NFL

Tragedy bonds Giants’ Cruz with Newtown family in mourning

Jack Pinto

Jack Pinto

Cruz visited with the Pinto family on Tuesday and wrote “R.I.P. Jack Pinto” on his cleats Sunday in Atlanta.

Cruz visited with the Pinto family on Tuesday and wrote “R.I.P. Jack Pinto” on his cleats Sunday in Atlanta.

Cruz visited with the Pinto family on Tuesday and wrote “R.I.P. Jack Pinto” on his cleats Sunday in Atlanta.

Cruz visited with the Pinto family on Tuesday and wrote “R.I.P. Jack Pinto” on his cleats Sunday in Atlanta. (Reuters)

NO. 1 FAN: Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz (left) was the favorite player of Jack Pinto (top middle), who was killed in Friday’s deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Cruz visited with the Pinto family (top right) on Tuesday and wrote “R.I.P. Jack Pinto” on his cleats Sunday in Atlanta. (Courtesy Pinto family; @newtownfootball/Twitter; Reuters)

The Giants had just come off the practice field last Friday when they started to learn the magnitude of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Yes, they are football players, the modern day version of gladiators who mask pain and emotion in the spirit of competition. But they are also husbands, fathers and brothers.

It wasn’t long before wide receiver Victor Cruz felt a personal connection to one of the victims, 6-year-old Jack Pinto, a Giants fan, whose favorite player was Cruz. “It was through Twitter,” Cruz said yesterday. “People on Twitter were sending me tweets about how much he was a fan.”

So Cruz wrote Jack Pinto’s name on his cleats for Sunday’s game at Atlanta and went even further on Tuesday when he traveled with his fiancée Elaina and his 11-month old daughter Kennedy to Pinto’s home to spend time with his grieving family. Cruz stayed for just over an hour, signing memorabilia and playing the Madden video game with Jack’s 11-year-old brother Ben and members of a fifth-grade football team. They laughed together and cried together.

“I just wanted to be a positive voice, a positive light at a time where it could be really negative,” Cruz said. “It was a good time. They’re a great family. They’re really united at this time. That was good to see.”

There is a football game to play Sunday in Baltimore, a very important game the Giants need to win to stay in the playoff hunt. But what Cruz did on Tuesday will be the most meaningful thing he does all season.

“I’m incredibly proud of what he’s done,” coach Tom Coughlin said. “That family will remember that all their days.”

The Giants should remember, too. Cruz is in the final year of a contract that’s paying him $540,000 this season. And though it may not seem appropriate to talk about money under these circumstances, what Cruz did Tuesday reinforces the notion the Giants have more than just a player representing their team.

On the field, he has come close to matching his breakout season of a year ago when he caught 82 passes for 1,536 yards and nine touchdowns. Heading into Sunday’s game, Cruz has 79 receptions for 1,019 yards and nine scores. Off the field, gestures like he undertook on Tuesday are valued in a league where players seem to only make headlines for the wrong reasons.

“The fact that he went and did that speaks volumes about what he has in him, inside,” Coughlin said.

The visit seemed to impact Cruz as much as it did the Pinto family and their neighbors. “When you visit a family that’s going through so much and facing so much turmoil in their lives and you see what kind of things they’re going through, it helps you look at life through a different lens,” Cruz said. “Ever since it happened, I’ve been spending more time with [my daughter] and cherishing the little moments I have with her because you never know when that can be taken from you.”

Jack Pinto was buried in a replica of Cruz’s No. 80 jersey. Cruz still isn’t sure how to react.

“You don’t know whether to say thank you or say you appreciate it. It leaves you kind of blank,” he said. “I was definitely honored by it. I was definitely humbled by it. It was an unfortunate but humbling experience for me.”

It was at this time a year ago when Cruz caught a pass from Eli Manning and ran for a 99-yard touchdown to spark the Giants to a 29-14 victory over the Jets. It was the first of six straight wins that culminated with another Lombardi trophy. Cruz hopes to have a similar impact Sunday against the Ravens. But it will never match the impact he made in Newtown.