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Haiti’s Karl Joseph among 34 Raiders to wear hearts on cleats

Updated December 1, 2017 - 12:22 am

ALAMEDA, Calif. — A Florida school campus at which the Raiders trained a month ago offers state-of-the-art facilities to its student-athletes and visitors. Resources include more than 20 multipurpose fields, more than 50 tennis courts, two basketball courts, two immense weight rooms and an 18-hole golf course.

When visiting the 500-plus acres, most Raiders players buzzed about what the IMG Academy in Bradenton is.

Safety Karl Joseph considered what could be.

Thirty-four Raiders players and owner Mark Davis are participating in the “My Cause, My Cleats” campaign for Sunday’s game against the New York Giants. Aside from some who won’t be active, the players will wear cleats that were specially designed and painted to promote and raise money for a cause that each individual identified as important to him.

Joseph will wear white- and maroon-striped cleats.

“Hope for Haiti’s Children” with a corresponding logo is painted on each side.

The Ohio-based foundation declares on its website a mission to “demonstrate Christian compassion to poverty-bound Haitian children and their families, providing opportunities for these children to become leaders in their homes, churches and communities.” Joseph hopes to one day have his own foundation to promote.

It will focus on Haiti.

While some NFL first-round picks choose to attend the draft, walk onto a stage on national television, hug the commissioner and hold up a No. 1 jersey, Joseph chose a more private setting in 2016. The No. 14 overall selection watched the draft with family in Haiti, where he was born and grew up until moving to Central Florida at age 11.

He saw first-hand the disparity in resources between Americans and Haitians.

“That’s one of my passions,” Joseph said. “Going back there and hopefully have my own foundation someday. … I was a kid there once, so I know what it’s like to be underprivileged and not have the resources and the opportunity that you have over here. My goal is to go back there and give some of those kids the opportunity that I didn’t have back there. Once I got here (in the United States), I could definitely see the difference. I want to go back there and change that.”

Joseph envisions developing athletic facilities there.

IMG Academy is a palace in that regard. Any equivalent in Haiti naturally would feature a different structure, given IMG charges student-athletes up to $85,200 for a year’s boarding. The concept, however, would be the same: Build a place where young athletes can discover and develop their talent.

“There are so many kids there that are talented, but they just don’t have the opportunity,” Joseph said. “I’ll go back and create a facility, something like that, to give them the opportunity to play the sport they’re interested in or probably would be pretty good at but don’t have the exposure or resources. That’s definitely one of my goals.

“That’s the big goal. To have a school and to have it something like IMG. That’s definitely big. We’ll take it step by step. But that is my ultimate goal. … (Running back) Marshawn (Lynch) spoke about that (at IMG) because he’s interested in doing something like that in Oakland. I was telling him that was something I wanted to do back in Haiti, too. You never know, man. Years from now, to be able to build something like that would be a dream come true.”

Like Joseph, “My Cause, My Cleats” is in its second year.

It is widely popular among players, given they’re afforded an opportunity to express themselves and highlight a cause for which they are passionate.

Fellow safety Reggie Nelson will wear pink cleats to honor his mother, Mary Lakes, who died from breast cancer in 2006. Quarterback Derek Carr’s cleats are in homage to Valley Children’s Health, which treated son Dallas when he had an intestinal issue.

Cornerback Sean Smith will promote “No More,” a foundation that fights domestic violence.

“Domestic violence goes on every day,” Smith said. “I’ve seen a lot of it growing up, not so much in my household but in life. I believe a grown man should never hit a woman. I have a 7-year-old son, and I teach him that as a kid. ‘You’re all kids, but you don’t hit girls. You respect women.’ It’s one thing to see it growing up. When you have your own kid, you want to raise him the right way. That’s one of the key things I believe in.”

As owner, Davis has no cleats.

But he’ll wear purple shoes to champion domestic violence awareness and the Biletnikoff Foundation’s work in the field.

Any charity that players choose must have 501c3 non-profit status. Players can auction their shoes online through the NFL, and all proceeds go toward the cause designed on the shoe. Raiders equipment manager Bob Romanski oversaw players’ cleat customization.

More Raiders: Follow all of our Raiders coverage online at reviewjournal.com/Raiders and @NFLinVegas on Twitter.

Contact reporter Michael Gehlken at mgehlken@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GehlkenNFL on Twitter.

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