Leading up to the NFL Honors event to hand out awards for the 2023 season, Pittsburgh Steelers DT Cam Heyward had an all-too-familiar feeling. He was nominated by the Steelers for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award for the sixth time in his career. He ultimately received the prestigious honor, but that didn’t stop the pre-event jitters from creeping in. During a Radio Row episode of Not Just Football via NFL on ESPN in Las Vegas, he admitted he did not think he was going to win the award in the days and hours leading up to the reveal.
“I did not know,” Heyward said. “I still didn’t believe it was happening because no one actually told me…I told you, I told my wife, I told my mom, I was like don’t get your hopes up. It’s probably not gonna happen. And I was very surprised when it actually did.”
It was leaked on Twitter before the actual reveal and there were definitely hints along the way. Head coach Mike Tomlin was spotted on the red carpet and was there to show his support. Heyward thought they would have asked for his prepared speech ahead of time to load into a prompter, and thought the fact that wasn’t happening meant he had missed out on the honor for the sixth time.
“Prince Harry set up the Walter Payton Man of the Year honor before that,” said Heyward.”I was just floored when I saw that footage and I was like oh, that’s me”
He has been down this road before, having a speech prepared that he said he first wrote two years prior. He mentioned needing to “go through the cliff notes” to brush up on what he had written prior to getting on stage.
This honor is the culmination of all the work he has put in since founding The Heyward House in 2015. He supports a number of initiatives in the Pittsburgh community including supporting teachers and students, fighting childhood hunger, fighting cancer, and supporting childhood literacy. He puts on an annual “Cam’s Kindness Week” event where he participates and brings in teammates to help support all of those initiatives. Winning this award secures $250,000 in a donation to his foundation to help support all of the causes.
After six years of getting his hopes up, and at least two years of having a speech ready, he will finally be able to enjoy the NFL Honors event next season without the stress and anticipation of hearing his name called.
