Eli Manning and Tom Coughlin Surprise Family Who Lost Young Son to Cancer with Super Bowl Tickets

Mar. 15, 2025

(L) Clockwife from left: Eli Manning, Brody Flood, Kevin Flood; (R) Colin Flood.Photo:Courtesy of the New York Giants and Flood family

Courtesy of the New York Giants and Flood family

Eli ManningandTom Coughlinwon two Super Bowls together for the New York Giants. But this year, the retired quarterback and coach teamed up to provide something even more meaningful for the big game.

In early September, the pair gifted two tickets to this year’s Super Bowl in New Orleans to the parents of Colin Flood, an 8-year-old boy they met throughCoughlin’s Jay Fund charity, who passed away from leukemia in 2014.

The tickets came as a surprise, given after the two Giants greats had lunch with Colin’s family at the Giants' practice facility. The lunch cemented a bond forged during Colin’s final days alive: About two weeks before the boy died, the Jay Fund —which helps families of children with cancer— invited Colin to MetLife Stadium for its annual ice cream social event, with the plan for Colin to meet his favorite player, Manning.

Eli Manning, Colin Flood, Brody Flood in 2014.Courtesy of the New York Giants and Flood family

Minutes later, Coughlin called him. Despite Colin’s exhaustion, he’d shown up. Manning turned around immediately and headed back to the stadium.

“It was a no-brainer,” Manning, the two-time Super Bowl MVP who is heavily involved in the New Jersey-basedTackle Kids Cancercharity, says now.

Manning and Colin talked and connected — and the connection with the Flood family remains to this day. Colin’s father, Kevin Flood remembers, “When [Colin] saw Eli, it was like he got all this energy.”

“For a couple days after, it gave him a boost,” says Kevin a retired New York City firefighter. “But then the sickness took its course.”

Colin died about two weeks later, just shy of his 9thbirthday. But that day at MetLife Stadium gave the Floods a memory they cherish to this day.

Tom Coughlin, Kevin Flood, Eli Manning, Kyle Flood, Brody Flood, Jennifer Flood.Courtesy of the New York Giants and Flood family

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Kevin, who grew up in Queens as a Giants fan, describes Colin as “a sports kid” who was passionate and talented, especially in baseball. During his illness, when a bone marrow transplant required him to wear protective padding, Colin was still hitting the ball as hard as anyone his age — Kevin still vividly recalls the sound the ball made off his bat.

He was also funny, say his parents, recalling the goofy faces he’d make in the hospital to lighten the mood. “He had really good comedic timing,” says his mother, Jennifer Flood. “He was the type of kid who really knew a good line.”

Every fall, when Giants season starts up again, the memories of their day at the stadium come back. “Everything with the Giants is a connection with Colin,” says Kevin.

When the family got an email from the Jay Fund inviting them to lunch at the Giants' facility, saying that Manning and Coughlin were asking how they were doing, they realized the connection with the organization was mutual: “It was like, ‘They still think about us,’” says Kevin.

Colin’s two brothers, 16-year-old Brody and 11-year-old Ryan, are also athletes: Brody plays high school football and Ryan plays baseball. Brody was just 5 years old when his brother met Manning, and he only has vague memories of the day. But he sees the pictures.

“Seeing a two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback who’s coming to meet my brother? Insane,” he says.

Kevin Flood, Tom Coughlin.Courtesy of the New York Giants and Flood family

But Manning and Coughlin believe the real honor was theirs.

For more information on the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund Foundation visittcjayfund.org. For more information on Tackle Kids Cancer, visittacklekidscancer.org.

source: people.com