Gino Raymond Michael Cappelletti (March 26, 1934 – May 12, 2022) was an American professional football player. He played college football for the Minnesota Golden Gophers and was an All-Star in the American Football League (AFL) for the Boston Patriots, winning the 1964 AFL Most Valuable Player Award. Cappelletti is a member of the Patriots Hall of Fame, and the Patriots' All-1960s team. He served as the Patriots' radio color commentator until July 2012. His nicknames included "the Duke" and "Mr. Patriot".
Early life
Cappelletti was born in Keewatin in northern Minnesota, on March 26, 1934. He attended Keewatin High School in his hometown, Cappelletti kicked extra points, but the Golden Gophers did not kick field goals in those years. As a sophomore in 1952, though, Cappelletti talked the coach into letting him try a game-winning 43-yard kick against Iowa.
As a senior in 1954, Cappelletti switched to T-quarterback and led Minnesota to a 7–2 record, missing the final game with an elbow injury, a 27–0 loss at Wisconsin. He was named to the All-Big Ten second team, but was not selected in the 1955 NFL draft.
Boston Patriots
thumb|Cappelletti in a football card in 1962.
Cappelletti was out of professional football in 1959, back in Minnesota working as a bartender in his brother's lounge, when he asked the Patriots for a tryout in the summer of 1960. He switched to offense late in that season and teamed with quarterback Babe Parilli to form a tandem nicknamed "Grand Opera Twins", due to their Italian surnames. Cappelletti won AFL MVP honors in 1964, He played with the Patriots all 11 years in Boston, from 1960 through the 1970 NFL merger season, and retired in late August 1971 at age 37; he was the AFL's all-time leading scorer with 1,130 points (42 TDs, 176 FGs, and 342 PATs) and among the AFL's top-10 all-time receivers in yards and receptions. Cappelletti had two of the top-five scoring seasons in professional football history, with 155 points in 1964 and 147 points in 1961 (14-game seasons). His Patriots team scoring record lasted until it was broken by Adam Vinatieri on December 5, 2005. At the time of his death, Cappelletti was the Patriots' 12th all-time-leading receiver in receptions with 292 catches and 10th in receiving yards with 4,589 yards. He was fifth in Patriots history in receiving touchdowns with 42,
During Cappelletti's professional career, he also returned punts and kickoffs, played defensive back, and even had one pass completion for a touchdown. He was the second AFL player to record three interceptions (off Tom Flores) in a regular-season game, scored 18 points or more in a game 10 times, and scored 20 or more points in a game eight times. He set the AFL single-game record by scoring 28 points in the Patriots' 42–14 rout of Houston on December 18, 1965. Cappelletti is the only player in professional football history to run for a two-point conversion, throw for a two-point conversion, catch a pass, intercept a pass, return a punt, and return a kickoff in the same season.
The Patriots played their home games at Fenway Park from 1963-1968. To avoid interfering with spectator views, both home and visiting teams shared the same sideline along Fenway's left field wall, an arrangement that sometimes led to players wandering to the opposing team's bench to eavesdrop on play calls. After his retirement, he told an interviewer that during one game against the Kansas City Chiefs, he remembered coach Hank Stram "...calling for screen passes and us yelling to our defense about what was coming." He was inducted to the New England Patriots Hall of Fame in 1992. His number, 20, was retired by the team. He was not selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, though, at the time of his death.
Broadcasting
Cappelletti worked alongside Gil Santos as a color commentator for the Patriots' radio broadcasts on the New England Patriots Radio Network (in the 1988–90 period, he worked alongside Dale Arnold).
Cappelletti also served as color commentator for the Boston College Eagles during the famous "Hail Flutie" game in 1984. Cappelletti can be heard supporting Dan Davis' now-famous call by yelling, "He got it! He got it! I don't believe it!"
On July 20, 2012, Cappelletti announced his retirement from broadcasting.
Personal life
Cappelletti was the father-in-law of ex–Boston College and Chicago Bears receiver Tom Waddle. He was not related to running back John Cappelletti of Penn State, the Heisman Trophy winner in 1973. Cappelletti died on May 12, 2022, at the age of 88.
AFL/NFL career statistics
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
! colspan="2"| Legend
|-
| style="background:#ffff00; width:3em;"|
| AFL MVP
|-
| style="background:#cfecec; width:3em;"|
| Led the league
|-
| Bold
| Career high
|}
Regular season
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2"| Year
! rowspan="2"| Team
! colspan="2"| Games
! colspan="5"| Receiving
! colspan="8"| Kicking
|-
! GP !! GS !! Rec !! Yds !! Avg !! Lng !! TD |||||| ||||||||||
|-
! 1960 !! BOS
| 14 || 5 || 1 || 28 || 28.0 || 28 || 0 || 8 || 22 || 36.4 || 35 || 30 || 32 || 93.8 || 60
|-
! 1961 !! BOS
| 14 || 14 || 45 || 768 || 17.1 || 53 || 8 || style="background:#cfecec;"|17 || style="background:#cfecec;"|32 || 53.1 || 46 || 48 || 50 || 96.0 || style="background:#cfecec;"|147
|-
! 1962 !! BOS
| 14 || 14 || 34 || 479 || 14.1 || 40 || 5 || 20 || 37 || 54.1 || 45 || 38 || 40 || 95.0 || 128
|-
! 1963 !! BOS
| 14 || 12 || 34 || 493 || 14.5 || 38 || 2 || style="background:#cfecec;"|22 || style="background:#cfecec;"|38 || 57.9 || 47 || 35 || 36 || 97.2 || style="background:#cfecec;"|113
|-
! style="background:#ffff00;"|1964 !! BOS
| 14 || 12 || 49 || 865 || 17.7 || 58 || 7 || style="background:#cfecec;"|25 || style="background:#cfecec;"|39 || 64.1 || style="background:#cfecec;"|51 || 36 || 36 || 100.0 || style="background:#cfecec;"|155
|-
! 1965 !! BOS
| 14 || 14 || 37 || 680 || 18.4 || 57 || 9 || 17 || 27 || style="background:#cfecec;"|63.0 || style="background:#cfecec;"|53 || 27 || 27 || 100.0 || style="background:#cfecec;"|132
|-
! 1966 !! BOS
| 14 || 14 || 43 || 676 || 15.7 || 63 || 6 || 16 || 34 || 47.1 || 49 || 35 || 36 || 97.2 || style="background:#cfecec;"|119
|-
! 1967 !! BOS
| 14 || 12 || 35 || 397 || 11.3 || 35 || 3 || 16 || 31 || 51.6 || 45 || 29 || 30 || 96.7 || 95
|-
! 1968 !! BOS
| 14 || 2 || 13 || 182 || 14.0 || 30 || 2 || 15 || 27 || 55.6 || 42 || 26 || 26 || 100.0 || 83
|-
! 1969 !! BOS
| 14 || 0 || 1 || 21 || 21.0 || 21 || 0 || 14 || 34 || 41.2 || 43 || 26 || 27 || 96.3 || 68
|-
! 1970 !! BOS
| 13 || 0 || – || – || – || – || – || 6 || 15 || 40.0 || 41 || 12 || 13 || 92.3 || 30
|-
! colspan="2"| Career !! 153 !! 99 !! 292 !! 4,589 !! 15.7 !! 63 !! 42 !! 176 !! 336 !! 52.4 !! 53 !! 342 !! 353 !! 96.9 !! 1,130
|}
See also
- List of American Football League players
References
External links
- New England Patriots bio