Steelers receiver Antonio Brown frequently wears custom shoes to honor people he admires, and on Veteran’s Day he announced that he’ll honor one of the most admired players in NFL history, Pat Tillman.
Brown tweeted an image of the shoes he plans to wear on Sunday, with one shoe showing Tillman in his Army Ranger uniform and one showing Tillman in his Arizona Cardinals uniform.
After deciding during the 2001 season that he wanted to do something to make a difference after the 9/11 attacks, Tillman walked away from a lucrative NFL contract and joined the U.S. Army in 2002. He was killed in Afghanistan in 2004 at the age of 27; he would have turned 40 this week.
Brown has previously honored people including Muhammad Ali, Arnold Palmer, Kimbo Slice and Jose Fernandez on his shoes. Although he wanted to wear the shoes during games, the NFL does not allow personal messages on uniforms and will only allow him to wear the shoes during pregame warmups.