Sullivan inducted into team's Hall

[E Belichick Unum]

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/reiss_pieces/

William H. "Billy" Sullivan Jr., the Patriots' original and longtime owner, has been inducted posthumously into the Patriots Hall of Fame, the franchise announced today.

Another class move by a great organization.

 

[Pats726]

Funny how there are so few (NONE at this point) comments on Billy SUllivan being named to the Patriot Hall. Not surprised as I think most here do not remember much about the Pats pre Kraft and then some. Wjile I can say that he did do a lot of things that were not the best for the Pats, if it was not for him, the Patriots might not be a franchise now. Instead, it might be all New York football Giant territory..as THEY were the team pushed and hyped into the area here pre Patriots. I do remember that and I HATED the Giants with a passion. In fact, I still do. Also, even after the merger, it was Billy that got Schaefer Stadium built and although the stadium was the worst in the league, it did have enough seats to keep the franchise here. I do want to congratule the Sullivan family on this honor and I really hope more fans will really look into the history of this team as it's TRUE history has never been told in depth...and certainly it's a roller coiaster one that has resulted in a franchise that is the best. Patriot fans, it's not always been like it is today.

 

[patsfan13]

Billy Sullivan is a mized bag, indeed without him we don't have the Pats OTOH, he wasn't a real GOOD owner, the Pats were the joke of the league for much of his tenure.

Classy move by Kraft however. I am real glad we have a great owner now.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Glad Chris Sullivan is finally getting the credit he deserves. Was a BEAST on that line for quite some time

 

[italian pat patriot]

well done Mr Kraft

 

[nashvillepatsfan]

without him we don't have the Pats OTOH, he wasn't a real GOOD owner, the Pats were the joke of the league for much of his tenure.
Classy move by Kraft however. I am real glad we have a great owner now.

Pretty much sums it up for me. He's part of the history,,,,good, or bad

 

[NoCal Patriot]

Patriots blog - Reiss' Pieces - Boston.com



Another class move by a great organization.

You can question many things about Billy Sullivan but one thing that You cannot question is his heart.He brought the Patriots to New England and saved them for New England on more than one occasion.Was He a flawed man ? Sure but We all are but the good out weighs the bad.

 

[E Belichick Unum]

You can question many things about Billy Sullivan but one thing that You cannot question is his heart.He brought the Patriots to New England and saved them for New England on more than one occasion.Was He a flawed man ? Sure but We all are but the good out weighs the bad.

After every home game Billy would go ynder the stands at the stadium and schmooze with the fans. He was always gracious and honest. I remember a particularly bad loss against the Raiders, he was close to tears, the loss had cost the team a playoff spot, and there he was, under the stands shaking hands.

Billy wasn't the luckiesy owner, and probably was in over his head on most days, but he was a stand up guy who loved New England and loved his Patriots. He deserves to be in the Hall at Patriot's Place.

 

[pats60]

Funny how there are so few (NONE at this point) comments on Billy SUllivan being named to the Patriot Hall. Not surprised as I think most here do not remember much about the Pats pre Kraft and then some. Wjile I can say that he did do a lot of things that were not the best for the Pats, if it was not for him, the Patriots might not be a franchise now. Instead, it might be all New York football Giant territory..as THEY were the team pushed and hyped into the area here pre Patriots. I do remember that and I HATED the Giants with a passion. In fact, I still do. Also, even after the merger, it was Billy that got Schaefer Stadium built and although the stadium was the worst in the league, it did have enough seats to keep the franchise here. I do want to congratule the Sullivan family on this honor and I really hope more fans will really look into the history of this team as it's TRUE history has never been told in depth...and certainly it's a roller coiaster one that has resulted in a franchise that is the best. Patriot fans, it's not always been like it is today.

You spoke for many of us fans who admire what Bill did for this team.
What a great article

 

[Brady-To-Branch]

Billy should have been the 1st member of the Hall. Yes, his stewardship was less than stellar, but he was able to establish pro football in a baseball town and in a hostile political environment.

 

[jmt57]

A bit redundant to what Mike Reiss wrote, but Chris Price had a nice column on Sullivan also.

It Is What It Is: Billy Sullivan Headed to Pats HOF

Without Billy Sullivan, there would be no NFL franchise in Foxboro. Without Billy Sullivan, there likely would never have been Pat Patriot or the Flying Elvis. And without Billy Sullivan, there would be no Gillette Stadium, Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and three Lombardi trophies sitting at One Patriot Place.

 

[plk]

You might want to look at the SI article from 1988

How Billy Sullivan and his son Chuck turned a $25,000 - 03.14.88 - SI Vault

and particularly the following passages:

[Attorneys and family sources familiar with the transaction say that the Sullivans went to the state legislature for help. Barney Frank, a family friend and a state representative who now serves in the U.S. House of Representatives, and David Schwartz, then a member of the Massachusetts House, pushed through a bill that amended the takeover law: Now a simple majority would suffice where once a two-thirds majority was required. The Sullivans received just enough support for their a takeover and bought back the nonvoting shares at $15 apiece.

His euphoria didn't last long, however. Shortly after the Sullivans had regained control of the franchise in 1976, three disgruntled groups of shareholders filed separate suits against them, claiming, among other things, that the stockholders weren't paid enough for their nonvoting shares. In 1986, two suits came to conclusions. The judge in one case ruled that the Sullivans had grossly underpaid the stockholders. The shares, he determined, had been worth $80 each, not $15, and the Sullivans should pay the plaintiffs $2.5 million. The judge in the second case ruled that the buyout was illegal and awarded the stockholders $584,000.]

Billy Sullivan cheated the people who made his owning the team possible.

 

[RayClay]

If not for Sullivan, the franchise would have been in Philadelphia. The deal was already set.

The team would have had to be sold to out of state interests without a stadium. Without state or Boston funding he slapped together Schaefer stadium and kept a team in Massachusetts again.

I guess in an era of billionaires and state of the art stadiums, it's hard to imagine a guy grabbing a team that's already assigned to another city and devoting his whole life to keeping it afloat.

The Billy Sullivan Patriots were like the little girl with the curl. When they were good, they were damned good. When they were bad?....at least entertaining.

I'm sure the old time fans have enjoyed our success as much or more than anyone. World class all the way From Kraft and BB on down.
________________

But something in me will always root for the guy who doesn't have anything going for him but heart.

People don't believe it, but the early 60's teams were very competitive, with a great four man line, Parrilli, Cappeletti and some decent backs including Garron and later Jim Nance. Sullivan must have known a little about football, because there wasn't much more than him and Holovak back then.

I would seriously say that you could pick a team from the late 70's to the 85 Super Bowl team as good or better than any Patriot team, excluding Mr. Brady, of course. I don't care to argue the point, but start with a defensive backfield of Haynes and Clayborn and John Hannah at guard and you're competitive with most any team, not just any Patriots team.

Yeah, Sullivan stole when he had to...he stole the team right from under The Philadelphia Baseball organization.

(From Annihilus's great history page at Patriots Planet)
Patriots Planet

Boston Herald.
November 11, 1959
Bill Cunningham

I can't honestly say Mr. Sullivan didn't mention to me what he was up to. In fact, I couldn't avoid knowing he was on the long-distance telephone practically all day Sunday. That was after the story in Sunday's papers that Philadelphia, not Boston, had the inside track for the new league's eighth franchise

It further said Bob Carpenter, the Phil's baseball magnate, would announce his new connection with pro football at a special press conference called for 10 o'clock Monday morning...You'll notice he didn't.

According to one of my favorite movies nothing is a pretty cool hand.

Billy Sullivan played his hand full of nothing for 28 years and I always thought it was pretty cool. Awful in spots, but always entertaining and always from the heart.

A lot of the silliness is in this article, and that was part of the fun. I cherry picked some quotes from the other viewpoint though.

Archives - Brockton, MA - The Enterprise

It seems the Patriots have been battling the odds since Nov. 16, 1959, when it was announced that Billy Sullivan had scraped up enough money to plunk down the $25,000 fee required to field a franchise in the fledgling American Football League. Rather symbolically, Sullivan opened the team's offices in the basement of a building in downtown Boston.

"God bless 'em, they tried. The Sullivans meant well," said Tippett, the franchise's all-time sack leader with an even 100. "They wanted it to be like it is today. They just lacked the financial resources to make it happen."...

"Billy Sullivan did everything he could on limited resources," said Grogan. "We were close a few times. We had some great teams � '76 and we went to the Super Bowl � but for one reason or another we were lacking a little bit."...

"The Sullivans were great to me. They did the best with what they had," said Jones (Cedric), who now works for the National Football League as its vice president of youth football development. "Patrick (the team's general manager), Chuck and Mr. Sullivan poured their hearts and souls into it, but they didn't have deep pockets. They didn't have the funds that Mr. Kraft had from his other businesses."...

"We had some good, young players, though," said Tippett, "and we'll always be able to say that we (were the Patriots team that) went to the (franchise's) first Super Bowl."...

Raymond Berry's 1985 wild-card team did the unthinkable in winning three playoff games on the road to get to Super Bowl XX

And you sure couldn't say they weren't fighters.:violent:

Ciao