“Many of you probably read about his feats, literally, on the football field,” Mineola Mayor Scott Strauss said, playing on words as he introduced resident Craig Pinto during the public portion of a meeting of the village board on January 18 at the village hall.

Pinto had recently completed a 24-hour marathon field goal kicking-session this past October, putting 1,000 footballs through the uprights at a field in Oyster Bay to get into the Guinness Book of World records and to raise funds and awareness for Celiac disease, a condition from which he suffers that interferes with the absorption of food.

“We appreciate your efforts on raising awareness for that disease,” Strauss said. “A lot of times many illnesses go unnoticed until somebody brings it to light.”

The board presented him with a proclamation that “acknowledges his efforts on behalf of those who have Celiac,” the mayor said, adding that “it’s always good to see Mineola residents do good things and get an acknowledgment.”

Pinto, who is also the founder and executive director of the Kicking 4 Celiac Foundation, a nonprofit which seeks to raise awareness about the disease, attended the event with radio personality and Kicking 4 Celiac staff member Harlan Friedman as well as his father, Louis Pinto, a self-professed Giants fans who held each of the 1,000 footballs that his son kicked for his second record in as many years, even though his son rooted for the 49ers.

“His dad is one of the, speaking as a soccer coach, one of the greats of the soccer program going back to the early seventies,” Mineola Deputy Mayor Paul Pereira said of Pinto’s father, adding with a smile that “it’s too bad that Craig chose the wrong type of football, but what are you going to do? Maybe he was confused. Congratulations.”