Talking about Myra Kraft, the 6-foot-2-inch, 325-pound Wilfork makes pointedly direct eye contact. You don’t dare doubt his sincerity.
As constant companion and adviser to her husband, as team matriarch, Myra Kraft was an integral part of the Patriots. She was “the foundation’’ of an organization built by the Kraft family with family values in mind.
Robert Kraft sees the Patriots’ sustained success as a testament and tribute to the spirit and spirituality his wife brought to the organization. Myra Kraft made no organizational decisions, but she helped ensure that the Patriots followed certain core values.
“How do you differentiate a team when everything is built toward parity?’’ said Kraft. “How do you sustain success? You have to create a family environment where people trust you and people fit. It’s about trying to create a family atmosphere that’s genuine. I think my sweetheart’s presence did that. She was a great example with deeds of loving kindness. Her presence.’’
Kraft’s voice trails off and his eyes moisten. It is all coming back to him - how Myra was 19 and Kraft was 20 when she proposed on their first date, how “there was a bonding that happened very fast,’’ how they “grew up together,’’ how Myra passed up law school to devote herself to family and raising four sons, how they “got tighter the last 25 years’’ after all four sons left home, how they were “best pals’’ who discussed everything.
Before the first preseason game, the Patriots dedicated this season to the memory of Myra, who died of cancer July 20, 2011. Players wear an oval patch with her initials, MHK, on their uniforms, above their hearts.
When he scored a touchdown last Sunday in a 23-20 win over the Ravens in the AFC Championship game, running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis emphatically pointed to that patch.
“It wasn’t planned,’’ said Green-Ellis. “The spirit just took over me. It was just showing homage.’’
When the game ended with Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff missing a 32-yard field goal attempt, thoughts turned again to Myra.
