Homage, a renowned manufacturer and retailer of vintage-style sports and pop culture apparel in Ohio, has partnered with the Make Them Know Your Name Foundation, CB Denzel Ward's heart health foundation, to create a T-shirt promoting heart health.
On Wednesday, Homage and the Make Them Know Your Name Foundation (MTKYN) announced their collab of a T-shirt with a picture of Ward doing his celebration dance when he makes a big defensive play. The shirts will be released on Thursday at the Browns Pro Shop at Cleveland Browns Stadium.
The purpose of the collaboration is to help the Make Them Know Your Name Foundation with outreach in their mission to address the heart disease epidemic. The Make Them Know Your Name Foundation tackles heart disease and healthcare inequity by offering education and resources to Cleveland and its surrounding areas.
"Make Them Know Your Name is a heart health foundation inspired by the tragic loss of my father, who passed away from cardiac arrest," Ward said. "My family and I wanted to create a foundation that could help bring heart health awareness to the world and the community and try to prevent tragedies from happening like that happened to my family."
The foundation provides CPR training, AED equipment and community education to promote a heart-healthy lifestyle and combat the heart disease epidemic. Last year, they donated $150,000 to University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute and used the money to launch a community education initiative surrounding heart health.
"We do various events to build heart health awareness around the community," Ward said. "My mom has been huge in the organization. She's really the backbone I say, just everything about the foundation, getting it out there to people. She really sets the bar high when I got to go and speak about the heart health foundation. But she's been doing a great job with it, and we're just looking to build upon heart health awareness."
For Ward, seeing himself on a T-shirt is a dream come true. The shirt features his name, the Browns, his foundation name and a picture of himself doing his signature celebration.
"That celebration is me feeling like a rockstar out there," Ward said. "I'm kind of winding up the guitar, and I just feel like I'm rockin' out there. It's something I've been trying to get the fans to do and just keep energizing the stadium."
Fans will have the chance to purchase the T-shirt ahead of the Browns' final home game of the season against the Jets on Dec. 28. A portion of the proceeds will go to the Make Them Know Your Name Foundation to further their outreach missions.
