The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum has unveiled a limited-edition Watt Brothers bobblehead, featuring J.J. in his Houston Texans uniform, T.J. in his Pittsburgh Steelers uniform and Derek in his Los Angeles Chargers uniform.
The Watt brothers, all of whom attended Pewaukee High School and the University of Wisconsin before becoming NFL players, are beloved local sports figures. Last year, the Hall of Fame and Museum released a bobblehead depicting the three brothers in their Badgers uniforms, which was individually numbered to 360 and sold out.
The Watt bobbleheads, which are individually numbered only to 1,000, are expected to ship in May. They are $75 each with a flat rate shipping charge of $8 per order, according to the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, which is expected to open its permanent Milwaukee location in April.
"The bobblehead featuring the brothers in their Wisconsin jerseys was extremely popular, and there were a lot of requests to produce an NFL version," said Phil Sklar, Co-Founder and CEO of the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum. "The Watt brothers have accomplished so much both on and off the field, and this bobblehead is the perfect way for fans to celebrate the rare accomplishment of all three brothers playing in the NFL."
J.J. Watt, the 11th overall pick of the 2011 NFL Draft after spending two years at Wisconsin (2009-10), is a defensive end for the Texans. In the NFL, he has become a four-time Pro Bowl and four-time First-Team All-Pro selection. A fan favorite and widely recognized sports celebrity, Watt holds Texans franchise records for career sacks, forced fumbles and fumble recoveries.
Derek Watt, a fullback who played for the Badgers from 2011-15 and helped running back Melvin Gordon set rushing records at Wisconsin, was selected in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL Draft by the Chargers.
T.J. Watt started at outside linebacker for two years with the Badgers (2015-16) before becoming a 2017 first-round draft pick (30th overall) of the Steelers. In his first NFL game, Watt recorded seven tackles, two sacks and one interception, finishing the season with 54 tackles and seven sacks.
The figurines were produced exclusively for the National Bobblehead HOF and Museum by FOCO and are officially licensed.
In addition, the HOF and Museum announced a few other Badgers-related football bobbleheads.
The Badgers Football Stars series features individual bobbleheads of the three Watt brothers, as well as Russell Wilson, Joe Thomas and James White. These are the first individual Wisconsin bobbleheads for T.J. and Derek Watt, Thomas and White.
For about the last decade, bobbleheads have been made to commemorate the top NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB draft picks. Usually, only the top selection and a few other popular players are included in the series. But, due to Wisconsin fan demand, the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum decided to produce a J.J. Watt Draft Day Bobblehead.
And finally, former Badger standout running back Corey Clement was recently honored with a Super Bowl LII Champions bobblehead, as part of the Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl series. This is the first bobblehead produced of Clement, who amassed 3,092 rushing yards as a member of the winningest senior class in Wisconsin history.
For information on pricing and to order from the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, click here.
Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.
After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.
Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.
