IT’S HOLIDAY CHEER WITH A GIANT BONUS!
Judge, players thank support staff with lots of extra $$
The Giants’ cafeteria staff didn’t know what to think on Tuesday afternoon when coach Joe Judge walked into the kitchen and the office of executive chef Angelo Basilone.
Then Basilone realized what Judge was doing: The head coach was hand-delivering Christmas bonuses to the eight-person staff that fuels his team, money raised by all the Giants’ coaches and players to say thank you.
“To see Coach Judge walking into the kitchen, everyone was like, ‘Oh, what’s going on?’” Basilone, 47, told the Daily News on Thursday with a laugh. “He shook my hand, thanked me, told me to thank my staff, and asked me to distribute it to everybody. He was grateful for all the hard work that we put in.”
Basilone described “some teary eyes” and “shocked faces” as the cafeteria’s employees saw the amount they were receiving. And this is the part that will blow you away.
Judge, his coaching staff, and the Giants’ players chipped in a total of $300,000 this holiday season and spread it out among 70 members of the organization’s support staff this week, multiple sources told the News.
That is a Giants record.
“The number’s astronomically high. It’s the highest it’s been on any team I’ve ever been on in my career,” said captain Logan Ryan, who has also played for the Patriots and Titans. “And it’s helping a lot of people out, people who have kids, who are dealing with the stresses of Covid or whatever it may be.”
The bonuses went to equipment managers, cafeteria workers and nutritionists, to the video and public relations departments — to anyone who’s had a hand in making the operation go.
The Giants’ highest Christmas bonus total prior to Judge’s hiring was $80,000 given to 30 employees in 2019, per sources.
Last year, Judge’s team more than doubled that generosity, raising $200,000 worth of Christmas bonuses for 70 employees. Now they’ve topped that by $100,000 in year two.
“They always do a great job, but this was a nice year for us,” one football support staffer said with a smile on Thursday. “The coaches were a part of it, too.”
This year’s average bonus comes out to $4,285 per employee. That is a knee-buckling amount
of money for people making a lot less than the coaches and players they support.
“One of our employee’s basements flooded when we had that big storm back in October,” Basilone said. “We have two employees with brand new babies. It goes a long way for a lot of them. It really does mean a lot. We watch every snap. We are humbled to be part of the team, lucky to be part of the organization. And to know they consider us part of the family is great.”
Ryan, the Giants’ safety, remembers seeing “some people in the cafeteria crying” last year, too.
“You don’t know how much a little bit of money does for somebody and what situation they’re in,” Ryan said. “You never know what someone’s going through.”
The players take pride in helping the people who help them, and their thoughtfulness speaks volumes about their culture building behind the scenes.
Absent more wins on the field, there may be no greater sign of the locker room’s investment in Judge’s program than this year’s unprecedented commitment to taking care of their own.
“I just don’t think wins and losses define your character,” Ryan said. “Failure, or whatever you want to call it: you might not get the results that we want, but it doesn’t mean there’s not good people. And something like this, when you’re in a position to help others in your workplace and support them and give back the best you can, it says a lot about people’s character. There’s good people in this building.”
The coaches and players raised this year’s record amount by simply passing around a sheet of paper. Judge urged the players to donate to the people that work hard for them, saying “it can change lives,” Ryan recalled. Then different players set the standard for each position room.
“We’ve got some guys in our [defensive backs] room that set the standard and people followed, captains and elsewhere,” Ryan said. “Who you could imagine could afford to give some, gave some and more. And even the lowest [salaried] guys on our roster were giving good money.”
The bonuses mean even more to the support staff given the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic, and not just the personal weight of trying to keep themselves and family healthy.
In the cafeteria, for example, protocols are strict and they “change constantly,” Basilone said. More sanitation is required. There have been weeks when players had to grab and go and couldn’t even sit down and eat in the cafeteria. Basilone’s staff even misses interacting with staff members who aren’t classified as Tiers 1 and 2 in the league’s COVID protocols.
“It’s been a challenge,” he said. “We’re hoping it gets back to normal soon.”
When Judge walked into Basilone’s office on Tuesday, though, it was a powerful message to his staff that they are not doing thankless jobs. They are appreciated as part of the team.
“It’s a long season for everybody from training camp to now,” Basilone said. “The first person [working in the kitchen] walks through the door at 5 a.m. and the last person leaves around 7:30-8 o’clock. For [Judge] to realize and recognize we’re putting in the long hours and being there for them is great.”
“There’s just admiration,” Ryan said, “for the people around us that make it all happen.”