USF's Pierre-Paul celebrates Super Bowl win with father

Of the millions of cameras Sunday at Lucas Oil Field, none flashed brighter for New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul than the one focused on him and his father after Super Bowl XLVI.

Jean Pierre-Paul, blind since his son was an infant in south Florida, never saw his son grow up to be 6-foot-5 and 275 pounds, play basketball at Deerfield Beach High or take up football as a teenager before starting one season at the University of South Florida.

But there was a proud father, a Haitian immigrant, in the seats in Indianapolis, then on the field for the postgame presentation of the Lombardi Trophy after the Giants beat the New England Patriots, 21-17.

“It means a lot,” Pierre-Paul told ESPN about having his father at the game. “That’s who I was playing for. My dream came true, and we won it.”

It was the first football game his father, who wore a No. 90 Giants jersey (his son’s number), had ever attended.

“I am 60 years old, and even if I die right now I will be happy,” Jean Pierre-Paul said of attending the game.

The elder Pierre-Paul, who lives in Fort Lauderdale, got a chance to share in the postgame party when he briefly joined his son on the podium after NBC’s telecast ended. Son lifted father up the podium steps, where they posed with the Lombardi Trophy.

"One more," Jason was overheard saying, and a final camera flash went off. He then slowly assisted his father down and helped his sister lead him to a wheelchair.

Earlier that night, Pierre-Paul swatted down a pair of second-quarter Tom Brady passes and pressured the Patriots’ quarterback on the game-ending Hail Mary throw that fell incomplete. He finished with two tackles, one for a loss.

“It came down to the last couple of seconds and when Tom Brady threw that pass in the air, I just went down to my knees and closed my eyes and laid on my stomach,” Pierre-Paul said. “All I heard was the crowd going crazy. … When they called it incomplete, I closed my eyes and it’s just a blessing.

“It’s my second year. There are guys who have been playing (in the NFL) for 15 years and they haven’t even got to a playoff game. It’s just a blessing.”

Rookie linebacker Jaquian Williams, a USF teammate of Pierre-Paul’s, was part of the New York celebration. Williams had two tackles in the Super Bowl.

A day later, Pierre-Paul, the Giants’ 15th overall pick in the 2010 draft and a Pro Bowl selection this season, was still relishing the victory on Twitter.

“Thank you, New York for not giving up on us,” Pierre-Paul tweeted this morning. “We did it … can't nobody in the world say anything. I love New York.”