Marty Gitlin begins his presentation on the New England Patriots’ history.
Reminder Publishing photo by Peter Tuohy
EAST LONGMEADOW — Patrons of East Longmeadow’s Pleasant View Senior Center are ready to cheer on the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.
With the Patriots gearing up to take on the Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 8, former NFL and CBS sports writer Marty Gitlin hosted his presentation “From Doormats to Dynasty: A Patriots Celebration” at the Senior Center on Feb. 3, sponsored by Attorney Dave Carlson, Integra Home Health and Comfort Keepers
During his time as a reporter, Gitlin never got the chance to cover the Patriots dynasty. Instead, he was covering the Cleveland Browns.
Gitlin’s presentation featured the entire team’s history, starting back when the organization was known as the Boston Patriots and playing in the American Football League. The National Football League and American Football League combined prior to the 1970 season, creating the NFL we know today. The team changed their name to represent New England in 1971 after moving out of Boston and permanently residing in Foxborough.
Throughout the presentation, Gitlin asked Patriots trivia questions in between videos detailing specific Patriots Hall of Famers, such as Gino Cappelletti, John Hannah, Steve Grogan and Drew Bledsoe.
Another video showed the Patriots’ 1976 wild card loss against the Oakland Raiders, after Ray Hamilton received a controversial roughing the passer call. Instead of an incompletion on third down, the call put the Raiders in Patriots territory and led them to score the game winning touchdown. The Raiders ended up winning the 1977 Super Bowl and the Patriots didn’t get another shot until 1985.
Other videos featured Bledsoe losing his position to Tom Brady after being injured in 2001, Otis Smith’s game winning fumble return in the 1996 AFC Championship, Adam Vinatieri kicking the game winning field goal in the 2004 Super Bowl and Brady’s comeback win against the Atlanta Falcons in the 2017 Super Bowl.
Gitlin also discussed the injury of Darryl Stingley, a wide reciever for the Patriots. During a preseason game on Aug. 12, 1978, Raiders’ Jack Tatum led a hard hit on Stingley, which broke his fourth and fifth vertebrae. The hit ended Stingley’s career and left him paralysed from the chest down until his death in 2007.
Gitlin said what bothers him more than anything was the aftermath of the hit because Tatum never contacted or apologized directly to Stingley. In a video Gitlin showed, Tatum said, “I’m sorry he got hurt, but I will never apologize for the way I play football.”
The presentation ended with a video of the Patriots’ win against the Denver Broncos on Jan. 25, securing a spot in their first Super Bowl appearance since 2019. After the presentation concluded, Gitlin opened the floor to questions, comments and general sports discussion.
