Patriots president Jonathan Kraft, representing the team at the owners' meetings in Atlanta on Thursday, talked with Sal Paolantonio about the death of his mother Myra and the legacy she leaves behind (video above).
"She was the glue that held us all together so it's difficult,” Kraft said. “But the one thing we wanted to say is the outpouring of support from people around the country and the world has really been humbling to us. The legacy that she left, and the media and the stories, it's hard to put into words.
“On behalf of my dad and my brothers and our whole family, I just wanted to say thank you because we were overwhelmed yesterday with what happened on Twitter and through Facebook and just reading all the things that came in.”
Kraft continued:
“She was definitely my father’s [Patriots owner Robert Kraft] partner in everything that they did in life, whether it was in business, or in the community or in raising my brothers and I.
“For the Patriots I think she was a passionate fan. She had never been to a football game until our family bought the team. Once we did she got educated real quick and became a very passionate fan.
“But more importantly I think she helped to serve as a moral compass. Sometimes sports can get off the rails and I think she made sure that everybody was being held to a higher standard. I think it shows you can have some success on the field as well as being held to a higher standard off of it. That was what was important to her.
“I think she really liked interacting with the players and talking to them about giving back to their communities where they came from, trying to understand things that were important to them. If they had a mother or grandmother that suffered from some disease, telling them how they could raise money or raise awareness for that disease. Or if a player had a great experience at a Boys and Girls club or a Y or with a youth football coach of a basketball coach, trying to explain to them creative ideas for how they could go back to the communities where they came from and give back. That was really, really important to her.”
Kraft on his mother’s legacy:
“She was always about building bridges,” Kraft said. “She felt that through education and through breaking down bridges and barriers between people and giving people a chance you can just make the world a better place. That’s what everything was about for her.”