For the NFL, putting pink on players’ uniforms is part of outreach to women during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. For Steelers running back DeAngelo Williams, it’s more personal than that.
Williams lost his mother to breast cancer, and he says he contacted NFL vice president of football operations Troy Vincent to seek permission to keep wearing pink on his uniform after October ends. But Vincent said pink is only to be worn in October, and there are no exceptions.
“He told me no. I’m assuming they are telling everybody else no as well,” Williams told ESPN.
Williams, who wears his hair long enough that it hangs out from his helmet, says he has researched the NFL’s rules and can find no rules about hair color. So he plans to keep the pink he’s been wearing in his hair.
“The hair, it’s part of the uniform from the standpoint of being tackled, but it’s not specific on what color it has to be or if it has to match the uniform,” he said.
Williams isn’t only supporting breast cancer awareness with his hair. He’s also supporting breast cancer awareness with his money: Williams made a donation to fund mammograms for 53 women, in memory of his mother, who died at the age of 53.