Tom Brady has been in New England for 17 years, but his heart still remains in San Mateo, Calif..
In a feature for Sports Illustrated on Wednesday, Tim Layden tells the story about how the Patriots quarterback, through a simple act, helped a grieving family heal. And for Brady, it was all about the “brotherhood” of his high school alma mater, Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo.
The story goes back to Aug. 6, 2016, when Sean and Kariann Riley lost their 20-year-old son, Calvin, to a senseless act of violence. Calvin, who was a junior college baseball player and a Serra alum, was randomly shot to death at a park in San Francisco while playing Pokemon Go with a friend.
The Rileys, who originally lived in Lowell, Mass., before relocating the family to San Mateo when Calvin was 15, didn’t know that shortly after Calvin’s death they’d receive something special from a friend of a friend, who happened to have a huge fan in Calvin. It was from Tom Brady, and it was hand-delivered to them by their friend John Kirby, who played high school football with Brady and still kept in touch with him.
“I told Tommy about the family,” Kirby told Layden. “And Tommy said, How about I write them a letter?”
When Sean Riley received it, he was shocked.
“Then I get it, and it’s just surreal,” Riley said. “Tom Brady. And it’s two pages, handwritten. It would have been easy to send a card or an email. It tells you what kind of human being he is.”
Riley didn’t want to disclose what exactly the letter said, but he told Layden it did provide comfort to the still-grieving family.
“Of course it did,” Riley said. “It celebrated the life of my kid. Tom talked about the brotherhood of the people at Serra, what a special community it is. That letter, it meant so much. My kid took so much pride in being part of Serra. And he really did love Tom Brady. I can’t say that enough.”
Thumbnail photo via Steve Mitchell/USA TODAY Sports Images
