The first lady and the star of JJ Watt football pays tribute to his unusual friendship with Barbara Bush

The unlikely friendship between the white-haired former first lady and the massive football star began four years ago when Bush and Barbara J. J. Watt met in Houston, a place to film to promote literacy. Bush was wearing shoulder pads and black eye. “If we pick illiteracy here in Houston, JJ attack,” Bush said in the video, “we have to get on our game faces.” Watts, the 6-foot-5 Houston Texans defensive end, was beaten. “I just thought it was the coolest thing in the world that the former first lady, Barbara Bush was here with shoulder pads and black eye on” Watt tells TIME. “It was all in.” After hearing that Bush had died on Tuesday aged 92, he tweeted several photos watts of his best moments with her – black with a shot of her with the straps and eyes. “They were a beautiful light in this world, and I am forever grateful for your friendship,” wrote Watt. Bush threw out the first pitch in Watts charity softball game; Watt was for cookies to Bush House over. A local news site, called the couple “Houston favorite comedy duo” for their frequent hammy performances together. In a mock event watts compared Bush to tell him when they turned another point literacy with former Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard. “You’ve just got this energy about them,” says Watts. “I was in a room with her, her husband and her son. Two former President and Mrs. Bush. She’s the one who got the crowd around them, and they all had to wait for what he would say next.” Both share Watt and Bush passion for philanthropy. Although the NFL star missed most of the 2017 season with a broken leg, called the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year after he has helped more than 37 million $for Harvey hurricane relief. (He set an initial target of $200,000). Watt says Bush has helped inspire his efforts. “He’s a great example for me and many others,” he says. “Absolutely I wanted to try not only to make her proud, but also so many people proud and try to help as many people as possible.” The news of Bush’s death left watts sad. “We have lost an incredible people,” he says. “The second thing that comes to mind is that I was glad it was surrounded by her family and friends, and can spend the last hours in the way they wanted.” What is the First Lady Legacy? “It ‘a great example of what it means to live a life of service to others,” said Watts. “With their literacy campaign, all to the end, he wanted to do things for others to help. The biggest lesson I learned from Barbara Bush was, if we all do a little ‘for our fellow human beings to help every day, we will leave the world a better place than we found it. “Image
Copyright by Sean Rayford-Getty Images