Curt Watson played football for his Cumberland County High School team—nicknamed “The Jets.” He entered UT in 1968 and became known as the “Crossville Comet” during his football days playing fullback. Watson earned All-SEC in each of his three varsity seasons. In 1971 he went on to professional football, playing two years with the New Orleans Saints and the Green Bay Packers before joining the navy. From 1983 to 1986, Lieutenant Commander Curt Watson was a Blue Angel.
Cumberland County High School had received a T-33 jet, which was mounted outside the school in 1963. In 1981 Watson arranged for a replica of a Blue Angel jet to be presented to the school—the only Blue Angel replica not owned by the navy. Watson became a FedEx Md-11 captain and developed the idea for a Memphis Air Show in 1999, heading that and subsequent shows. Watson was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 1999. He has served on the selection committee for the Liberty Bowl and on the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame Board of Directors.