Poets football players comfortable in pink
Players on both teams sported pink gloves and tape during Dunbar's game against Edmondson on Saturday. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)
A number of high school football teams are showing their pink sides in October to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but none more than Dunbar's.
At Saturday night’s game between the Poets and Edmondson, players on both sides sported pink gloves, pink cleat covers, pink wrist bands, pink shoelaces, pink towels and other pink apparel. Not everyone wore everything, but each player displayed some pink. On the Dunbar side, even the coaches were decked out in pink polo shirts with pink ribbons.
Poets coach Lawrence Smith said he believes it’s important for teenage boys to know about a disease that could affect their mothers, grandmothers and other women close to them.
“It’s a disease that can kill you,” Smith said, “and they need to know that it’s real. We do an awareness with our kids. We don’t just wear it. We do an awareness with them so they know what’s going on. It’s a big deal. They’re not just wearing the pink, they know why they’re wearing the pink.”
Poets running back Charles Brown has seen the effects of the disease up close.
“My mother’s best friend since childhood died from breast cancer about three or four years ago,” Brown said. "It was pretty emotional, so this means everything to me. I watch the NFL players and we learn from the best. They do it, so you might as well learn at a young age. Not every team here in Baltimore wears the pink, but we like to do it to support the women who suffer from breast cancer.”
A part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the NFL has partnered with the American Cancer Society to wear pink and use pink coins for the opening toss as well as special game balls in their campaign dubbed “A Crucial Catch.” Referees are also wearing pink, including their whistles, during October. Much of the apparel as well as footballs and coins will be auctioned off to benefit the American Cancer Society.
“We know it’s a big movement with the NFL,” Smith said, “and we really wanted to make a statement. I know other than the NFL, you don’t see a lot of coaches with the pink shirts on. A lot of folks come up to us and say they like it, so our staff and our kids really take it seriously and Under Armour really did a good job of dressing us up for the month of October.”
Brown and his younger brother Paki, also a Poets running back, already understand the importance of the Breast Cancer Awareness Month campaign to stress the need for annual mammograms for women over 40. They’ve seen what the disease can do.
“I saw the process from having the breasts removed to slowly becoming more sick and getting worse and worse,” Brown said. “It was pretty emotional for the whole family. We constantly prayed for her and now she’s in a better place.”
