Out of the Blue, Victor Cruz Becomes a Household Name

After re-writing the New York Giants’ record book, wide receiver Victor Cruz is now inspiring others with his own book.

Following an amazing second NFL season as basically a rookie, during which he let his surprisingly stellar play do his talking on the football field, Cruz now has a lot more to say in a different way, through his new 307-page book entitled, “Out of the Blue,” which he wrote with FoxSports.com’s Peter Schrager.

The grounded, humble, and appreciative Cruz — who celebrated his team-high nine receiving touchdowns last year with his famous end zone salsa dancing, but who subsequently turned down an offer to appear on the popular television show “Dancing With The Stars,” because he’d rather focus on remaining a football star — patiently and enthusiastically greeted Giants fans at the Queens Center Mall in Elmhurst, New York on July 20.

“It feels good to know that they admire me and they admire my story, and they want to see me and get a chance to shake my hand and stuff like that,” said Cruz. “And, I’m here for them,” he added. “This book was kind of for myself and for my family, but essentially, it was for [the fans], for people to know my story full out, know my entire life, everything I had to go through, the ups and downs, so they could really appreciate my journey, so it’s good to see them out here.”

Chances were that most, if not all of those who showed up to meet their new hero hadn’t previously known a lot of what the 25-year-old Cruz details in his book at the time he went through it — like the death of his father (former firefighter Mike Walker) five years ago, and growing up in difficult circumstances with bad influences around him in the shadow of the Giants’ Meadowlands home in nearby Paterson, New Jersey.

Those fans didn’t have the pleasure of watching Cruz (who adopted the surname of his mother, Blanca) become a star the first time around, as I did. Back then, Cruz torched my former alma-mater, Hofstra, and put up big numbers as a college standout for Massachusetts.

Cruz laughed when I told him that I’ve forgiven him for that since I was always a bigger Giants fan than a Hofstra football fan — something which became even easier after Hofstra unfortunately dropped its football program shortly after Cruz graduated from UMass.

It wasn’t until the following year, when the lower-level, Football College Subdivision product opened the eyes of every NFL fan with some spectacular catches in a sensational three-touchdown performance during the Giants’ Monday night pre-season win over the New York Jets, before a national television audience in 2010, as the two teams simultaneously debuted NFL football in the New Meadowlands Stadium (since renamed MetLife Stadium).

Acknowledging that game as a huge catalyst for in his still young professional career, Cruz admitted, “I think it was a chance for me to kind of prove to everyone that a kid from a relatively small college can really make some noise and make some waves in the NFL, and prove that [I could] play against some big-time talent. So, I was just happy to go out there and perform, and do well.”

A little over 16 months later, while already enjoying a terrific breakout season, Cruz once again embarrassed the Jets, only with much higher stakes on the line.

With the Jets outplaying the Giants, it appeared that Cruz’s team might be headed for a season-ending loss while the Giants’ co-tenants might make the playoffs at the Giants’ expense in the penultimate week of the regular season.

And, then came the catch and run that drastically changed the fortunes for each of those teams while defining Cruz’s new-found stardom.

In his book, Cruz interestingly describes the season-turning play:

“Two minutes, twenty-seven seconds left in the first half. The ball was on our own one yard line. We were down 7-3 to the Jets.

Anotonio Cromartie, the Jets cornerback, may have been lined up across from my teammate Ramses Barden, but he was staring me right in the eye, running his mouth. It’s what Cromartie does. He’s a talker. He told me I was a ‘no name.’ He said that I didn’t belong on the field.

Cromartie had every right to be jawing.

Up until that point, I’d done nothing the whole game.

I was looking at Cro and he was telling me that he’d never heard of me, telling me that I wasn’t worthy of lining up across from him.”

Cromartie didn’t have much to say to Cruz or the rest of the Giants after the next play, as Cruz burned the Jets, catching a short pass from quarterback Eli Manning (who weeks later, would win the Super Bowl MVP award) and turning what should have been a modest 11-yard gain for a first down into for an NFL-record tying 99-yard touchdown reception that put the Giants up for good, 10-7, just before halftime.

The score was one of a Super Bowl era single-season record five touchdowns of at least 65 yards last season for Cruz, during a year in which the speedster set a Giants franchise record of 1,536 receiving yards.

Far more importantly, the play touched off a three-game losing streak that caused Cromartie’s Jets to miss the playoffs, while sparking off a season-ending six-game winning streak that culminated with Cruz earning his first Super Bowl ring.

Not bad at all for a guy who according to Cromartie, “didn’t belong on the field.”

The Super Bowl was the icing on the cake,” Cruz said. “Just coming in early on and not doing well, having dropped the first game [of the season in Washington], and then coming back in Week 3 (when Cruz had two huge touchdowns to rally the Giants to a win in Philadelphia), and really just doing well and catching everything in sight (later in the season), and then just continuing on from that point on and making it to the Super Bowl, and hoisting the Lombardi trophy was just the icing on the cake. I couldn’t pick just one moment, it had to be the entire season.”

Although Cruz is well aware that New York is a “what-have-you-done-for-me-lately” kind of town, even for champions, he’s also confident that the Giants are in good position to defend last year’s title.

“New York is just full of energy, full of life, and [everyone is] very opinionated,” Cruz said. “Everybody just wants to see you do well, and if you don’t, there’s the other side to that. But, people from New York demand a lot out of theirs sports teams, and we look to deliver every year.

When asked what he feels the Giants’ chances are for a Super Bowl title repeat, Cruz self-assuredly responded, “I think they’re high. We’ve got a lot of our core pieces back, and a lot of our offense back. We lost [Super Bowl XLVI hero, wide receiver, Mario] Manningham and [running back Brandon] Jacobs, but I think we’ve got enough in store and in the ‘ol holster to really re-fire and recharge it up, and make another run at it.”

Last year’s run was tenuous the whole time, even after beating the Jets, and even before the Giants pulled out a couple of very close postseason games to go along with two other easier playoff wins.

The regular season finale at home against the Dallas Cowboys, for the NFC East title, looked like a trouble-free game for New York with the Giants holding a commanding 21-0 lead that was built in part by a tone-setting 74-yard, first-quarter touchdown from Cruz.

But, even in that game, the Giants ultimately couldn’t relax until Cruz made a great, leaping grab for a 44-yard reception that protected New York’s lead and momentum, while sealing the Cowboys’ fate.

That was yet another satisfying circumstance for Cruz, who ironically grew up a Cowboys fan despite learning the game so close to the old Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands. “It was good,” Cruz said of knocking out the team for which he used to root. “Especially with everything that was at stake, and everything that was on the line, it just felt good to be a part of a great game that’s probably going to go down in history. It was good just to play well in that game. I was just glad I did that and [that] my team came out victorious.”

Given his incredible emergence last season, and his 178 receiving yards on six catches in that win over the Cowboys, Cruz could have rightfully written in his book that the Giants were “Victor-ious.”

But, he’s far too modest to do something like that, as he often says all of the right things despite his relative overnight success.

Much like stepping right into the Giants’ offense and producing at a tremendous level, Cruz graciously acquiesced and smoothly rattled off answers in Spanish on a couple of occasions at the Time Warner Cable-sponsored event last Friday, when asked to do so on the spot by one media outlet.

Having that type of increased reach is just fine with the half Puerto-Rican, half African-American Cruz, who above all else, wants to influence his youngest fans in positive ways through the telling of his magical excursion to date.

What’s important to him is, “Getting kids to read, getting parents to teach their kids to read, and getting teachers to maybe have this book and teach their kids about inspiration,” Cruz said.

“It’s a fun story for them to read,” he added, particularly the parts about Cruz and his grandmother. “There are some unique stories about me and her that I think people will love.”

Perhaps Cruz’s strongest motivation in creating the book however, was his desire to help others in ways that he needed at one time, but which weren’t always afforded to him.

“When I was young, there was no one coming back for me, and telling me that, ‘I should do this in college or I should do this in school, or [these are] some challenges I faced.’ So, I just wanted to be that voice for the younger people, [for them] to know that no matter what happens, no matter what comes their way, they can conquer [it] and they can face it, and I just wanted to be a voice for them, as opposed to them not having anyone around.”

So far, the public response to the book has exceeded Cruz’s expectations.

“We sold out the bookstore on Long Island,” Cruz said. “They ended up running out of books, so that’s always a good sign. It’s just been amazing. I just love people to hear my story… and the best part is that a few people came up to the line and had already read the book, and said that they loved it, and [that] it was an awesome story.”

One that, given Cruz’s ability to overcome personal adversity and achieve great things, seems to just be getting started.

Quotes and photo courtesy of Jonathan Wagner, while covering Victor Cruz’s Queens Center Mall appearance for Giants Football Blog on July 20, 2012, in Elmhurst, New York.