Tyreek Hill’s Georgia hometown grapples with hope, doubt about the Chiefs receiver

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Sports

May 10, 2019 - 4:13 PM

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill (10) is congratulated by running back Damien Williams, left, after Hill ran in a touchdown in the first quarter against the Indianapolis Colts in an AFC Divisional game on Jan. 12, at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. The Chiefs advanced, 31-13. John Sleezer/Kansas City Star/TNS

PEARSON, Ga. — From the north and south on Highway 441 and via the west and east on Highway 82, this rural Georgia village is framed by signs paying homage to its most prominent native son:

CITY OF PEARSON … HOME OF TYREEK HILL … #10 NFL KANSAS CITY CHIEFS.

The wide receiver grew up here, about 220 miles southeast of Atlanta, 3.4 square miles where 37.5 percent of approximately 2,000 residents live below the poverty line. Born 25 years ago to teen parents, Hill might easily have become what he referred to in an interview with The Star last year as “another lost piece.”

But Hill was lifted by grandparents he speaks of with reverence and nurtured in a church on the edge of town — the same church he returned to with an apology to its congregants after a 2014 incident in which he pleaded guilty of domestic abuse.

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