Breast-cancer awareness is a cause that is close to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ DeAngelo Williams. Last year Williams lost his mother, Sandra Hill, to cancer when she was only 53 years old. He has also lost four aunts to the disease. This year Williams donated 53 mammograms through his charity, the DeAngelo Williams Foundation, to local hospitals located in Charlotte, N.C., and Pittsburgh.
But Williams’ commitment to breast-cancer awareness isn’t always welcomed by the NFL. This week he was fined $5,787 for wearing “Find the Cure” eye black. And according to ESPN, it’s the same eye black he’s been wearing for five years.
This isn’t the first time Williams’ gestures have been met with opposition. He was denied the right to wear pink other than in October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, by Troy Vincent, the NFL’s vice president of football operations.
Williams is passionate about fighting breast cancer, and it’s a shame the NFL is punishing the athletes who actually stand for something. One has to wonder what it would take for the NFL to accept pink and other displays on athletes. Probably multimillion-dollar partnerships.