Carolina Panthers running back DeAngelo Williams of Wynne is scheduled to appear on Spike TV's Ink Master next week.
His reason for appearing on the show is very personal. Williams' mother and four aunts all have died from breast cancer, with his mother passing most recently in May.
"Williams has taken the pain and loss breast cancer has caused him and his family and turned it into motivation to join the fight to find a cure," a publicity email from the network said. "Williams has used his connections with the NFL to bring more awareness to the disease and is largely credited for convincing the NFL to allow its players to wear pink during the month of October for breast cancer awareness."
On Ink Master, tattoo artists are put through a series of challenges that are designed to test the artists' technical skills and on-the-spot creativity, where they must create and execute an original tattoo by command on a human canvas. After every challenge, the artists face a panel that includes series host Dave Navarro from the rock band Jane's Addiction, world-renowned tattoo artists Chris Nunez and Oliver Peck, as well as roster of guest judges that includes Williams.
The episode featuring Williams will air at 9 p.m. Tuesday.
Kareem's endorsement
Football players at Northwestern University who petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for the right to form a union found an unlikely ally this week in former UCLA star and basketball Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Abdul-Jabbar denounced the NCAA's labor practices in an online essay published Wednesday for Jacobin magazine, arguing that college athletes labor under conditions equivalent to "indentured servitude," generating enormous profits for universities and the NCAA while receiving little for themselves.
He offered his endorsement for unionization in his essay.
"Without the power of collective bargaining, student-athletes will have no leverage in negotiating for fair treatment," Abdul-Jabbar wrote. "History has proven that management will not be motivated to do the right thing just because it's right. Unions aren't all perfect, but they have done more to bring about equal opportunities and break down class barriers than any other institution."
Abdul-Jabbar has been outspoken on of NCAA labor practices in the past. He wrote an opinion piece for Time in July arguing in favor of unions for college athletes. In both essays, he drew on his own experience as an unpaid college athlete.
"When I was a young, handsome player at UCLA, with a full head of hair and a pocket full of nothing, I sometimes had a friend scalp my game tickets so I could have a little spending money," Abdul-Jabbar wrote in his Time piece.
Sports quiz
What NCAA Division I record does DeAngelo Williams hold?
Answer
Williams holds the record for most 100-yard rushing games (34). He also ranks fourth on the all-time NCAA rushing list with 6,026 yards.
Sports on 11/14/2014