Rich ‘Big Daddy’ Salgado on flying pizzas to the Super Bowl, Brady and how he dazzled George Clooney

There are few things in this world which take your eyes away from New York’s Empire State Building. Yet here we are Wednesday lunchtime, the sun kissing a table which lies in the shadows of the city’s most iconic presence.  

Rich Salgado’s aura ushers your eyes away from the modern-day mecca. Perhaps it’s his 6-foot-4, 320lbs frame? Rather, once he speaks, it’s hard not to listen. 

The man they call ‘Big Daddy’ was put on this planet to do something. Right now, it’s detailing his story layered with anecdotes of pizza, Tom Brady — Jr. and Snr. — Super Bowl parties and snoozing where others would not dare.

Beyond this, it’s a life that takes some explaining. Who is Big Daddy? What does he do? Those are questions often asked, sometimes by the most recognizable faces.

Salgado is an insurance agent, first and foremost. ‘I provide insurance just like State Farm or any insurance person out there. I do it all,’ he tells Dailymail.com.

But for now he sits in his native New York, some 20 miles from his Garden City home, looking down upon the streets in which few walk taller.

Salgado regales with anecdotes involving football’s most famous face, Tom Brady. Taking him to a Rangers game at Madison Square Garden, witnessing his first Super Bowl win and being invited back to the New England hotel to celebrate. Salgado doesn’t know how.  

‘The big joke is, “Have you ever seen Where’s Waldo? And then there’s Big Daddy!” I always made it a point to be out in front,’ he says.

‘What I mean by that is, always letting people know who I am and what I do. That is what I think allows me to gain the respect from people.’

Which lends itself to casual interactions with people like NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

‘We were at an owner’s meeting and I was introducing myself: “My name’s Rich Salgado”, and Roger said, “No, that’s not right! That’s Big Daddy!” 

‘I’ll introduce myself as Rich Salgado, then Big Daddy kind of takes over because it’s easier than Rich Salgado.’

Salgado and Big Daddy are more than symbiotic, they are one and the same. 

He is a character, a larger-than-his-frame personality, possessing the wit of a court jester and the warmth of a September Miami night. 

If it’s not his size or gregarious personality catching the eye, then his swag picks up the slack. The glitz of a Super Bowl ring — given to him after insurance work for the Giants — helps.

‘George Clooney sees me wearing it and it’s pretty shiny. You could see it from across the room, and George came over and he goes, “Man, I couldn’t stop staring at that rock, what is that thing?” So I said, “Here put it on.”

‘He says to me, “Where are you sitting, Big Daddy?” And I said, “I’m sitting right there,” pointing to the Fox News congregation at a Correspondence Dinner. 

‘He goes, “Oh, you’re sitting at the Death Star table.” He came up to me afterwards. I didn’t think I would be striking up another conversation with him but I’m confident enough that I can hold a conversation. 

‘You can put me in front of anybody and I can — I don’t know if the word is win over — but I can hold my own.’ 

Though there was once a time where conversing was a skill he needed to acquire — in English at least. 

Barely a year old, Salgado was sent to Peru to live with his grandmother. Not returning to the United States for five years, he had to start over again in language, culture and family — returning to parents who he had known less than words themselves. 

‘I can’t imagine how that wouldn’t affect a child. But I do know his grandmother was one of his greatest role models,’ said his close friend and business partner Anzhelika Steen-Olsen.

‘I can’t imagine the pressure he may have experienced as a child.’ Almost half a century on from his life in Lima, 57-year-old Salgado still possesses a purity naturally reserved for those in their embryonic years. 

‘Naivety’ is how Olsen describes it, but it is not a negative. In fact, it is one of his qualities she most cherishes. To this day, Big Daddy seals some deals with a mere handshake. 

It has backfired in moments, but that hasn’t stopped Salgado insisting on their existence. ‘I just shook on it,’ and for him that is enough.

Big Daddy has achieved what most businessmen yearn for. He has turned water into wine, and wine into water; shifting transactional relationships to friendships and shaping friendships into work. All while avoiding the spotlight, for the most part. 

Salgado might look like he now has it all. He assures me he doesn’t.  

‘I’ve seen millionaires, billionaires that are miserable. I’m not either of those but at least I have a smile on my face and I get out of bed every day,’ he says.

How Salgado has assembled a rolodex which topples an ESPYs invite list is simply explained. 

He started with just a handful of contacts but his book soon blossomed. 

‘As long as you treat the first five [people] the best you can, that tree will never end, it will always grow,’ he says.

His wealth of connections has led to interactions with Jimmy Kimmel, John Cena, Sean Hannity, Alice Cooper, John Legend, Tracy Morgan, Josh Allen and Von Miller to name but a few.

Five people is how he became close friends with Michael Strahan and an object of intrigue to Clooney. 

The art of relationship building is alive and well inside the gentle giant. 

‘I do what I say I’m going to do, and if I don’t know the answer, I will find you the answer,’ he adds.

‘When I meet you, it goes on beyond this interview and I always make it feel that way because, if you can help people then why not? 

‘It’s not costing me anything. A lot of people don’t like to help people because they’re selfish.’

For over a decade, Big Daddy would deliver Umberto’s pizzas to the Giants practice each Friday. What started out as a treat for the offensive line soon turned into a team-wide procession. 

As New York reached Super Bowl XLVI, left tackle David Diehl had one request, not for extra tickets or passes, just Umberto’s. 

Enter Big Daddy. He had the pizzas made as usual, but this time delivered to La Guardia airport via a police escort. 

‘When it arrived in Indianapolis, I had it escorted to the Giants practice. Everybody went f***ing nuts.

‘It was put in special boxes that had heaters in them, like an oven. It was as ridiculous and funny as it sounds.

‘You would’ve thought the president was coming off the plane, you couldn’t get upstairs!’

While human relationships are at the forefront of both success and happiness, Salgado isn’t done yet. There is an autobiography to be written. He wants to fill a few more pages with his friends, in the name of those who need it most.

Whether it is in his ambassadorial role for SHER — a women’s empowerment group which allows them to ‘speak in a safe space to grow within this wide society of working and leading women’ — or hosting annual football camps in his native New Hyde Park, Salgado wants to give, to fulfil his life’s destiny.

‘When you have all these kids come up to you and hug you, thank you, that brought tears to my eyes,’ he says.

‘I’m not a celebrity, I’m not an ex-football player or anything like that but I have a reach to bring in certain people to do things I want to accomplish. 

‘I’m just a normal guy who’s very blessed and fortunate to be able to get out of bed everyday, and have relationships that I have.’ 

Insured or otherwise, Big Daddy’s presence is felt far and wide.