The Kansas City Chiefs return to Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday to take on the Baltimore Ravens, and for a third-straight year, they’ll be taking the field in style.
The game will mark the annual "My Cause, My Cleats" initiative, where players from around the league will sport custom footwear designed to bring awareness to charitable efforts important to them. The shoes will then be auctioned off following the game with proceeds benefiting each respective cause.
Fans can support the cause that means the most to them while attending the game by purchasing tickets through this link.
Eighteen members of the Kansas City Chiefs are participating this season, including quarterback Patrick Mahomes, with 12 of the cleats featuring designs by local artist John Sebelius.
Sebelius, who first met with the players at training camp and has been diligently crafting his designs ever since, relished the chance to bring the Chiefs' causes to life.
"It means a lot to be able to take causes that are really important to these players and to articulate them in a visual way," Sebelius said. "The opportunity to bring attention to these worthy causes has been just as exciting for me as the art itself."
Check out what some of the Chiefs will be wearing on Sunday below.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes – **Team Luke and Hope For Minds**
About Team Luke and Hope For Minds: Approximately one in 500 school-age children each year receive a head injury severe enough to be hospitalized. Although families are eligible for state and federal financial support, funding is limited, and families are forced to pay for medical care on their own. The emotional, physical and financial strain of caring for a disabled child takes an enormous toll on families. At the heart of our services is the conviction that the health and well-being of these children can improve over time if families have access to educational materials, therapeutic services, and adaptive equipment for their children.
His Cause: "The Texas Tech tennis coach's son, Luke Siegal, ended up suffering a brain injury because of a bad golf cart accident, and I could see his fight and his will to get back – doing everything he could every single day. It's important to me to use my platform to share that message to kids around the world – that they can keep fighting and doing what they need to get back."
His Cleats: "The cleats are awesome. They have all the colors that I wanted just in time for Christmas….The green represents their organization and I was able to throw a little red in there for the Chiefs, of course."
For more on Team Luke and Hope For Minds, click here.
Defensive End Allen Bailey – Allen Bailey Charities
About Allen Bailey Charities: The mission of Allen Bailey Charities is to provide young people with direction and guidance in Bailey's hometown on Sapelo Island, Ga.
His Cause: "It's given hope and another path to the kids back home so that they can accomplish bigger and better things. It's rare to be in the position that I am where I'm from, so when I go back home, I want to spread the message that anything is possible."
His Cleats: "The design represents the area code where I was born and raised. There's a little bit of everything on there."
For more on Bailey's childhood and what it still means to him, check out this video feature that our very own 65 Toss Power Trap team put together a few years ago.
Offensive Guard Cam Erving - **American Cancer Society** / **National Down Syndrome Society**
About the American Cancer Society: The American Cancer Society's mission is to save lives, celebrate lives, and lead the fight for a world without cancer.
About the National Down Syndrome Society: The National Down Syndrome Society is the leading human rights organization for all individuals with Down syndrome.
His Causes: "I have a little cousin that's affected by Down syndrome and just the way that I see her live every day and how she enjoys life – she's just a normal kid – it just makes you want to bring awareness to the condition. Then the American Cancer Society is something that's important to me because I lost my grandma to a battle with cancer. One of my closest friends was affected by cancer last year, as well, and he beat it. It means a lot to me to go out and represent those people."
Erving spoke more about his connection to the fight against cancer and what it means to him in October at the Chiefs' annual "Look Good, Feel Better" clinic. Click here to check out the story.
His Cleats: "I love both designs. It highlights each cause and this is just a great way to bring awareness to things that people hold near and dear to their hearts."
To learn more about the American Cancer Society, click here, and to learn more about the National Down Syndrome Society, click here.
Running Back Spencer Ware – **Sickle Cell aWAREness Foundation**
About the Sickle Cell aWAREness Foundation: The mission of the Sickle Cell aWAREness Foundation is to enlighten the world about sickle cell disease and be the backbone of the sickle cell community.
His Cause: "This is important to me because the sickle cell families that are out there are affected in ways that people can't even imagine. My mom has it and its all throughout my family, plus there are some NFL players that either have it themselves or carry the trait. There are a lot of foundations for diseases that are out there that occur later on in life, but this is an illness that you are born with. People need to develop a sense of awareness about that, because there's the possibility that one of your loved ones could be affected by it."
Ware invited several families affected by the disease up to training camp in August, where he provided them with a front-row seat to practice before hosting a discussion on living with the condition. Click here to read the story.
His Cleats: "I like them a lot. They're simple and a little funky, people might be wondering, 'What is that on there?' It's the hemoglobin. They're pretty cool and slick. I like how clean it is. They're perfect."
To learn more about the Sickle Cell aWAREness Foundation, click here.
Quarterback Chad Henne – **The ChadTough Foundation**
About The ChadTough Foundation: The mission of The ChadTough Foundation is to fund research and raise awareness for Pediatric Brain Tumors with an emphasis on Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG).
His Cause: "There's something like a one percent chance of kids surviving with DIPG, and Chad went through it and passed away at the age of five. Chad was the grandson of my college coach, Lloyd Carr."
His Cleats: "They're awesome – I think John did a great job with them. They represent the organization well. They have a picture of Chad's face on them, which I think is really cool."
To learn more about The ChadTough Foundation, click here.
Wide Receiver Gehrig Dieter – **KC Pet Project** / **U.S. Army**
About the KC Pet Project: To end the killing of healthy and treatable pets in Kansas City, Missouri by using the most progressive and lifesaving programs and promoting effective animal control policies.
About the U.S. Army: The Army is the largest military branch in the United States. Its job is to protect the country and its citizens.
His Causes: "I like to help really any animal or dog rescue shelter, and KC Pet Project is right next to the stadium. Then the U.S. Army is important to me because my little brother is deployed right now and supporting him and everything that the Army does is really meaningful to me."
Dieter visited Whiteman Air Force Base last month as part of the Chiefs' "Salute to Service" initiative, where he talked further about why the military is so important to him. Click here to check out the story.
His Cleats: "They're sweet. All of my dogs are on here and they all look pretty accurate – that was my biggest concern – but they all look pretty good. I got a third dog in August after I had already met [with John] for the first time, so I had to text him late and thankfully he could add the third one on there. Then my brother is in the Army, so I got a shoe for him, too. They're both sweet."
To learn more about the KC Pet Project, click here, and to learn more about the U.S. Army, click here.
Offensive Guard Kahlil McKenzie – **Water.org**
About Water.org: Access to safe water can protect and save lives, just because it's there. Access to safe water has the power to turn time spent into time saved, when it's close and not hours away. Access to safe water can turn problems into potential: unlocking education, economic prosperity, and improved health. Every human being deserves to define their own future, and water makes that possible. We've transformed more than 16 million lives with access to safe water and sanitation, and together we can reach even more people.
His Cause: "I think something as basic as an everyday need – and something that a lot of us take for granted – that a lot of people don't have access to is big. It's something that I'd like to bring awareness to, because every single time I've talked about it for a class or something – which I've done since my sophomore year of high school – the reaction is always just disbelief. When you realize that a billion people don't have access to clean water, you think about things like leaving the sink on a little bit differently. It puts life in a different perspective."
His Cleats: "They look awesome. To be able to share my cause is the most important thing, but to see how cool they look makes you a little extra excited. I didn't know what to expect, but the way the water is dripping on there is pretty cool."
Punter Dustin Colquitt – **TeamSmile**
About TeamSmile: TeamSmile is the nation's premier advocacy group that partners oral health professionals with professional athletic organizations to provide life-changing dental care to underserved children in our communities. By partnering with professional sports organizations, we create an experience that develops bonds between children's organizations, oral health professionals, surrounding communities, and the athletes that solidify the message that oral health care is vitally important to long-term health. Through this experience, children receive free oral health education, screening, treatment, and are taught that the mouth and body are linked for overall health.
Just a little over a month ago, Colquitt and the folks from TeamSmile provided free dental care to hundreds of underserved kids with a complimentary clinic at Arrowhead Stadium.
"I think our most tender stories are when kids come in and have their lips wrapped around their teeth, and they're afraid to show what they've got, but when they leave, they have these big smiles," Colquitt explained. "It kind of changes the perception of what dentistry can do for a kid's overall well-being and their confidence."
For more on Colquitt's involvement with TeamSmile, click here.
Offensive Tackle Eric Fisher – **Fishin’ For a Mission**
About Fishin' for a Mission: Our city's dogs and cats need us. Join Eric Fisher to help protect them from disease, neglect, hunger, exposure to Mother Nature, loneliness, and more unwanted litters of puppies and kittens. As a pet lover, Fisher understands how important this mission is. That's why, this football season, he's joining forces with three local organizations - The Rescue Project, Chain of Hope, and Spay and Neuter Kansas City - to make a better world for dogs and cats in our community.
To learn more about Fishin' for a Mission, click here.
Center Mitch Morse – **Brain Injury Association**
About the Brain Injury Association: To advance awareness, research, treatment, and education and to improve the quality of life for all people affected by brain injury.
To learn more about the Brain Injury Association, click here.
Fullback Anthony Sherman – **Lone Survivor Foundation**
About the Lone Survivor Foundation: The Lone Survivor Foundation restores, empowers, and renews hope for wounded service members, veterans and their families through health, wellness, and therapeutic support.
To learn more about the Lone Survivor Foundation, click here.
Wide Receiver Sammy Watkins – **The V Foundation**
About the V Foundation: The V Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to saving lives by helping to find a cure for cancer. The V Foundation seeks to make a difference by generating broad-based support for cancer research and by creating an urgent awareness among all Americans of the importance of the war against cancer. The V Foundation performs these dual roles through advocacy, education, fundraising and philanthropy.
Back in October, the Chiefs and the V Foundation teamed up for a second-consecutive year to award a young researcher at the University of Kansas Cancer Center with a research grant aimed at defeating cancer. Click here to read more about the partnership.
Safety Leon McQuay – **The Leon McQuay “Help Me Get There” Foundation**
About The Leon McQuay "Help Me Get There" Foundation: The mission of The Leon McQuay Help Me Get There Foundation, Inc. is to help at risk student-athletes qualify for college entrance through academic counseling and intervention, financial assistance, strength and conditioning and nutrition. We feel that with the help of our mentors and supporters we can enhance the chances of at risk student-athletes of becoming successful and prosperous citizens.
To learn more about the Leon McQuay "Help Me Get There" Foundation, click here.
