WATSON GYMASIUM @ GRANT SCHOOL
Yes, that would be this Watson at the dedication of the gym in my name. With me is the man who designed the gymnasium, Dan Rossetto.

It's a 10,000 square foot gym and has every bell and whistle the school could afford. Why name the gym after me? You could safely say that if it were not for my being so damned stubborn and the fact that I rarely take no for an answer that this project would have never happened. Under my care a local school bond was put on the ballot and passed by 8 votes when other school construction bond initiatives were failing in other school districts throughout California. And then there was the state hardship construction grant that I watched over as it went through the machinery of the State Allocation Board/Office of Public School Construction and which was eventually approved (after much bickering and back and forth correspondence) to assist in building this complex in a time when the state was very tight fisted with their construction money. All in all, the project (including a complete middle school building) ran upwards of $6.2 million.

Start to finish, complete with the planning phase, the project took over 9 years to complete. As they say, Rome was not built in a day and neither was the Grant Middle School and the Watson Gymnasium. It was a tough process, one that just about wore me out but in the end it was well worth my effort. I am very proud of what now stands at Grant School.