Bright spots in dark season
Hopkins, Clowney continue to excel for woebegone Texans.
D.J. Reader held his cleats in his hand and couldn’t hold back the smile forming on his face.
They were better than he’d imagined.
A black, white and orange camouflage print, the words “RIP David Reader, Sr.” printed near the ankle. Sure, they are just cleats. But they are cleats that pay tribute to D.J.’s father, David, who died of kidney disease four years ago.
Reader worked with an artist to design the cleats for the NFL “My Cause, My Cleats” campaign.
Players across the league were invited to participate in the campaign and support a cause and charity of their choice.
After wearing them in this week’s games, the players will have the opportunity to auction them off and 100 percent of the proceeds will go to charity.
Reader didn’t have to think much about which cause he wanted to bring attention to. He wants people to pay attention to kidney disease and to help the National Kidney Foundation if they can.
Over 30 million adults have chronic kidney disease. Reader watched as it took his father’s life and hopes he can help educate people about the warning signs, the risks and prevention.
“I don’t think you hear about it that much, but kidney disease affects so many people,” Reader said. “I just want to do my part.”
In the process, he wants to pay tribute to his father.
D.J. and David had an extremely close relationship.
David, an educator and coach, home-schooled his son for several years in addition to working with area youth through sports and tutoring programs in Greensboro, N.C. He constantly stressed the importance of hard work and education.
‘A great man, a great father’
The two spent hours together every day.
“He was my best friend,” Reader said. “He was a great man, a great father. I was lucky to have him.”
The two shared a love of football and Reader said his father was always supportive of his dreams to play in college and in the pros. David helped push his son to succeed and achieve his goals.
David died the summer before Reader’s junior year at Clemson.
“It was tough, really tough,” he said. “Nothing really prepares you for that.”
When Reader met with the artist to create the design for his shoes, he hoped they would be eye-catching enough to make people look closer.
“If they get attention, maybe people will learn more about the National Kidney Association and want to help,” he said. “I hope that’s what we can all do with our causes anyway.”
Several Texans participated in the campaign and will sport their cleats Sunday in Nashville when they play the Titans.
This is the second year the NFL has had the “My Cause, My Cleats” campaign. More than 500 players across the league are participating.
“This gives all of us a chance to promote things we care about,” Reader said. “I think this is a really nice thing the NFL is doing.”
Lacing up for causes
The Texans are covering several causes with their cleats Sunday. Tom Savage is bringing attention to leukemia, Braxton Miller to heart disease.
Jadeveon Clowney, Andre Hal and Johnathan Joseph are targeting inner-city youth with the Boys and Girls Club of Houston. Will Fuller and DeAndre Hopkins are focused on domestic violence prevention. D’Onta Foreman’s cause is Houston flood relief.
The cleats were unveiled Wednesday.
Several players grinned with pride as they saw their cleats for the first time. They chatted with each other about designs.
Best foot forward
For a few minutes, they were able to stop thinking about everything happening on the field and share their feelings and thoughts about issues much more important.
“To look around at all the different causes that they represent, that they really have a passion for — our guys, it’s been a tough year,” coach Bill O’Brien said. “Obviously, record-wise it’s not where we want to be, but … I just really have a lot of respect for this locker room, these guys, the type of guys they are. They’re doing things like this in the community.
“It’s just really a fun group to coach and that’s why you really want to try to get on the winning side of things because that’s obviously the bottom line here. But I think our guys just do a great job for the City of Houston and all the things they believe in.”