While many members of Newt Gingrich’s 1994 Republican Revolution have stayed mum or blasted the former House speaker for lacking the discipline to be a truly formidable presidential candidate, J.C. Watts, a former Oklahoma congressman and football star, is expected to soon announce that he’s endorsing Gingrich.

Watts, who was the first African-American elected statewide in Oklahoma, served four terms in the House. He now runs a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying and consulting business, JC Watts Companies.

Gingrich recently won an endorsement from a statewide newspaper in New Hampshire, the Union Leader, and has gotten support from several Georgia lawmakers, including five House members. Still, he trails Mitt Romney, who is racking up key establishment endorsements.

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