SANTA CLARA — What would you do if you had a pair of Super Bowl tickets? Joe Staley gave his to a couple of strangers.

He had heard they were nice.

“This will be a memory for the both of us that will last a lifetime,” said one of the strangers, Patricia Wheeler.

Staley, the 49ers’ longtime left tackle, engineered his random act of kindness Wednesday. He went looking specifically for someone in need of a break in life, someone worth rewarding, and started asking his friends a few weeks ago if anyone came to mind.

The answer came emphatically: Johnel Spivey, a single father from Santa Clara.

Spivey has had custody of his 7-year-old daughter, Jordan, since she was 3 months old. Jordan has had no mother in her life — derailed by personal problems — so Spivey carried the load, right down to braiding her hair for school.

He did so despite having a heart attack and kidney failure along the way. Spivey, 54, has been on dialysis three days a week for the past six years. Even when Spivey had surgery, he avoided pain medication so he could stay focused on his daughter’s needs.

Wheeler is Spivey’s girlfriend. She e-mailed this paper Friday to share the incredible turn of events: On Thursday, Spivey was summoned to the office at Don Callejon School in Santa Clara, where Jordan is a second-grader.

When Spivey walked in, he spotted the 6-foot-6, 306-pound offensive lineman and thought, “I know that guy. What’s going on here?”

Staley introduced himself. And then he handed him a gift — a pair of tickets for Super Bowl 50 at Levi’s Stadium. They were marked Section 108, Row 8, Seats 14 & 15.

“Johnel was moved beyond words,” Wheeler wrote. “He broke down crying and had to sit down. He was just overwhelmed.

“Joe told him he’d heard all about him and was very impressed with Johnel’s parenting and his hard life. They went back and forth telling stories about kids, life, football and the 49ers.”

Staley also gave Spivey a signed game-worn jersey and posed for pictures. He also told Jordan — the daughter — that she would be welcome at practice to meet the rest of the team next year.

Spivey’s first instinct was to take Jordan, but she urged him to take his girlfriend instead (“She’s kind of heart, like her father,” Wheeler wrote.)

It’s safe to say, this family will be 49ers fans for life.

“I’m still overwhelmed and speechless,” Spivey wrote. “I don’t feel that I’m worthy of such kindness. I’m just doing what a parent is supposed to do.”