Victor Cruz’s Out of the Blue: Required Reading for Everyone, Young and Old, in Paterson and Beyond

The Ultimate Triumph: The Result of Chasing Your Dreams and Never Giving Up

I had not read a full book in one day in long time but as I picked up Victor Cruz’s new book on my kindle Friday morning, I simply could not put it down.

Having grown up in a fairly affluent suburb in Essex County, I never experienced the struggles of growing up in an inner city like Paterson.  Despite that, being a fellow peer of Victor’s, I find that my own path in life that led me to Paterson and all of you wonderful people, was not unlike Victor’s path in terms of the struggles, the ups and downs, and near fatal mistakes, but finishing ultimately with triumph.  My path goes to show that no matter what advantages one might be born with, it all can be thrown away with just a few strings of poor decision making.  Victor’s path, along with what my path showed, shows that no matter how few advantages one might be blessed with, hard work, commitment, perseverance, and a desire to follow one’s dreams can make the disadvantages almost irrelevant to the final results.  Most importantly, what I learned from Victor after finishing Out of the Blue is that, “Everyone’s path is unique.”

But this is not about me.  This is about Victor and how his unique path to his dream of playing in the NFL can be followed by anyone who wishes to put in the time, effort, and commitment.  This is about how Victor showed every single youth and every single Patersonian in general, and really, any American in general, that one can achieve their dreams by following a recipe that focuses on two main things, working hard and never giving up.  As Victor’s path shows, it will not be easy.  There will be countless roadblocks, bumps in the road, and you will get knocked off your desired path at some point.  That is a guarantee.  But that cannot stop your chase.  Like his father always told him, “Nothing is ever going to be handed to you, son.”  Truer words were never spoken and thankfully for Victor and over a hundred 145,000 now inspired Patersonians, Victor never forgot those words.

Nothing in life is ever handed to you.  Sure, some people may be blessed with more advantages than others.  But advantages do not guarantee success.  Victor had the advantage of being blessed with superb athletic ability.  That ability would have meant nothing had he not learned valuable lessons along the way that allowed him to maximize the potential of that ability.  And it almost did mean nothing.  On multiple occasions. 

For Victor’s friend and teammate, Jordan Cleaves, his abilities on the field were not enough to prevent a car from flipping over, taking his life, and ending his dreams of playing in the NFL next to Victor.  That is just one more reason to follow one’s dreams.  For Victor’s father, an incredibly admirable life of dedication to public service as a firefighter was not enough to guarantee lifelong success.  When his career was taken from him, so too was his life.  Life is fragile.  We all know that harsh reality.  We all know someone who was taken from us before they got to follow their dreams.  We all owe it to those people to follow our own dreams and never give up.  And if one does not know someone who was taken away too soon, then one need look no further than this past week at a movie theater in Colorado, to know that life is beyond fragile and can be taken away from any one of us at any moment.  Victor could have thrown in the towel too many times to count.  He did not.  He continued to follow his dream.  He never gave up.  And it paid off.

So let us all today learn from Victor’s unique path to stardom and I urge everyone to follow their own unique path.  To do that, go out and pick up Out of the Blue and read it immediately.  Listen to the lessons, the mistakes, the hardships, and listen to the feeling of ultimate triumph in the end that Victor experiences.  Apply it to your own life and do not let anything stop you from chasing your own dream just as Victor showed us all that you can do just that if you really want it.

Victor’s story is required reading for every single Patersonian, young and old, successful and unsuccessful, and in my opinion, it is required reading for any American trying to live the American dream.  It is a reminder to all of us to never give up in the pursuit of our dream.  It reminds us that while our dream may sometimes change, as Victor’s changed from playing basketball to playing in the NFL, that chasing our desire and stopping at no cost, will be the ultimate triumph and we will be a success if we give it our best shot.

After you finish the book, give it to someone else who has not yet read the whole story.  If you can get just one other person to read Victor’s story other than yourself, you will have made a positive difference in that person’s life.

And that is exactly what Victor has done for every single one of us who reads his story.

“Everyone’s path is unique.”  Lastly, I urge everyone to carve out their own unique path and do so by following your dreams, by working hard at it, and never giving up, just as Victor did.  He’s shown you it is possible, you just have to make it a reality.

All the best to everyone and take care.