Watson continues to make Clemson proud, especially off the field
By: will-vandervort March 30, 2020

Steve Fuller, one of the greatest players in Clemson football history, said he never had any doubts when it came to allowing Deshaun Watson to wear his No. 4.

Clemson retired Fuller’s No. 4 in 1979, the season following his amazing career at Clemson, in which he won ACC Player of Year honors in back-to-back seasons in 1977 and 1978, the only Tiger to earn such a feat until Travis Etienne accomplished it in 2018 and 2019.

Fuller was a third-team AP All-American and finished No. 6 in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1978 after leading Clemson to an 11-1 record, an ACC Championship and a No. 6 ranking in the final AP Poll, the highest final ranking in Clemson history at the time.

The Spartanburg High School graduate won the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame Scholar Athlete Award that season and was selected No. 23 overall in the 1979 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs. He then became the first player in Clemson football history to have his number retired.

“Dabo (Swinney) beat on me for probably three or four years at our golf tournament,” Fuller said last year prior to being enshrined into the South Carolina Football Hall of Fame at Hilton of Greenville.

Fuller explained Watson never asked to wear his retired number. Instead, it was all Swinney’s idea.

“It started out, ‘there is this kid down in Gainesville (Ga.) that is a pretty good player. You probably ought to pay attention to him,’” Fuller recalled of the first mention from Swinney. “I said, ‘Well good, I look forward to that. Hopefully, we get him.’”

The next year, Swinney mentioned to Fuller how a lot of schools where taking old numbers, even numbers that are retired and bringing them back. “It kinda connects the old guys with the new guys,” Swinney said.

Fuller said, “That sounds like an interesting concept.”

Then the following year after Watson committed to Clemson, Swinney wanted to surprise Watson so he asked Fuller if they could bring his number out of retirement.

“I looked him in the eye. I said, ‘I trust you.’ I said, ‘Is he a great kid?’ And he said, ‘He is an unbelievable kid.’ I said, ‘I trust you so let’s do it,’” Fuller recalled.

A week or 10 days later, Fuller got a call from Watson and he thanked him for allowing him to wear his No. 4.

“He was as nice as he can be. He was very respectful, and I knew then it was a good decision before he even played a down,” Fuller said.

Now a Pro Bowl player in the NFL, Watson continues to make Fuller, as well as all of Clemson, proud with not only his play on the field, but off the field, too. Last week, Watson did his part to help in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic by teaming up with his favorite hometown restaurant to feed the first responders in Gainesville. He provided free meals to those on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now with the Houston Texans, the NFL quarterback teamed up with Longstreet Café to feed over 150 first responders including the emergency room staff at Northeast Georgia Medical Center, as well as Gainesville police and fire departments.

Watson did not stop there.

The Clemson great made two more donations this past Friday to provide meals for hundreds of people that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the Houston area. Through his Deshaun Watson Foundation, he teamed up with Sticky’s Chicken in Houston to provide meals for 400 emergency care nurses at a Houston Hospital (Ben Taub). He also made a donation to the Restaurant Workers Relief Program, which is producing about 300 meals a day to restaurant employees who have lost their jobs or significant reduction in pay.

Watson had the greatest career ever by a Clemson quarterback while wearing Fuller’s No. 4 Jersey. He led the Tigers to two ACC Championships, two College Football Playoff appearances, two national championship game appearance and to the 2016 National Championship.

Along the way, he broke most of Clemson’s single-game, single-season and career passing records, while posting a 32-3 record as the starting quarterback. Watson became the first two-time winner of the Davey O’Brien Award and the Manning Award, as the nation’s best quarterback, and was a two-time Finalist for the Heisman Trophy.

The First-Team AP All-American was also named the ACC Player of the Year in 2015.

“It was fabulous. I never had any doubts,” Fuller said.

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