn about a former NFL player and Western Carolina University Athletic Director BOB WATERS connection to MLB great Freddie Freeman.

Bob Waters, the former Western Carolina University (WCU) football coach, left an indelible mark on the program during his tenure. Serving as head coach from 1969 to 1988, Waters led the Catamounts to numerous Southern Conference titles and a berth in the NCAA FCS (then 1-AA) Championship game in 1983.

Bob started out playing football at Stetson University but after his freshman year in 1956 the Hatters dropped the program and he transferred to Presbyterian College in 1957. He started for three years as QB and was a NFL draft choice by the NFL by the San Francisco 49er’s in 1960.

Waters “is remembered in California as one of the National Football League’s three original shotgun formation quarterbacks. Waters, in fact, threw the first touchdown pass ever from a shotgun formation. That was in November, 1960, when, in a 30-22 upset, the San Francisco 49ers beat the Baltimore Colts.” 

After his playing days were over, he took up coaching and eventually became the football coach and Athletic Director for Western Carolina University. In 1980 he and Steve Cottrell hired me as Assistant Men’s Basketball and Head Cross-Country Coach. He not only hired me but several other coaches in different sports that have made their mark. Coach Waters died of Lou Gehrig Disease on May 29, 1989.

Bob Waters coaching at WCU

Rules of the Challenge

Many people have heard of this concept. The notion of six degrees of separation grew out of work conducted by the social psychologist Stanley Milgram in the 1960s. It then became a 1993 film named appropriately “Six Degrees of Separation.”

Organizing a six degrees of separation challenge involves creating a chain of people, each connected to the next by a mutual acquaintance. The goal is to demonstrate that any two people in the world can be connected through a chain of six or fewer personal connections.

How to Participate

Here is how to participate:

1. Identify the First and Last Person in the Chain.
2. Go thru the connections with a brief explanation.
3. Do this daily for 30 Days posting on social media with the hashtag #Coach4adayChallenge

Day 15-Bob Waters to Freddy Freeman

Six Degrees of Separation-Bob Waters-Dan Kenney-Jack Leggett-Tim Corbin-Dansby Swanson-Freddy Freeman

1. Bob Waters and Western Carolina in 1980 needed to find an Assistant Basketball Coach and Head Cross Country Coach and they selected Dan Kenney.
2. Dan Kenney worked at WCU from 1980-1985-In the summer of 1982 Bob Waters asked him to help during the interview process for a new Head Baseball Coach which resulted in hiring Jack Leggett from Vermont.
3. Jack Leggett coached at Vermont for four years before coaching 9 years at WCU. In 1992 he went to Clemson as Assistant Coach and in 1994 he became the Head Coach (1994-2015). During his time at Clemson he had many dynamic assistant coaches including Tim Corbin.
4. Tim Corbin has been the Head Baseball Coach at Vanderbilt since 2002. He came to Vandy after serving as an assistant coach at Clemson for 7 years. Prior to that he was the Head Coach at Presbyterian College (Bob Waters Alma Mater) for 5 Years. One of the best players who was coached by Corbin was Dansby Swanson.
5. Dansby Swanson a shortstop was an All-American at Vanderbilt and the first overall pick of the 2015 MLB Draft. He was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks but eventually got traded to Atlanta where he became a teammate of Freddy Freeman and members of the Braves 2021 World Series Championship.
6. Freddy Freeman played for 12 years with the Atlanta Braves before being traded in 2022 to the LA Dodgers

Here is video of Dansby Swanson lobbying the Braves to keep Freddy Freeman