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An hour before the 2015 Heisman ceremony was about to begin, Deshaun Watson was pacing in his hotel room, waiting for his suit to arrive.He had a spare hanging in the closet, a sleek, dark, understated ensemble that, in truth, better suited his demure personality, but hed found a little place in New York earlier in the week that would custom order a new suit -- just something a little cool, he said -- and theyd promised it would be delivered in time for the show.That isnt to say Watson was nervous. As a freshman in high school, the kid started Gainesville Highs season opener against the defending state champs and threw three touchdowns. On his first college drive, a game mobbed with family members in the stands against nearby Georgia, he uncorked a bullet to Charone Peake in the end zone that he still considers perhaps the prettiest pass of his career. In last years national championship game, on the biggest stage of his career against the toughest defense hed ever faced, Watson threw for 405 yards and four touchdowns and nearly single-handedly rallied Clemson to a national title bid that ultimately fell just short. No, Watson doesnt get nervous.He is a planner, though, always has been. Its part of what drives him. Watson sets a goal, maps out each step required to attain it and works like a madman until its in his grasp. He promised his high school coaches a state title, and he delivered, with Gainesvilles first in more than a century of football. He set out to win a Heisman too, and the folks back in his hometown pushed him to get here. So the suit, the one hed special ordered, it mattered. It was all part of the plan.At last, there was a knock on the door. When Watson emerged for the ceremony, he was decked out in bright red. It was a single-breasted jacket with notched lapels over a black-and-white button-down dress shirt with a gold chain wrapped around his neck. It was pure flash?-- or, to most folks in his home state of Georgia, the colors of the Bulldogs, the team 40 miles away that had failed to recruit him until it was too late.The Clemson contingent in New York was a bit surprised to see the outfit, but they went along with it. When Watson was interviewed for television a little later, the question of his color choice came up immediately.Watson grinned, then found his high school coach, Bruce Miller, and his mom nearby.This, Watson said, is where it all started.Back in Gainesville, everyone wears red, black and white. Theyre the school colors, the palate of the town, and on that stage in New York City, they were a tribute to the place Watson came from and the folks who helped him along the way. He wanted them to know he remembered.For Watson, theres no story that doesnt start at home, and wherever this season takes him -- back to New York for the Heisman or to Tampa, Florida, for the national championship game -- hes grounded by Gainesville. For each step he has taken along his path -- that state title in 2012 or the Heisman ceremony in December -- Watson has lifted Gainesville up with him.Hes our hometown hero, said Fred Payne, Watsons closest friend and former high school teammate. To see him accomplish everything hes accomplished, he gives everyone hope. Hes a small-town kid with big dreams, and its a reminder that nothing can stop you if you have a strong mindset. He reminds you to go for your dreams.When Watson led Gainesville to the state championship in 2012, grown men whod played on the team a generation before wept in the stands. It was arguably the defining moment in the citys history, but what Miller remembers is a goal-line play late in the game that had little impact on the final score. The play call was for Watson to run it in. Instead, Watson checked off at the line, handed the ball to a sophomore running back named Michael Byrd and jogged to the sideline.What happened? Miller asked him. The play was for you.Yeah, Watson said, but I wanted Mike to get a touchdown.In the aftermath, when a stage was wheeled to the 50-yard line and Gainesvilles seniors climbed up the stairs and celebrated the long-awaited championship, Watson stood on the field next to Millers wife.Go up there with them, she said.But Watson refused. He was a junior. It wasnt his time.He never wanted center stage in his hometown, but these days, its hard to avoid. Everyone wants to stop and say hello or grab a photo with him. Its not that they want to badger him -- in fact, most worry hes being asked to do too much -- but surely Watson wants to say hello too.The town takes such pride in him because anyone whos met him feels like theyre his best friend, said Leslie Frierson, the principal at Centennial Arts Academy in Gainesville and Watsons fourth-grade teacher.Sam Couvillon is a local insurance agent in Gainesville, and when he meets with clients, most conversations start with talk of Deshaun Watson. Hell flash the selfie he took with Watson, and the client will remember watching one of Watsons games or bumping into him around town. Everyone has his or her Deshaun Watson moment.There was a day during Watsons senior year at Gainesville, after hed hurt his knee and was questionable to play, when Couvillon was dropping his daughter off at school, and up ahead, he saw Watson. Couvillon pulled over, rolled down his window and shouted after the star QB: Hey, Deshaun, how ya doing? Watson hobbled toward the car, crutches under each arm, and he stopped to chat.He doesnt just pass you along and say get out of here, Couvillon said. He stops and has a conversation. And theres countless people who have those stories about him.Couvillon won a spot on city council a few years back, and now he hopes to organize a Deshaun Watson Day in Gainesville. Its been a tough job so far, because of both Watsons schedule and the potential for bigger celebrations down the road.I was talking to the mayor, Couvillon said, and wondered, if we had a parade, and then he won the national championship, what would we do then?When Watson drops by the gym at Gainesville High to work out, Miller does his best to offer shelter, but the current crop of Red Elephants wants to meet the legend. When Watson runs the hill outside the school -- the same one he ran for four years as a player -- the elementary school kids crowd around in awe, and he cuts his run short and stops to chat.At Longstreet Cafe, the local greasy spoon diner where folks line up for dinner service at quarter to five, Watson was a regular. Longstreet has two locations -- one a few blocks from the high school, the other a few blocks from the football stadium -- so the team met there routinely. As Watsons star grew, he talked up his favorite restaurant, enough that every so often, Longstreet gets customers from out of town who drop in just to eat where Watson did. When hes home, Watson still stops in to chat with the regulars and pose for photos. On the dining room wall at one location hang a half-dozen pictures of Watson. One of the photos is Watson standing under the diners marquee, which reads Hometown hero.When Watson is on TV, the town is glued to its screens. Miller joked that if you wanted to rob Gainesville blind, do it on a Saturday when Clemson is playing.Theres a lot more people excited and talking about the season, Watson said of his trips home, but its not really any different.What he means is he doesnt want to be treated any differently. Still, the owners at Longstreet have already printed T-shirts for Deshaun Watson Day, whenever that might happen.The community at 815 Harrison Square is made up of squat, two-story row homes surrounded by a chicken processing plant and a cemetery. In the middle, there are fields where, fittingly, the playground equipment is painted orange and purple.This is where Watsons journey began.Not only did his mom raise him, but the community raised him as well, said Payne, who was one of Watsons neighbors at Harrison Square. It shaped him, and hes forever grateful for it. There were obstacles he faced early on, but it made him into the great guy he is today.By the fourth grade, Watsons family had been moved to the other side of town, courtesy of Habitat for Humanity, but he has never forgotten the community that helped raise him. He has tattoos on his arms -- a championship ring with an 815 inscription on one arm, a stopwatch reading 8:15 on the other -- both mementos to his early years and the folks still living at 815 Harrison Square.Watson used to play football with the older kids between the buildings in the housing complex, dreaming of making it big. Now 8-year-old Jamauri Ivory does the same -- only he pretends to be Deshaun Watson.He talks about Deshaun all the time, Ivorys mother, Neisha Morrison, said. The kids look up to him. Its a blessing.This isnt lost on Watson.If there has been a complaint about Clemsons star quarterback the past two years, its that Watson is so restrained publicly. He isnt controversial, and he offers few memorable quotes. He regurgitates the mantras of his coaching staff, and he defers all praise to his teammates. The kid is just too darned nice.All of which made it a bit surprising when, in an interview with Bleacher Report during fall camp, Watson opened up on the issue of race.People think, Oh, hes a black quarterback. He must be a dual-threat, Watson told the website. People have assumed I have to run the ball before I throw it most of my career. ... Its a stereotype put on me for a long time because Im an African-American.The thing is, this wasnt out of character. Ask Watson about an injury or a big game, and hell give you the cliché. But here in Harrison Square, race and prejudice and the limits those stereotypes place on people matter too much for him to ignore them. His success has given him a platform, and hes going to use it -- not for himself but for the kids still living where he grew up.He gave his own opinion about how people see it, said Payne, who grew up alongside Watson in Harrison Square. He knew that people would give him a title like that because he came from where he came from. But he doesnt want you to limit his potential of what he can do.No one at Harrison Square tried to limit Watson. They witnessed the talent early and saw the drive he had to be something more.There are dozens of stories, and Morrisons neighbor, Jaqueline Hendrix, happily retold them one humid August afternoon. Morrisons son was leaning out of a car window, listening intently. Amid all the talk of Watsons success, Morrison interjected.This place, she said, can make you or break you.It made Watson, and she wants to see her son follow the same path. She doesnt want to see limits put on him because of where he grew up or the color of his skin. Thats what Watson means here. That red suit, the tattoos -- its all about them.In the back of his mind, I can see him at every snap, every press conference, everything he does -- he never forgets about God, and he never forgets about us, Hendrix said. You can see it. He may not say it, but in my heart, I know.When Watson moved into his new house in fourth grade, Frierson, his teacher at the time, bought him a basketball goal for the driveway. Shed been so taken with the kid, with his drive to succeed, and he was finally in a place where he could safely play outside his house. She wanted to be part of that.Eleven years later, Frierson keeps a photo of Watsons fourth-grade class on the wall of her office. In it, the future star is standing in the back row, tall and confident. She remembers how Watson struggled with reading that year. She told him to simply attack reading the way he did sports, and the next year, he qualified for the gifted program.Now, when a problem student is sent marching to her office, she points him or her to Watsons photo.I say, He was right where you are, dealing with the same things you did, Frierson said. He set his mind on what his goal was. He wanted to be a superstar, and hes doing it.Watson comes home when he can, but his time is precious these days. Still, he has made pregame speeches to his old football team, and he has given thanks at Sunday mass in his old church. He slides into line for the buffet at Longstreet looking for sweet tea and chicken, knowing his meal will likely be cold by the time hes done snapping pictures with fans.This is home.I never forget where I come from, Watson said. It means everything.After Watson wore his red suit for the Heisman ceremony, the city wanted to show him the same love, so the school board organized an Orange Out day for Clemsons national championship game against Alabama.When the city council met that day, everyone wore orange. On the community Facebook page for 815 Harrison Square, Hendrix helped spread the word to wear orange in celebration of Watsons success.Outside Gainesville High, theres a rock formation -- two oversized humps, like hippos emerging from the water. Students usually scrawl birthday messages on them, but on that day, the rocks were painted bright orange with the message Deshaun won more ... Beat Bama.In Friersons elementary school, the entire student population was decked out in Clemson colors. They met for a pep rally that afternoon.Hes the only one who could turn this red town orange, Frierson said. I bleed red and black ... and Deshaun orange. Phil Esposito Jersey . 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HOUSTON -- On a night when Jake Arrieta did not have his best stuff, the Chicago Cubs offense offered more than enough support.Jorge Soler and Addison Russell homered to lead Chicago to a 9-5 win over the Houston Astros on Sunday night, moving the Cubs closer to clinching the NL Central.Soler hit a solo home run as part of Chicagos four-run third, and Russell hit a two-run shot -- his 20th of the season -- in the fourth as the Cubs built a 9-0 lead.We came out ready to play, Chicago manager Joe Maddon said. We always do, but there was a little bit of juice about the whole game. Everybody was really raring to go and I thought we did a wonderful job of getting on top like we did.Chicago extended its lead in the NL Central to 16 games over St. Louis.I think it all comes back to our goals and what we need to accomplish as a team, Russell said. You come out with team wins like we did today, you saw the defense today and offense today and great pitching today as well. Keep that rolling, and we should be good.Houston fell 9 1/2 games behind Texas in the AL West and 3 1/2 back of Toronto and Baltimore in the wild-card race.Arrieta (17-6) allowed three runs on four hits with three strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. He leads the NL in wins, and his 11 road victories is tops in the majors.Arrieta said he was feeling ill starting Saturday, and he knew he would have to conserve his energy as best as he could.From the first pitch, I was pretty much running on empty today, Arrieta said. It was just one of those things where I went out there and gave everything I had and then just really ran out of everything completely in the sixth to try to battle through it.Arrieta cruised through the first five innings, allowing a solo home run to Jose Altuve in the fourth to go with a walk and single but ran into trouble in the sixth.Alex Bregman hit an RBI double and came around to score on Arrietas wild pitch to cut the lead to 9-3 in the sixth. The Astros then loaded the bases with one ouut, but Justin Grimm induced pop-ups by Evan Gattis and Colby Rasmus to end the threat.ddddddddddddDisappointing obviously to fall that far behind, Houston manager A.J. Hinch said. We had a chance in the sixth, got a couple runs, could of had a bigger inning.Kris Bryant had an RBI double in the first, and David Ross had a sacrifice fly before Javier Baez scored on a wild pitch by Mike Fiers (10-7) in the second.Baez added an RBI single, and Albert Almora hit a two-run single as part of the third.Yulieski Gurriel and Gattis hit back-to-back solo home runs in the ninth as the Astros lost for the fourth time in five games.Fiers was tagged for seven runs on seven hits in 2 1/3 innings. The right-hander had won two straight and allowed three runs or fewer in each of his previous four starts.TRAINERS ROOMAstros: SS Carlos Correa was back in the lineup after missing four games with inflammation in his left shoulder. Correa singled in the second and was replaced by pinch hitter A.J. Reed in the fourth.WEB GEMSAlmora ended the fifth with a diving catch coming in on Marwin Gonzalezs falling pop fly. Jake Marisnick then robbed Almora of a hit in the eighth, coming in and making a diving grab on Almoras pop fly.RUSSELL IN ELITE COMPANYRussell became the second shortstop in Cubs history to have 20 home runs and 90 RBI joining Ernie Banks. His 90 RBI are the most by a Cubs shortstop since Banks 117 RBI in 1960.UP NEXTCubs: RHP Kyle Hendricks (14-7) starts the first game of a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday. Hendricks leads the majors with a 2.07 ERA. He has allowed three runs or fewer in 19 straight starts.Astros: RHP Doug Fister (12-11) starts the first of a three-game series against Texas on Monday. Fister will look to bounce back after allowing six runs in 4 1/3 innings in his last start at Cleveland on Wednesday. ' ' '