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While Antonio Brown has been in the news on an almost daily basis for all the wrong reasons since the Pittsburgh Steelers season ended, it is perhaps telling that an event from this week that paints him in a positive light has gone largely unreported after he made a generous donation to his alma mater.
Central Michigan University announced on Friday that they had been given a major gift from the Steelers star receiver, a donation that came in the form of six new Dragon Seats heated benches valued at $105,000. A gift University Director of Athletics Michael Alford was extremely grateful to receive.
”I want to thank Antonio for this generous gift. Right after we announced Coach McElwain’s hire, Antonio and his team reached out to see what they could do to help make our program better. I know this is a product that Antonio really values and helps him during games, so it was a natural choice when deciding on a project that will have the biggest impact on our student-athletes.”
Sentiments echoed by CMU’s new head coach Jim McElwain.
“Being able to have a top-of-the-line product that is used by most NFL teams is a huge asset for us and will help our players perform at their best. It also means a lot for Antonio to invest in the success of our student-athletes and help them flourish just like he did during his time at CMU.”
Brown was just happy to be able to support the college that helped him become the player he is today.
“These benches really help me stay loose and ready to perform no matter the conditions and I am excited to see how they help current and future Chippewas succeed. CMU will always be a special place for me and I am happy to be able to give back.”
And having spent more than enough time in the cold on the sidelines in Michigan, Brown is acutely aware of how much these heated benches will improve the players game day experience during the winter.
If not for his recent troubles in Pittsburgh, it is likely you would have already seen this story reported by multiple outlets at both a national and local level by now, especially in light of the attention given to his more obscure social media posts. But at the time of writing, it is interesting to note that there has been far less coverage of this donation that there was for a tweet he made earlier in the month that merely included an emoji.