Grieving Family of Murdered Man Receives Comforting Letter from Tom Brady

FOXBOROUGH, MA — He might be one of the best players in NFL history, but Tom Brady has never forgotten that, like a junior college baseball pitcher killed in August, he was once a kid from Junípero Serra High School in San Mateo, California.

An article by Tim Layden of Sports Illustrated recently revealed that the Patriots quarterback reached out to the family of a fellow Junípero Serra graduate who was gunned down in what police called a random act. Calvin Riley, originally from Lowell, was playing Pokemon Go in a San Francisco park when a bullet shot from 15-30 feet away entered his shoulder and sent fragments into his heart. In a moment, the life of Riley was ended. He was 20.

Following the shooting, several Serra coaches and administrators discussed the possibility of reaching out to Brady. Football coach Patrick Walsh ended up texting Brady and learned that he was willing to help. Shortly after the funeral, Brady's former high school teammate and Riley family friend John Kirby hand delivered a two-page handwritten letter from the Patriots quarterback to the Rileys.

The family declined to share what Brady wrote but said it provided comfort. Brady confirmed through a Patriots spokesman that he wrote the letter and declined to further comment.

“That doesn’t surprise me, either,” Fr. Joe Bradley, a catholic priest and friend to both the Riley and Brady families told Sports Illustrated. “He’s very generous, and I’ve asked him to let me talk about some of the stuff he does. But he just doesn’t want that recognition.”

Click here to read the full story from Sports Illustrated.

Image: File photo