Wednesday sports discussions and the friendship forged

On a typical day, 22-year-old Texas A&M senior John Callahan wakes up, opens a book and spends the next several hours studying for the Medical College Admission Test.

If it’s Tuesday or Thursday, Callahan, who’ll graduate in May with a degree in Biomedical Sciences, will study before attending classes.

But this is Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Callahan studies, grabs a quick lunch, puts on a maroon-and-white striped Texas A&M polo and discusses Aggie sports for the next hour and a half.

He doesn’t post on TexAgs forums, call radio shows or even talk to the three roommates with whom he shares a house.

Rather, Callahan drives 15 minutes to the home of 57-year-old John Watson, a lifelong Aggies sports fan.

It has been a standing weekly date since August, when Callahan signed on as a volunteer through Acara Hospice. John Watson is in hospice care.

Watson has lived an interesting life. He worked as a ski valet at the Hyatt Regency in Vail, Colorado. He saw former President Gerald Ford. He met supermodel Elle Macpherson. He got an autograph from the actor Jack Nicholson. He portrayed a waiter in the football movie “Necessary Roughness.”

He was also a commercial pilot. Then, he tried his hand at selling Cadillacs. He treasures a photo of him shaking hands with legendary A&M receiver Terrence Murphy after selling him an Escalade.

Now, he mostly watches Texas A&M sports and looks forward to talking about them with Callahan on Wednesdays.

“We usually hang out for an hour and a half or so,” Callahan said. “Just watching (TexAgs Live) on TV and talking about A&M.

“It’s really special. I honestly signed up out of selfish reasons. Like, ‘I can do some clinical volunteering. It’s going to add to my resume.’ But I really developed a friendship with John. We have so much in common.”

For instance, they’re both wearing A&M polos. Indeed, the most surprising thing about Watson is that he didn’t actually go to A&M. He attended North Texas because a lot of his friends went there.

However, his mother, Ellen, was the ticket manager at Kyle Field for years. His father, Jerry, graduated from A&M in 1964. His brother, Mike, was class of ‘87. His stepfather, he said, was best friends with the late A&M basketball coach Shelby Metcalf.

“I grew up here. I’ve been going to every A&M game since I was that big,” he said, holding his right hand just above a knee.

The weekly visits are occasions to commemorate, celebrate and sometimes to commiserate with A&M sports.

He remembers sitting in the rain to watch A&M play Baylor in football in 1984. He recalls baking in the sun for other games. He remembers enduring frigid temperatures to see A&M defeat Notre Dame in the 1988 Cotton Bowl.

“It was cold and raining. I was freezing my ass off,” Watson said. “(Notre Dame receiver) Tim Brown had won the Heisman Trophy. One of the Aggie football players (Warren Barhorst) tried to steal his towel. There was a big scuffle. I remember just watching that.”

He also shares such stories with Breanna Woytek, a junior from College Station majoring in Neuroscience.

She has visited Watson on Mondays for the last year. But she dropped by on this Wednesday, wearing a cheerful smile and a maroon-and-white blouse.

“He likes telling me stories,” she said. “Over time, he’s helped me garner a love for sports that I kind of didn’t have before. Now I get so excited when he turns on TexAgs.

“I was never super interested in sports. Nobody ever talked to me about how the actual sports work. John has helped me with that. Now, I can kind of understand defense and offense.”

Understanding A&M sports means understanding that a certain amount of disappointment will likely be endured.

The football season-ending losses to Texas and to Miami in the College Football Playoff were especially painful.

“I was thinking about it during football season. I really hope John can see the Aggies pull it off for the first time in his lifetime,” Callahan said. “I was glad he got to see the whole season.”

Watson was tempted to throw in the towel on his beloved Aggies after those losses. He couldn’t stay away long, though.

“After the Texas and Miami losses, I had to cut myself off,” he said. “I couldn’t relive it anymore. The misery. So, I had to wait a few days. OK, I’m back.”

His return was rewarded. The volleyball team won the national championship.

“I’m going to be a volleyball fan for life,” he said.

Life…

Hospice care is typically for patients with a prognosis of six months or less.

But maybe John Watson isn’t the typical patient. Sure, he looks back on his life. He also still thinks about future possibilities.

“My biggest regret is not going to A&M,” he said. “Maybe I’ll take one online class so I can claim I’m a former student. That would be awesome.”