From Russell Wilson’s Dream Big through the locker room, Seahawks causes, cleats resonate
Russell Wilson’s have two challenges: Why Not You...Dream Big.
Those came from his late father.
Branaden Jackson’s have lyrics from the Tupac Shakur song Keep Ya Head Up. They represent his chosen cause of gender justice.
Quinton Jefferson’s have Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Che Guevara and other revolutionaries stenciled into the side of his—drawn by King County teenagers rehabilitating from incarceration.
This week, the Seahawks are proudly showing off their game shoes for the NFL’s annual Week 14 My Cause My Cleats initiative. Players across the league will be wearing special shoes customized to causes and charities of their choices during games. That includes Seattle (10-2) playing on national television Sunday night at the Los Angeles Rams (7-5).
Jefferson picked up his unique cleats at his locker before practice Thursday and declared: “These are dope!”
The defensive end befriended a Seattle artist who knew of Creative Justice, a youth program created by King County’s 4Culture arts agency. As detailed in a 2016 article in The Stranger, Creative Justice gives teens facing a non-violent charge the opportunity to avoid or overcome incarceration via a 12-week art program to mitigate the charge.
Jefferson’s cause is restorative justice.
“Art has always been a big interest to me,” the 26-year-old husband, father and native of Pittsburgh said. “I was just thinking of ways to involve that with my cause. I got in touch with the people at Creative Justice. I like the stuff that they are doing there with the kids, taking kids who are incarcerated and just giving them an outlet through art to express themselves and help them get on the right track, you know?
“The kids did everything. They have full creative reign to do what they want. I just told them I am going to be the canvas, and just use me. Use my platform to get your guys’ artwork out there.
“I let them go to town on them.”
They went to town—and back.
Opposite the stencils of the revolutionaries are the words “A tribe called justice.” That’s a play off the name of Jefferson’s favorite 1990s hip-hop group, A Tribe Called Quest.
The green, black and red on the tops of the shoes represent A Tribe Called Quest’s 1993 album, Midnight Marauders.
“They hand-stenciled them all on,” Jefferson said. “It’s pretty dope.
“It’s something they are interested in. I had no idea what they were going to put on the cleat. It’s pretty cool that they were in touch with freedom fighters...
“So it was pretty dope.”
Wilson had his shoes displayed on the podium behind which he had his weekly press conference Thursday. They are designed in a graffiti theme. Wilson said he likes graffiti. He takes note of the styles and creativity of it in the urban centers he travels to around the league and world.
(He made a point to say he doesn’t participate in any graffiti, by the way.)
His cleats are designed by a Seattle artist Wilson and everyone else affectionately call “Weirdo.”
“(They are) to help young kids around the country, and around the world,” Wilson said.
“I think one of the cool things is that the slogan ‘why not you’ has meant a lot to me. I think it’s meant a lot to a lot of kids that I’ve been able to meet over time, and what we’ve been able to do for our foundation. The idea of dream big; why not you dream big?”
On the inside of one of Wilson’s special game cleats is the inscription “anything is possible.”
“It has a diploma to represent kids getting their education,” Wilson said.
“On this side, we had some fun. We put a rocket ship there just to...you-can-go-anywhere-in-the-world-kind of thing.”
Why Not You is the foundation Wilson started in 2014 with the goal of, as the organization describes, “motivating, inspiring, and empowering kids to believe in themselves, to love themselves, and to approach life with a ‘why not you’ attitude.”
Why did the franchise quarterback name his foundation that?
“It’s something my dad (Harrison Wilson III, who passed away in 2010 at age 55 due to complications from diabetes) used to always tell me when I was younger: ‘Son, why don’t you graduate early? Why don’t you play pro football or pro baseball? Why not you? Why not you?’” Wilson said.
“It was a fundamental question that kind of drove my life, to be honest with you. In a good way. It’s a fundamental question I think we all have to ask ourselves at some point. Either subconsciously or consciously, we ask that question. I’ve noticed that with a lot of different people, a lot of people who have been successful, a lot of people who are maybe going through something, whatever it may be. ...
“I think it’s also a question that it’s very clear. Why not me? It’s kind of like, how do you build a why-not-you attitude?. It’s one of the things that (his wife) Ciara and I always say. We want to teach kids how to have a why-not-you attitude.
“Ciara, for example, a girl from Decatur, Georgia. Didn’t really have any dance lessons or singing lessons or anything like that. She is who she is today. I think for me being 5-11 and people telling me I wasn’t going to make it. I really believe in that.
“A lot of life and a lot of overcoming life, too, as well, and overcoming people’s opinions and thoughts is your attitude and your mentality and what you ask yourself in tough moments and in the high moments, too. I think that’s something that’s fundamentally driven both of our lives.”
Cornerback Shaquill Griffin is wearing shoes Sunday night to promote the prevention of kidney disease. He said a cousin of his died from that last year.
His twin brother Shaquem Griffin, the pass rusher and first one-handed player drafted into the modern NFL, by Seattle last year, is wearing cleats representing Special Olympics.
As I wrote about earlier Thursday, cornerback Tre Flowers is wearing shoes to support the fundraising drive for Bryce Wisdom, a junior and football player at Flowers’ Judson High School in Converse, Texas. Bryce is battling cancer; Flowers’ cleats feature a drawing of the teen and #brycestrong.
Rookie wide receiver DK Metcalf is wearing colorful, eye-catching cleats to promote prison fellowship in the United States.
Safety Bradley McDougald’s game shoes this week are to raise awareness for supporting single parents in our society.
Here are the causes the Seahawks, including general manager John Schneider (his and his wife’s Ben’s Fund foundation for autism), offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer (awareness of Alzheimer’s disease, which his father and former NFL coach Marty has) and team president Chuck Arnold (healthy relationships), are representing at Sunday night’s game in Los Angeles:
And here are pictures of more shoes:
For Schotteheimer, his shoes are a way to get more involved in a cause that has slammed into his family’s life.
“I’m still kind of a rookie, to be honest with you. I am still trying to learn more about it, get more involved,” Schottenheimer said of Alzheimer’s. “I am just trying to give back.
“It has really impacted our family quite a bit. My sister’s really involved back in Charlotte (N.C.); that is where my mom and dad live. Anxious when the season is over to try to get back and maybe start a foundation.
“But, just to raise awareness. It’s really changed our family’s dynamics. So, if this can help somebody, whether through this (he points to his shoes) or through the auction, I look forward to it.”
Marty Schottenheimer, the former coach of the Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs, has been fighting Alzheimer’s for years.
Alzheimer’s is winning, as it does with the almost 6 million Americans who have it.
The brain disorder than debilitates the ability to think and remember is progressive and, so far, irreversible. According to the National Institute on Aging, Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth-leading cause of death in our country.
Marty Schottenheimer turned 76 in September. How is he doing?
“He’s hanging in there,” Brian said, his voice and head dropping for a second.
“Good days. And bad days.”
After Sunday’s game, the Seahawks’ cleats will be auctioned off to their charities at auctions.seahawks.com.
“I think that’s always a cool process, to be able to give back, to serve,” Wilson said of My Cause My Cleats. “This game is an entertaining game. It’s a special game that we get to play. We are all gifted. We are all blessed to play the game.
“And to be able to return that favor, to show that love back, to people that we care about—or to people that maybe we don’t even know, but do matter—I think it’s a really cool and special tradition.
“I know for our organization, we really take pride in it.”
This story was originally published December 5, 2019 at 4:49 PM.
