Football and Pink Cleats

DeAngelo Williams was a catalyst for the NFL’s decision to allow players to wear pink cleats to raise awareness for breast cancer. Then he and the Panthers were off with a bye when the initiative began last weekend.
The running game last season took off after the bye week, and Williams would like a similar breakout Sunday while he honors his mom’s successful battle with cancer.
Williams, who said he lost three aunts to the disease, didn’t know his mother was diagnosed until after she was treated.
“She got it removed and she’s been in remission,” Williams said. “She’s a five-year survivor.”
Williams has since done charity work for breast cancer awareness, and in July went to Panthers director of community relations Riley Fields about lobbying the league to let players wear pink cleats. The NFL had already planned to have pink-wrapped goalposts, wristbands and gloves, but hadn’t approved pink shoes.
The NFL decided to allow five or six players per team to wear pink cleats over two games. Williams and receiver Muhsin Muhammad(notes), whose mother and mother-in-law are breast cancer survivors, are among the Panthers who will wear pink Sunday.
“She was flipping through the channels this weekend and she was calling me every time she saw somebody in pink,” Williams said of his mother. “It meant a lot to her, so I know it meant a lot to a lot of the cancer survivors and families out there.”

Wearing pink cleats in recognition of breast cancer awareness week, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady stands on the field during warmups before the Patriots' NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009, in Foxborough, Mass.