Players associated with the Steelers and Ravens don’t often find themselves in a position to help each other, but Steelers cornerback William Gay would like to offer a helping hand to former Ravens running back Ray Rice.
Gay said it was “disturbing” to watch the video of Rice punching his wife Janay in the face and it brought back unpleasant memories of his mother’s death. Gay’s mother was shot and killed by his stepfather when he was seven years old, leaving him all too aware of the toll that domestic violence carries. Gay said he will “reach out” to Rice to share his own experience and his hope that Rice and his wife get help to make sure that further pain and suffering can be avoided.
“Someone could have died, that’s all,” Gay said, via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “That’s how I feel about the situation, so we need to do everything we can to help Ray Rice. Because we don’t need to run away from him and say he’s evil. It’s an issue, we need to deal with it, and we need to help Ray Rice and his [wife] to be better from it.”
Gay’s message about the consequences of domestic violence is one that would benefit a lot of people beyond the Rices. Given the prevalence of the problem inside and outside the league, we hope that it gets heard.
