PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – The past two weeks Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has worn “Stronger Than Hate” cleats to honor the 11 lives lost during the Tree of Life synagogue shooting on Oct. 27.
In Baltimore, Roethlisberger wore white cleats that said “Stronger Than Hate.” Last week, in a home game against the Carolina Panthers, Roethlisberger wore a pair of black cleats that had the 11 victims’ names inscribed on them. He described the shoes as a way to honor, remember and think about the victims.
“Carolina was our first home game since we had some time to reflect and everything," Roethlisberger said during his weekly show on The Fan. "I had some shoes made. They had the 'Stronger Than Hate' logo on the back and then had all the victims’ names on the toe. Really it was just a way for me to really honor those people and their families. You know, so many times it’s easy for people that weren’t directly affected, you know someone like me or somebody that didn’t have an immediate family member or whatever, to just kind of move on. And it’s not easy for other people that did lose somebody to just move on. And so I’ve always said how proud I was of all the guys on our team that we’ve been able to give the fans, give those people maybe three hours of a break. Not to forget, but just to kind of take their mind off it for a little while. And we’ve been able to do that the last few weeks.”
Roethlisberger adds he and some others went to dinner Monday with former Steelers community relations manager Michele Rosenthal, whose brothers Cecil and David Rosenthal were killed during the shooting.
“We went to dinner with her and her parents and Brett and Sarah Keisel, and her parents were on their way out of town," Roethlisberger said. "And so I gave those shoes to her mom as a token of our love and thoughts and support. ... It’s just a way that we say that we’re never going to forget.”