DeShaun Watson gave his college career a storybook ending Monday night. But he might not have gotten the chance to write that script at all without the generosity of another former football star.
After Watson’s Clemson Tigers upset Alabama 35-31 to win the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, an awesome photo of the quarterback surfaced on Twitter.
That’s Watson and his family with ex-NFL running back Warrick Dunn, who, as it turns out, provided the Watsons with their own home back in 2006.
Dunn’s kind gesture came through his charity, Homes for the Holidays, which helps single-parent families acquire and furnish their first homes. In 2006, he handed Watson’s mother, Deann, the keys to a fully-furnished, four-bedroom home in the Atlanta suburbs.
Deann and her four children previously had lived in a cramped apartment in Gainesville, Ga., and the move helped give an 11-year-old DeShaun and his siblings a solid foundation.
“I felt grown having my own room,” Watson told The Associated Press on Saturday. “Just having my own bed, not really being squished, not really worrying about someone sneaking up on me, it was a great moment, a special moment.”
Just over a decade later, Watson proved he’s still making the best of Dunn’s generosity by leading Clemson to its first title since 1981.
“We just try to help put people in safer environments and give kids an opportunity,” Dunn told The Associated Press. “You never know what impact you will have. You hope it’s a positive impact.”
In Watson’s case, that might be an understatement.
Thumbnail photo via Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports Images
