Antoine Winfield Jr.’s infamous peace sign to taunt Tyreek Hill near the end of the Bucs’ 31-9 Super Bowl LV victory was one of the most talked about moments from the game. Winfield unfortunately was hit with a $7,815 fine because of it, but now he’s doubling down on it in a positive way.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, Winfield has matched that fine number and donated the same amount to the Hillsborough Education Foundation, which is supported by the Buccaneers’ Youth Leadership Program as par of their Social Justice Initiative.
To follow along with his kind gesture, the Buccaneers Foundation has also matched the donation made by Winfield, getting that number just over $15,000. Many fans wanted to help pay the fine that was handed down to the Bucs’ safety, but Winfield has encouraged fans to donate to this charity instead, as Schefter reports.
@AntoineWJr11 was fined $7,815 for taunting Tyreek Hill in Super Bowl LV. He’s donating the same amount to @Hillsedufnd to support the @Buccaneers Youth Leadership Program at Tampa’s Young Middle School. The @BucsFoundation is matching his donation to provide $15K+ to the school.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 24, 2021
“Since it got a lot of media attention, it was out there and I wanted to just spin it in a way to make it positive,” Winfield said to Bucs’ staff writer Carmen Vitali in a story on Buccaneers.com. “And what better way than to give back to the Youth Leadership program that I did all year? That was kind of how that kind of came about because I was thinking of different things I could do. I spent the whole year with the kids and talking to them and everything, so I feel like that was a good opportunity to go with those guys.”
Winfield has made waves in the news in another fun way recently when he showed a picture sporting his brand new tattoo that features the Lombardi Trophy and the Bucs logo to commemorate Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl LV championship.
.@AntoineWJr11 got some new ink after winning the Super Bowl 🔥 pic.twitter.com/HDvf4QpjNy
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) February 23, 2021
You can read about Winfield’s connection to the Youth Leadership Program and his mentorship to students at Young Middle School here.