Hall of Fame
The combination of outstanding athletics and academics are the qualities Ben Watkins exhibited at Pitt-Johnstown. On the baseball field, Mr. Watkins was a 2009 NCAA Division II All-American and the Atlantic Region Pitcher of the Year, and in the classroom, he was a First-Team ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American and the Atlantic Region Scholar Athlete of the Year.
Mr. Watkins, a Johnstown native, graduated from Conemaugh Township High School in 2005, before enrolling and pitching two seasons at Clarion University. He transferred Pitt-Johnstown and joined Head Coach Todd Williams’ Mountain Cats’ starting rotation in 2008. That season, Mr. Watkins went 4-4 with 52 strikeouts in 53 2/3 innings.
As a senior in 2009, Mr. Watkins dominated on the mound for Pitt-Johnstown. He was 7-1 with a team-best 63 strikeouts. Mr. Watkins allowed only seven runs, including five earned runs, in 53 1/3 to lead NCAA Division II in Earned Run Average at .84. His efforts earned him Daktronics Third-Team All-America and National Collegiate Baseball Writers’ Association (NCBWA) Second-Team All-America honors. He was also the Daktronics and NCBWA Atlantic Region Pitcher of the Year, as well as the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) Pitcher of the Year.
Mr. Watkins also excelled in the classroom. With a 3.957 overall GPA in Engineering, Mr. Watkins joined Mike Shumaker (2001) as a Pitt-Johnstown baseball First-Team ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American. In addition, Mr. Watkins was named the WVIAC 2008-09 Senior Scholar Athlete and the WVIAC’s 2008-09 Men’s Scholar Athlete. He was also selected to the 2008-09 WVIAC Commissioner’s Honor Roll.
Mr. Watkins put his engineering career on hold when he was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 40th Round of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft. That summer, pitching for the Staten Island Yankees, Mr. Watkins posted a 5-0 record with a 2.47 ERA and was the winning pitcher in the New York-Penn League championship game. In 2010, Mr. Watkins was promoted to the AA Trenton Thunder. In all, Mr. Watkins played for three minor league baseball organizations, including the Charleston (SC) Riverdogs in 2010.
He finished his academic work during baseball’s off-season in 2010 and graduated Summa Cum Laude from Pitt-Johnstown with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering Technology with a minor in Mathematics.
Following his playing career, Mr. Watkins joined ARM EnerTech in Johnstown as an electrical engineer and continues to work there today. He now holds a title of Vice President within the company and moved to Raleigh, North Carolina in 2021 where he now leads this new southern branch.
He earned his Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University in 2017, graduating with a perfect 4.0 GPA. Mr. Watkins is also a licensed Professional Engineer in multiple states.
Mr. Watkins, a former staffer at the Run Home Baseball Camp and a former Young Life leader, was also a deacon and played guitar and drums at Emmanuel Church in Johnstown before moving to Raleigh last year.
Mr. Watkins and his wife Bethany reside just outside of Raleigh, North Carolina with their three young children, Micah, Caleb, and Noah.
“Pitt-Johnstown was crucially fundamental in my development as an athlete and student,” Mr. Watkins said. “It has produced numerous student-athletes that have had success both during and after their career at Pitt-Johnstown. To be inducted into a Hall of Fame with such rich history is an incredible honor and is both a continuation and demonstration of the way Pitt-Johnstown supported my ambitions. I have to thank my coaches Todd Williams and Rick Roberts. Their instruction, encouragement, and support played such a large role in my baseball career. I can, without a doubt, say that I wouldn’t have had the success that I had without them. Additionally, the engineering faculty at Pitt-Johnstown couldn’t have been more supportive. I was finishing my degree in the off-season and Dr. Samples, Dr. Greg Dick, and Dr. Madumage Karunaratne really went the extra mile to ensure I was able to finish while still pursuing my baseball dream.”
