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Brandon Keith Watson

Early Life

Watson was born to Michael Smith and Eloise Watson in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; he was the oldest of three boys,; his parents never married. Michael died of cancer when Brandon was twelve years old. Watson was raised by his mother, Eloise, and his grandmother, Audrey Watson. Watson attended River trail grade school (a public school) and Milwaukee Education Center Middle School, then attended Rufus King High School. Watson was a member of the varsity basketball team at King, but him and the coach didn’t get along so he transferred to Milwaukee Riverside High School and graduated in June of 2002.

Although Watson’s basketball skills weren’t professional, he did have a reputation for making money. A poor teenager, Watson use to scalp tickets downtown at Milwaukee Bucks games. He would telephone visiting NBA players at the Pfister Hotel and impersonate old acquaintances in order to get the players to leave complimentary tickets at will call. The plot usually worked, with the 16-year-old nabbing tickets from NBA benchwarmers, then turning around and scalping them for a profit.

During the Bucks legendary 2000-2001 season, in which they recorded a record number of wins, ticket prices began to rise, thus creating lucrative opportunities for scalpers as Watson. He was arrested in February of 2001 for scalping. He also was arrested for shop lifting as a teen in a downtown Milwaukee shopping mall.

Early Adulthood

After residing in his native Milwaukee, Wisconsin the 19-year-old Watson, then a student at Milwaukee Area Technical College, relocated to Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2003 to live with his mother and youngest brother. He took up work at a debt collector and after six months moved to Mason City, Iowa to attend college. The boredom of the corn fields spurred the basketball enthusiast to make a foray into a career as a sports agent, although the endeavor was short lift. Interestingly Watson was on the brink of signing a NCAA division 3 all american guard from the east coast.

Watson also lived in Phoenix and Tucson Arizona before relocating to the Pacific Northwest in late 2012.

Watson has ran several businesses including, First Tranche Financial Group, LLC, Andorra Capital Partners and Pudong Fiscal Holdings. He graduated from North Iowa Area Community College in May of 2006 with an A.A. in Journalism. Watson has wrote for Rockford Register Star, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder and New Pittsburgh Courier. He resides in Portland, Oregon.