Socci’s Notebook: Paying respects to Gino Cappelletti, an original and enduring Patriot
The framed poster hangs on the left sidewall as you enter the home radio booth at Gillette Stadium, where for 10 seasons here and another 18 at the old stadium next door, the two men pictured behind the glass filled New England’s autumn air with their words and, often, laughter.
The play-by-player whose rich baritone pipes produced the perfect pitch for the game he called stands to the left. On the right, in the light-gray sport coat with the stylish peak lapels is the ex-player whose well-versed analysis reflected his well-rounded experiences on the field. Each holds a microphone and wears a smile in this black-and-white image from younger days.
Inset is a smaller, more recent photo in full color. Their look is more practical, they are dressed for the cold. The longtime radio pro, by now a few pounds heavier from the waist up, has a Christmas-patterned scarf draped over his shoulders. His partner, the former playing great wears a jacket bearing the modern-day team logo, still seemingly as fit as when he suited up a half century earlier, as an original franchise icon.
Gil and Gino.
Surnames unnecessary.
The Voice of the Patriots. And Mr. Patriot.
You can see in these pictures what generations could hear on their radios, best described by Gino Cappelletti as “a simpatico” formed over nearly 500 broadcasts and just as many pre-game dinners together.
Yes, simpatico. The perfect word to describe the perfect radio marriage. Spoken by the perfect Patriot.
Agreeable. Likable…no, lovable.
Booming paired with charming. Sound and style generations grew up on.
First, in the early-to-mid-seventies, on AM 1030. Later on 104.1 FM, formerly known as WBCN, the rock station as legendary as them. Finally, further up the dial at 98.5, where they called their last full game together in their sixth Super Bowl together on Feb. 5, 2012, for the Sports Hub.
From 3-11 under John Mazur to 11-3 under Chuck Fairbanks; from Ben Dreith to Walt Coleman; from the last television blackout on the final Sunday of 1993 to the halcyon days of the early aughts, including, most famously, boisterously and joyously, the final snap of Super Bowl XXXVI.
Late last week, we lost Gino at age 89, four years after Gil Santos passed away on his 80th birthday in April 2018. This week, following numerous on-air, on-line and in-print tributes, family and friends will pay their formal respects to Cappelletti, one of the most beloved people in New England sports history.
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“My heart aches,” Patriots owner Robert Kraft said last Thursday in a statement that alluded to his days as an original Pats ticket holder, reasserted his conviction that Cappelletti belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and extended condolences to Gino’s wife Sandy, daughters Gina, Cara and Christina and 10 grandchildren. “As great of a player as he was, he was an even better person and storyteller.”
Kraft spoke for his family and organization. And just about anyone else ever lucky enough to be in Cappelletti’s company. Listen to others who knew Gino well, and you’ll hear the same.
“Just a wonderful man in every way,” texted longtime Patriots Radio Network producer Marc Cappello, a part of the team’s broadcast operations since 1995.
“His stories on the road were legendary,” tweeted Scott Zolak, who succeeded Cappelletti, both in the broadcast booth and, in his own way, about town as a team ambassador.
The story of Cappelletti and his road to becoming legendary border on the mythological.
Native to northern Minnesota’s Iron Range, Gino was a quarterback in the University of Minnesota’s run-heavy, split T formation. Though the Detroit Lions gave him a look in 1955, he had to cross the Canadian border to keep playing — initially joining the Sarnia Imperials of the Ontario Rugby Football Union.
He started a second season in the ORFU, with Toronto, but Uncle Sam summoned Cappelletti for service in the Army. He returned to Canada, signed with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and was traded and cut by the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who already employed American quarterback Frank Tripucka.
Gil Santos (left) and Gino Cappelletti. (Courtesy of the New England Patriots)
Back in Minnesota and tending bar in the Twin Cities, Gino learned that Lou Saban, head coach of the Boston franchise in the start-up American Football League was scouting players nearby. College teammate Bob McNamara passed along Saban’s number and Gino gave him a call.
“I introduced myself,” Cappelletti recounted to reporter Hank Gola of the New York Daily News in 2014. “I said, ‘I don’t have a glamorous career but I love the game and can play. I would love to have a tryout.’
“I never heard back from him and I was really getting concerned and I thought, ‘Maybe it was not meant to be, that I’m not going to have a career in the game.’ And sure enough, one evening the phone rang.”
It was Saban. He notified Gino that a contract worth $7,500 was on the way.
Cappelletti, who converted 31 straight extra-point tries as a collegiate kicker in 1953-54, would continue in that role under Saban. He’d also be used at safety on defense.
Opening night was on Sept. 9, 1960 — a Friday not in conflict with Saturday’s college schedule and Sunday’s NFL slate. The opponent was Denver. It’s quarterback was Frank Tripucka. After the Broncos punted on the AFL’s opening possession, Gino lined up to attempt a 35-yard field goal before 21,597 at Nickerson Field. His kick was good. More history was made.
Cappelletti enjoyed his best defensive performance in mid-October, picking off three passes at Oakland. In all, Raiders quarterbacks Tom Flores and Babe Parilli were intercepted five times. Gino ended the year with one more interception.
The next season, he moved to offense, switching to receiver, and the Pats added a new quarterback, trading for Parilli. Collectively, they became known as the ‘Grand Opera.’ Meanwhile, Parilli earned a second nickname as Cappelletti’s holder on placements: ‘Golden Finger.’
Gino rarely missed kicks and never missed a game.
He honed his approach, according to the UPI’s Steve Snyder, after watching Arnold Palmer hit golf shots. Head down, eyes on the ball, swing swiftly following through.
“I stole that formula from (Arnold) Palmer and applied it to my placekicking,” Cappelletti told Snyder in 1966. “I got the idea watching him on television.”
Gino Gappelletti kicks a field goal for the New England Patriots (Courtesy of the New England Patriots)
By the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, Gino was a five-time all-star and five-time scoring leader. He earned one title as league MVP in 1964 and another only after catching two long touchdown passes from Parilli, to go with four field goals and two PATs, in the 1965 finale.
No one in AFL history produced more points. And only two others, George Blanda and Jim Otto, appeared in all of their team’s games from the AFL’s inception to its union with the NFL.
Eleven years after finally finding his footing in New England, Cappelletti’s playing career ended on the doorstep of the 1971 campaign.
“Whatever I’ve contributed to football will never equal what the game has given me,” he said in his retirement press conference, as reported by the Boston Globe’s Leigh Montville. “I’ve had my day and now I’ve got to get on with the rest of my life.”
Gino did so for 28 of the remaining 51 years alongside Gil on fall Sundays. He also spent a few seasons on Ron Erhardt’s coaching staff.
In 1991, after a period in which games aired on several stations featuring other announcers, Gil and Gino reunited in the Pats booth. Four years later, they welcomed Cappello and Dennis Knudsen, now the director of engineering at 98.5 The Sports Hub, to their crew.
Gino Gappelletti with the New England Patriots (Courtesy of the New England Patriots)
Like Zolak, Cappello and Knudsen were entertained by Gino’s anecdotes and touched by his wisdom and warmth. Both recall how former Patriots coach Pete Carroll frequently visited with Cappelletti on team flights to and from road games.
“I was a huge fan of Gino the player and broadcaster,” Carroll wrote in a text message relayed last weekend through the Seattle Seahawks media relations department. “He was a special person and a true Patriot legend. He always represented the organization with such dignity. My thoughts are with all Patriot fans who were connected by him.”
Carroll’s words are consistent with the sentiments Bill Belichick expressed in July 2012, after Cappelletti retired from broadcasting.
“Around the team, [Gino] wasn’t just a broadcaster but was – and remains – truly part of the team, respected by players and coaches for representing everything good about sports,” Belichick stated. “Gino is a class act, one of the true gentlemen of the AFL and NFL and I am proud to have been associated with him every week of my career as Patriots head coach.”
Meanwhile, Gil, the man most closely associated with Gino — then, now, always — stayed on the air for one more season before joining Cappelletti in red-jacketed immortality as a fellow Patriot Hall of Famer.
Gino Gappelletti at a Patriots Hall of Fame induction. (Courtesy of the New England Patriots)
In 2012, Santos described the Patriots’ first 15 games with Zolak at his side. For the 16th, the regular-season finale vs. Miami on Dec. 30, they saved a chair for Gino.
Today that seat is no longer occupied by the first and last Patriot in jersey No. 20.
Still, he and his longtime pal and partner will always be in the booth.
Seen in the aforementioned poster, a reproduction of the cover of the Patriots souvenir program for their last game together. Heard, as their unforgettable calls echo in memory.
And thanks to their legacy, felt, as if they’re looking down from high above the field.
You can hear Bob Socci on the call of the game on every game day for the New England Patriots, right here on 98.5 The Sports Hub. You can also read his Socci’s Notebook stories periodically throughout the year.
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