J.C. Watts on Breaking Ground & Breaking Bread

Nobody has a political career like JC Watts. Starting quarterback at the University of Oklahoma, NFL draft pick, several years in the Canadian Football League, the first Black statewide elected official in Oklahoma, 8 years in Congress rising to Conference Chair in the GOP leadership, and voluntarily leaving office with even greater political stardom likely in front of him. In this conversation, he talks his one-of-kind-story of a blue-collar kid from small town Eufala, OK to a high level pro athlete to a groundbreaking political figure - with one of the most unique perspectives in American politics. 

IN THIS EPISODE

JC Watts' upbringing in rural Eufala, OK..

The formative experience of playing football at the University of Oklahoma…

The political roots of the Watts family…

What leads him to run for office shortly after his football career ends…

Lessons learned from his iconic coach Barry Switzer…

Memories from early days in the House after his 1994 election…

Congressman Watts talks what he learned about Native culture over the years…

Inside the story of delivering the 1997 GOP Response to the State of the Union…

Congressman Watts ousts John Boehner from the House GOP leadership after the ’98 elections…

Inside the strategic and messaging disagreements among the GOP leadership…

Congressman Watts talks the intoxicating “cheer of the crowd” present in politics…

The two times he most seriously considered running for office after he left the House…

The letter Rosa Parks wrote to Congressman Watts…

Why he left the House after 8 years…

The longtime political relationship between Congressman Watts and his successor Tom Cole…

Congressman Watts talks being both a Black man and a strong Republican…

His thoughts on the state of the Trump-led Republican Party of 2022…

The current projects that he’s most excited about…

AND Arkansas things, bellyachers, Sonny Bono, bootleggers, David Boren, the CFL, Julia Carson, cesspools and jacuzzis, Chattanooga, Dick Cheney, Donna Christensen, Bill Clinton, Tom Coburn, the Contract with America, the Creek Nation, Danny Davis, Tom Delay, disgruntled Democrats, dysfunctional conferences, economics 101, enterprise zones, FCA, Floyd Flake, George Floyd, Harold Ford Jr., Newt Gingrich, HBCUs, Denny Hastert, huge assignments, Jim Inhofe, Jesse Jackson, January 6th, Jack Kemp, knuckleheads, Langston University, lapel pins, Steve Largent, live bodies, Bob Livingston, Longhorn friends, Dave McCurdy, the NAACP, Don Nickles, opportunity zones, Ottawa, Pee Wee leagues, pow wows, private equity funds, pulpit experience, reading the blitz, redshirts, special sauce, The Selmon Brothers, the Sixth Sense, snowball effects, speechwriters, Mike Synar, Toronto, the United Nations, the Urban League, the USA Today, youth ministers, Zach Wamp & more!