A LUXURY car donated for a raffle by Tom Brady in 2004 has since mysteriously vanished.
That year the former New England Patriots star won Super Bowl MVP as his team defeated the Carolina Panthers in Houston.
Former Super Bowl MVPs Larry Csonka, Tom Brady, Phil Simms, Lynn Swann and Emmitt Smith pose with the Cadillac XLR Roadster[/caption]
Brady donated his Cadillac to his former high school[/caption]
Brady, now 47, had already won the same honor two years previously.
In those days, a luxurious Cadillac XLR Roadster was awarded to the recipient of the Super Bowl MVP award.
With Brady already having earned one from his 2002 triumph, he was keen to find a different home for his new one.
After racking his brains, the quarterback found what seemed a good solution.
Brady decided to raffle off the car with the proceeds going to his former high school – Junipero Serra in San Mateo, California.
Raffle tickets were sold for $25 each, with the car worth around $76,000 at the time.
The exercise reportedly went on to raise $367k for Junipero Serra, with principal Lars Lund calling it their “most successful fundraiser ever”.
But it is not known what then came of the car itself.
Charlie Affrunti, who had two sons graduate Junipero Serra, was announced as the winner.
Both of his boys are said to have played on their high school baseball team alongside Brady in the 1990s.
After the raffle, the Cadillac was not publicly seen again.
Per the Mail, it has been theorised that Affrunti could not afford to keep hold of it.
In rules set by the Internal Revenue Service, raffle winners are required to stump up 25 per cent of the market value of their prize – minus what their ticket cost.
So with the car having been worth $76k at the time, Affrunti would have been charged an eye-watering $19k in order to collect the Cadillac.
Affrunti has never accepted an interview request in the 20 years since winning the raffle.
Brady went on to win a further three Super Bowl MVP Awards.
But he would only have won one more Cadillac.
That’s because in 2015, the tradition was discontinued.
Brady’s third and final Cadillac was awarded to him in 2014.
He then won further Super Bowl MVP Awards in 2017 and 2020, before retiring after the 2022 season.
