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Steelers RB DeAngelo Williams fined for wearing ‘Find The Cure’ eye black

Steelers running back DeAngelo Williams was fined by the NFL for wearing his ‘Find The Cure’ eye black.
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Pittsburgh Steelers running back DeAngelo Williams was fined by the NFL for wearing his ‘Find The Cure’ eye black, reports ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.

Williams, who has lost his mother and four aunts to breast cancer, will reportedly be fined $5,787 by the league for breaking the NFL’s uniform policy. 

Williams had previously requested to wear pink shoes or wristbands throughout the season to honor the women he has lost, but was told by NFL vice president of football operations Troy Vincent that the league would not allow it.

Last year, Williams wrote a poignant piece for The MMQB, in which he detailed his desire to honor his family and raise awareness for breast cancer.

“Breast cancer, whether I like it or not, is part of my family’s story,” Williams wrote. “That’s why I am so passionate about raising awareness, because I have seen firsthand how it can impact others. One time, a lady came up to me and said she was going to get examined just because she saw me wearing pink cleats during a game. I walked away thinking, Wow, pink is really so much more than just a color. It’s a lifesaver. It’s awareness. If we reach one, we reach millions. If we reach millions, we’re doing our job and getting closer to finding a cure.”

Earlier this month, Williams pledged to pay for 53 mammograms for women at a Charlotte, N.C. hospital. The nationwide median cost for a mammogram is $243 per procedure.

Williams’s teammate Cameron Heyward was fined twice by the league earlier in October for wearing eye black to honor his late father, former NFL running back Craig “Ironhead” Heyward, who died of bone cancer in 2006.

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