SOAKING IT ALL IN
Franchise icon Watt inducted into the Ring of Honor during Sunday’s halftime ceremony
Everywhere J.J. Watt looked Sunday, he saw memories. There were the familiar NRG Stadium employees, a few sitting in the same work station from when the Houston Texans drafted him in 2011. There were the fans, faces he recognized from some of the biggest moments in his 10 years in a Texans uniform. There was his wife Kealia, who he met in town while he was as big a football star as the city has known, and his parents who were along for the ride the entire time.
And, of course, there were his former teammates, about 90 of them lined up on the field as Watt walked across the turf to be inducted into the franchise’s esteemed Ring of Honor at halftime of the Texans’ game against the Steelers, who count Watt’s little brother T.J. as one of their stars.
They all, except for T.J., were on the field when Watt received the red jacket that symbolized his entrance into a club that includes only team founder Bob McNair and the franchise’s first superstar Andre Johnson.
“They told me I only have two minutes so you guys got to quiet down for a second, if that’s alright,” Watt told a crowd of more than 67,000 fans chanting his name before he could utter the first words of his induction speech.
With Kealia holding their 11month-old son Koa, who was wearing a red sports coat to match his dad as well as oversized headphones to protect his ears, Watt spoke about family and how the city embraced him and his entire crew.
“I’m incredibly honored and thankful to be a part of your family forever and all I want to say is H-Town, I love you,” he said.
Riding off the field, standing on the back of a golf cart while the stadium speakers blasted Watt’s anthem “Turn Down for What” is hard to top, but Watt said his biggest thrill was the entire four days he spent in town, visiting practice, sitting in on team meetings, going to dinner with former teammates and signing autographs for fans.
“It’s all about the people and the memories you make,” Watt said before the game. “You remember the fans’ actual faces and remember the memories you made with them. It’s one of those things you’re always going to look back and remember even more fondly than you did in the moment.”
The sellout crowd, which was given Steel Blue placards that read “Thank You J.J.” on one side and “Thank You 99” on the other, showed its appreciation when Watt was introduced moments before kickoff by giving him a standing ovation as he made his way to midfield. As Watt held Koa and stood alongside his brothers Derek and T.J., serving as a Steelers captain, standing not far away, even the literal coin used in the coin toss honored Watt.
“The helmet logo is heads, Mr. Watt is tails,” referee Bill Vinovich explained to both teams before flipping the coin.
Watt soaked it all in, watching the game with his family in a stadium suite and even delivering a cake to his mother, who celebrated her birthday watching one son compete on the field and another receive a franchise’s highest honor. None of it was enough to convince Watt he didn’t make the right decision when he retired at 33 years old in January after two seasons with the Arizona Cardinals.
“I wake up every Monday morning feeling fantastic,” Watt said. “I’ll call my brother on Monday morning and I’ll be like, ‘How you feeling? ‘ (groans). I’m like, ‘Well, I feel great. I’m going to get a coffee.’ So, I don’t miss that part at all. But the friends, the camaraderie and walking out there on the field knowing that you have the ability to go out there and compete with your brothers and you have the ability to electrify a stadium and a city is a really cool feeling and it is a little sad knowing that I’ll never get the opportunity to do that again.”