italia44
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CLICK HERE to Register for a free account and login for a smoother ad-free experience. It's easy, and only takes a few moments.Man, dont bring up the old days like that cause every time someone does, it brings up an awful lot of Patriot memories, from day one, and I dont want to bore you, or anyone else.
I'd love to do some research on The Patriots as an idea from Billy Sullivan or others.
Calling out to NEM or others who might have been aware of the sportwriters or businessmen trying to get a football team here in the fifties.
I just think it's fascinating how they pulled it off.
Billy Sullivan was trying to get the Chicago Cardinals to move here, I understand.
I'm Irish and the idea of the crazy Irishman with a dream and no money just tickles me.
I'm sure ItalianPat would love to read anything about the original Pats as he loves the tradition.
A lot of great stories, some of which I still remember.
Before we start to cannonize Billy Sullivan, I would remind everyone that he was almost as big a thief as his son was. When the Pats were formed in 1960, it was as a public corporation with a stock offering. A few years later, Sullivan litterally stole the outstanding stock for pennies on the dollar, and became the sole owner. I'm not sure of the details since I was only 15 at the time, but it is a little known story, and an unfortunate one.
BTW- NEM I played on one of those Atlantic Coast League teams in the fall of 1969. Joe Bellino was the GM. Ross OHanely (a former Pats DB) was the HC. Bob Dee (a former all time Pats DL) and Butch Mahoney were my coaches. Songin played QB for a couple of weeks before he became part of the staff. It was great for me. I was making more money playing football than I was teaching school ($175/wk teaching vs $250/wk playing ball)
There were a number of form Pats on that team, Ray Ilg & Ed Kountz come immediately to mind. Also on the team was Barry Gallup, who coached at BC and Northeastern.
For those who might not know, The Atlantic Coast League was comprised of teams in Quincy, MA (Pats), Hartford (Bills), Bridgeport (Jets) Long Island (Giants) Pottstown, PA (Eagles), Harrisburgh, PA (Steelers), Richmond, VA (Saints), Roanoake, VA (Redskins). For me it was very exciting since there were a lot of former NFLers in the league and a few that eventually made it. Given that I was a former 200 lb nose tackle who was playing OLB in the league. Also I played at a very small school (Tufts), where the big game of the year was against Bowdoin with the loser awarded the title of "the worst team in NE" , so it was fun to test myself against players who played at the big schools and had NFL experience.
All the teams had official connections to the NFL club. As part of the merger agreement which came into effect in 1970, clubs had to relieve themselves of any direct financial arrangements with any minor league affiliations. When that financial prop was dismissed the league faded away.
However in i969 the league was very vibrant. Several players went on to have very good careers in the NFL including Bob Tucker, who went on to have a very good career with the Giants. The $250/week was pretty much the standard pay in the league, though some got a lot more. There was a QB at Pottstown (King Cochran) that had a $100,000 contract, and that was great money for ANYONE in 1969.
A lot of great stories, some of which I still remember.
Before we start to cannonize Billy Sullivan, I would remind everyone that he was almost as big a thief as his son was. When the Pats were formed in 1960, it was as a public corporation with a stock offering. A few years later, Sullivan litterally stole the outstanding stock for pennies on the dollar, and became the sole owner. I'm not sure of the details since I was only 15 at the time, but it is a little known story, and an unfortunate one.
BTW- NEM I played on one of those Atlantic Coast League teams in the fall of 1969. Joe Bellino was the GM. Ross OHanely (a former Pats DB) was the HC. Bob Dee (a former all time Pats DL) and Butch Mahoney were my coaches. Songin played QB for a couple of weeks before he became part of the staff. It was great for me. I was making more money playing football than I was teaching school ($175/wk teaching vs $250/wk playing ball)
There were a number of form Pats on that team, Ray Ilg & Ed Kountz come immediately to mind. Also on the team was Barry Gallup, who coached at BC and Northeastern. My best friend on that team was Paul Della Villa (RB at BC). We were all set to go on a bus to a concert in NY, when a midseason schedule change forced us to play that weekend. The concert, of course, was later known as Woodstock. . Later the bus we would have been on was featured in a layout done by LIFE magazine.
For those who might not know, The Atlantic Coast League was comprised of teams in Quincy, MA (Pats), Hartford (Bills), Bridgeport (Jets) Long Island (Giants) Pottstown, PA (Eagles), Harrisburgh, PA (Steelers), Richmond, VA (Saints), Roanoake, VA (Redskins). For me it was very exciting since there were a lot of former NFLers in the league and a few that eventually made it. Given that I was a former 200 lb nose tackle who was playing OLB in the league, it was quite a thrill. Also, since I played at a very small school (Tufts), where the big game of the year was against Bowdoin to see who was "the worst team in NE" , it was fun to test myself against players who played at the big schools and had NFL experience.
All the teams had official connections to the NFL club. As part of the merger agreement which came into effect in 1970, clubs had to relieve themselves of any direct financial arrangements with any minor league affiliations. While we played to crowd around 5-10M in Quincy, when we played in PA or VA, there would regularly be 30-40M in the stands. When that financial prop was dismissed the league faded away.
However in i969 the league was very vibrant. Several players went on to have very good careers in the NFL including Bob Tucker, who went on to have a very good career with the Giants. The $250/week was pretty much the standard pay in the league, though some got a lot more. There was a QB at Pottstown (King Cochran) that had a $100,000 contract, and that was great money for ANYONE in 1969. Cochran eventually played in the WFL
I'm afraid alot of my memories from that time have faded, especially some of the names of my teammates. I haven't really thought about those days in a long time, until I saw NEM mention it in a post. If anyone knows of some web site with info on those days, I'd appreciate it.
A lot of great stories, some of which I still remember.
I'd love to do some research on The Patriots as an idea from Billy Sullivan or others.
I just think it's fascinating how they pulled it off.
Billy Sullivan was trying to get the Chicago Cardinals to move here, I understand.
I'm Irish and the idea of the crazy Irishman with a dream and no money just tickles me.
EDIT: I just found this. DOnt know how accurate it is.
1960-63 (WEEI 590): Ned Martin, Fred Cusick (?)
1964-65 (WEEI 590): Bob Gallagher, Gerry Moore
1966-71 (WBZ 1030): Gil Santos, Bob Starr
1972-77 (WBZ 1030): Gil Santos, Gino Cappelletti
1978-79 (WBZ 1030): Gil Santos, ?
1980-86 (WHDH 850): John Carlson, Jon Morris
1987 (WHDH 850): Curt Gowdy, Jon Morris(?)
1988-90 (WEEI 590): Dale Arnold, Gino Cappelletti
1991-95 (WBZ 1030): Gil Santos, Gino Cappelletti
1995-present (WBCN 104.1): Gil Santos, Gino Cappelletti
God bless Billy, but I prefer Walter Brown in that category any day.
Why do I have to defend him? He was a lousy owner mostly because he didn't have the money. But nobody else wanted to start the team.
He could have sold it to somebody who would have moved it and made a fortune.
He was stupid. He only loved the team, he ended up broke.
Does anybody remember the last game of the 1966 season. Against Joe Namath and the Jets. The Patriots lost 38-28. As I recall, if they had won they would have faced Kansas City for a chance to play in the first superbowl...
The famous play of that game, in which a Patriot was held by his shirt on a breakaway play - if they had used "tear shirts" (remember those?) they might have played in the Superbowl...