INDIANAPOLIS — NFL players are putting their feet to a good cause this week and the Manning brothers are joining the effort.
(NOTE: The story in the video player above is from a Sept. 2021 report on Morristown's Quinton Batton.)
Players and coaches wore custom-designed cleats during Week 13 games as part of the annual "My Cause My Cleats" campaign. The shoes are later collected and auctioned off through NFL Charities to raise money for the players' individual charities.
The goodwill wasn't limited to those on the field.
Monday night, during "Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli," the Manning brothers showed off shoes they had designed to benefit causes significant to them.
Peyton showed off shoes designed by patients at Peyton Manning Children's Hospital at Ascension St. Vincent in Indianapolis. Children ages 7 to 17 had a hand in decorating the former Colts quarterback's kicks, which he said he'll sign and put up for the auction to benefit the hospital.
The shoes also featured a special tribute to a central Indiana basketball star who's battling leukemia.
A yellow "33" in front of an orange ribbon honored Morristown High School senior Quinton Batton, whose name was also written in the design.
Batton will miss his senior basketball season, but he's felt support not just from his hometown, but from communities across Hancock County.
"It's still just a community of love. We talk about how God's brought all these people into our lives at different points. They're not maybe blood relatives, but they're family," Quinton's mother, Deena, told 13Sports director Dave Calabro in September.
Eli Manning's shoes on Monday's show will benefit Tackle Kids Cancer, which funds pediatric cancer research at Hackensack Meridian Health in New Jersey.