With Adam Vinatieri’s long-range blast, Tom Brady’s short-range passing, and New England’s bone-crushing defense, pro football fans in these parts were given the opportunity to forgive all the past sins that so often made the Patriots a laughingstock among pro football franchises.
Gone were Clive Rush, John Charles, Bob Gladieux, and the man in the trench coat. Erased forever was the dark shadow of Victor Kiam. Forgotten was the memory of Chuck Fairbanks acting like Bill Parcells on the eve of his team’s 1978 playoff run long before Parcells was ever heard of in New England.
One night of football. One long kick with no time on the clock and 42 years of oddball events were forever changed. But that doesn’t mean anyone will ever forget them, and who would want to?
Who would ever forget seeing a man in a London Fog trench coat suddenly emerge in the end zone and knock down a pass intended for a Dallas Texans receiver named Chris Burford at the end of a game in 1961? No one ever learned who that person was, including the officials who never saw him make that play, but he was part of the first ‘’sellout’’ crowd ever at a Patriots game.
The overflow crowd was even lined up around the field that day because anybody who wanted to buy a ticket to watch the upstart American Football League in action could do it. Ron Hobson, the longtime Patriot Ledger sportswriter, recalled the crowd that day.
’’It was like a high school game,’’ Hobson said. ‘’People were seven deep on the sidelines. Then this guy comes out and bats a pass down in the end zone and nobody knew what happened.’’
That included the Texans’ coaching staff, who didn’t figure out they’d been beaten by the ultimate 12th man until they watched the film of the game a day later. They wanted to protest but didn’t quite know what the grounds would be. Illegal use of a topcoat? Patriots win!
