SCITUATE — Before every football game, as his mind raced and he tried to shield the outside noise, Gianni Cannady glanced up to the bleachers and made sure he found his mother, Stacey Cannady, to help calm his nerves.
Regardless of the temperature, location, or opponent, Stacey always made the trip from Mattapan to watch Scituate play. Stacey, whom senior Jeremy Franzini said was “like a second mother” to many of the Scituate players, was a mainstay and a constant source of support for the program.
As the Sailors enter a new season, starting with Friday’s 6 p.m. game at Hanover, they’ll do so knowing a major part of the operation is missing. Stacey, who was lovingly called “Sunshine” by many, died of lymphoma at age 55 in late December.
The football community is rallying around Cannady, a senior defensive lineman, as he steps into an expanded starting role for Scituate. The Scituate Gridiron Club has helped raise close to $38,000 to help him actualize Stacey’s goal of putting him through college. Cannady is grateful for all the time they had together, and he believes Stacey is looking down on him to make sure he reaches his potential this season and beyond.
“I was her baby,” Cannady said. “I was her everything. Losing her was like losing my other half.”
Gianni and Stacey attended a carnival called Jouvert every June, and Cannady vividly remembers once, when he was 3, going off to play basketball and panicking when he lost track of his mother.
He frantically approached the disc jockey set, maneuvered his way to the microphone, and told everyone he was looking for his mother, Stacey Cannady.
“My mother yelled at the top of her lungs, ‘Gianni!’ calling me from miles away,” Cannady said. “I saw her and ran to her, and that was probably the best moment of my life. It was like that Sunshine, like God was speaking in that time and moment.”
Stacey raised Gianni as a single mother. He attended school in Scituate starting in first grade through the METCO program, and around fourth grade he finally listened to everyone who was in his ear telling him he should play football.
He made steady progress throughout middle school and high school, and Stacey drove him from Mattapan to Scituate four days a week in the summer so he could participate in assistant coach Glenn Frazier’s offseason workouts.
“I would tell her I’d get him out as soon as I could, and she would say, ‘Work ‘em good,’” Frazier recalled.
Cannady’s technique steadily improved, and he was part of the Super Bowl-winning team that defeated Nipmuc at Gillette Stadium his sophomore year in 2018.
As his game improved, he had no trouble finding his voice. He became somewhat of a team comedian, always quick to tell a joke or start a postgame dance party – often to the song “SICKO MODE” by Travis Scott and Drake. Head coach Herb Devine called him “the personality of the group” and someone who has natural charisma.
“He brings a lot of energy,” senior Nolan Startzell said. “He’s probably one of the most fired-up kids on the team. He gets everyone amped up on the sidelines or on the field.”
Those who know him well have learned there’s also a serious, introspective side to Cannady. He isn’t afraid to have intense conversations about the Black Lives Matter movement or his own personal journey. Watching his mother’s health quickly decline served as a reminder of how fragile life can be.
Stacey was diagnosed with Stage 4 lymphoma last year. She was deemed cancer-free in April, but she was actually in remission, and the cancer came back stronger in September. Her symptoms worsened, as seizures and heart complications surfaced and cancer spread rapidly through her bones.
Franzini dropped Cannady off at the hospital one day in mid-December, and that’s when Stacey told him doctors believed she had less than a week to live. Cannady visited her every day that week, and watched her weaken dramatically. She died the following week.
He said even as she struggled, she was as jovial and radiant as ever, much like he is now as he continues to lead by example through an incredibly draining and deflating year. Cannady, who now lives with his aunt and a couple cousins, brings his mother’s positive outlook when he steps on the field.
“She was my motivation,” Cannady said. “She was the reason I woke up every day to go to school. Now I have a bigger motivation. I have to step up and be the bigger person in the family and do well by her part.”
Startzell and Franzini said Cannady has helped them remember to put everything into perspective. They’ve consistently reminded him how much a football team can feel like a family.
“We’re playing this season for Stacey Cannady,” Franzini said. “She’s like a second mother to me, and Gianni’s like my brother from another mother. We’re here to play together, play for him, and play for her.”
Cannady said he’ll have her in mind every step of the way.
“This is for you, Ma,” Cannady said. “I know you’re looking down right now and seeing me do great things. This season’s for you. I love you.”
The Scituate Gridiron Club has set up a GoFundMe page for donations to Gianni Cannady’s college fund.
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Trevor Hass can be reached at trevor.hass@globe.com. Follow him on X @TrevorHass.