J.J. Watt has done it again. The master fundraiser collected over $1 million Saturday night at his annual charity softball game at Minute Maid Park.
Watt was joined by Houston Texans teammates, split up on offense and defense, who took part in a home run derby and a seven-inning softball game.
The game, whose proceeds go towards the Justin J. Watt Foundation, which as raised over $5 million in 35 states for after-school athletics opportunities for middle-school aged kids, is part of the philanthropy that makes Watt’s off-field life as gigantic as his on-field accomplishments.
“It’s funny,” Watt said. “Everybody when I was in New York last weekend, people on the streets didn’t say they loved me on the field. They don’t say, ‘I love watching your performance.’ It’s more ‘thank you for what you’re doing.’ To me, that’s a thank you to everybody else.”
The $1 million raised on Saturday was a continuation of the impact Watt’s charity event has had on the Houston community since its 2012 inception, back when Watt could only dream of hosting his softball event at Minute Maid Park.
“So my first year we did it I grabbed a pencil and paper and I literally looked up all the ballparks around Houston,” Watt recalled. “I checked out Rice’s field. I saw their capacity. I checked out UH’s field. I checked out here, and I was like no way. So, Constellation Field we settled on and they sold it out, like, the first day. I was so thankful and grateful and we had it a couple of years out there before we moved here.”
In 2016, the softball classic moved from the home of the Sugar Land Skeeters of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball to the home of the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball.
Watt recalls how trepidatious he was that he couldn’t fill Minute Maid Park.
Said Watt: “I was like, ‘This place holds about 42,000. It’s going to look bad if it doesn’t sell.’ And over 22,000 fans came. The amount of money that we raised, the people that come out, the experiences. We had some people say they came from Maine and Chicago and Florida and all over. It’s just I’m so thankful and grateful.”
Watt walked away the winner of the home run derby, while the offense bested the defense 13-7. In the end, the children and families impacted by Watt’s eponymous foundation, via the contributions of his fans, made everyone a winner Friday evening.
