Bridgeport alum builds the banners for school sports teams

BRIDGEPORT – The next time you see the sports teams and awards banners hanging in the gym or outside on one of the playing fields, give a nod and quiet thanks to Bridgeport school alum and resident Connie Watson, because she is the one who makes them.
Watson took on the project more than two decades ago while working as the elementary librarian and is now credited with creating or restoring every team banner in the school.
A school official approached Watson about taking over a senior project making banners that was left partially uncompleted. Watson came equipped with a background that helped her take on the job thanks to her college training. After graduating Bridgeport in 1964, Watson attended Washington State University and majored in clothing and textiles.
“They don’t offer that degree anymore,” Watson said.
While at WSU Watson also met her future husband, Barry, who does his own part for Bridgeport sports as the long-time scorekeeper for the high school football and basketball games. The Central Washington 2B league honored Barry last year with its Outstanding Scorekeeper Award.
Following college, the Watsons spent a couple of years working in the Shelley-Idaho Falls area with potato-sizing equipment, a related family business. Their next move was back to Bridgeport and the family ranch, Foster Creek Land and Cattle, a 9,000-acre spread east of Leahy Junction.
“We’re the fourth generation,” said Watson. “About half the ranch is in CRP (Conservation Reserve Program); we have the cropland leased out and have sold the livestock.”
“Our family has been on Foster Creek since 1883,” said Watson. “My grandfather came here from the Palouse. My mother’s side came to Foster Creek to plant the first orchard and grew and sold vegetables to the Fort Okanogan soldiers.”
The Watson’s daughter, Wendy, graduated BHS in 1986 as a National Merit Scholar. She attended WSU and is now the university’s library manager.
 Son, Mike, also a National Merit Scholar, graduated BHS in 1990. He attended WSU and is now an electrical engineer for a logistics company in Kent, Wash.
Watson started making Bridgeport banners when the teams could still take them to the state tournaments, a practice not permitted now. Most are now made of felt that Watson acquires by the bolt and reuses many patterns and templates from past pieces.
“The letters are fused with fusible web that you can iron on,” Watson said.
Her latest creations that took her about eight hours to complete were the CWB team sportsmanship banners awarded to the varsity football team and the varsity boys and girls basketball teams for the 2107-18 season. Perhaps Watson’s most viewed work is the large quilted Mustang banner than hangs in front of the scorekeepers’ table at the basketball and volleyball games.
I entered that piece in the Apple Pie Jamboree Quilt Show and won first place,” Watson said.
In her spare time Watson works on quilts as a member of the Columbia River Quilt Guild.
“We have about 12 members, but only about eight active,” Watson said.
One of the group’s most ambitious projects was making a quilt for every family that survived the 2014 Carlton Complex wildfire. They also present three quilts annually to local veterans.
“We present one at the Jamboree and a couple on Veteran’s Day,” Watson said.
While she finds her banner-making project rewarding, Watson said she would welcome someone who would like to apprentice with her and take over the project when the time is right. Anyone with an artistic eye and creative bent can contact Watson at (509) 686-7563.