The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The Patriots play home games at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, which is 22 miles (35 km) southwest of Boston. The franchise is owned by Robert Kraft, who purchased the team in 1994. As of 2023, the Patriots are tied for the third most valuable sports team in the world and have sold out every home game since 1994.
Troy Fitzgerald Brown is an American football coach and former player who was most recently the wide receivers and kick returners coach for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He played as a wide receiver and return specialist for 15 seasons in the NFL, spending his entire career with the Patriots. Brown played college football at Marshall University and was selected by the Patriots in the eighth round of the 1993 NFL Draft. During his New England tenure, he was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2001 and was a member of the franchise's first three Super Bowl-winning teams. In 2020, Brown rejoined the Patriots as an offensive assistant. He was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2010. Brown also was inducted to the Patriots Hall of Fame in 2012.
Joseph Michael Bellino was an American football halfback who played in the American Football League (AFL) for the Boston Patriots. He played college football for the Navy Midshipmen, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1960. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1977.
Tajuan Edward "Ty" Law is a former American football cornerback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the New England Patriots. He played college football for the Michigan Wolverines and was selected by the Patriots in the first round of the 1995 NFL Draft. During his 10 seasons in New England, he received four Pro Bowl selections and two first-team All-Pro honors. A three-time Super Bowl winner with the Patriots, Law also holds the franchise record for interceptions. Law spent his final five seasons as a member of the New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs, and Denver Broncos, earning a fifth Pro Bowl selection with the Jets. Ranking 24th in NFL career interceptions, he twice led the league in interceptions during the 1998 and 2005 seasons. He was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2019.
Drew McQueen Bledsoe is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons, primarily with the New England Patriots. He played college football at Washington State University, where he won Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year as a junior, and was selected by the Patriots first overall in the 1993 NFL Draft. Considered the face of the Patriots franchise during his nine seasons with the team, Bledsoe helped improve New England's fortunes from 1993 to 2001. Under Bledsoe, the Patriots ended a seven-year postseason drought, qualified for the playoffs four times, clinched their division twice, and made a Super Bowl appearance in Super Bowl XXXI. He was also named to three Pro Bowls and became the youngest quarterback to play in the NFL's Pro Bowl game in 1995.
Gilbert A. Santos was an American radio play-by-play announcer based in the Boston area. He called games for the New England Patriots of the National Football League and the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association, served as the morning sports reporter for WBZ radio in Boston. He was an inductee of the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
Andre Darnell Reed is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills. He played college football at Kutztown and was selected by the Bills in the fourth round of the 1985 NFL Draft with the 86th overall selection. Following 15 seasons with the Bills, where he earned Pro Bowl honors seven times, Reed spent his final season as a member of the Washington Redskins in 2000.
Daniel Koppen is an American former professional football player who was a center for 10 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos.
Theodore Washington Jr. is an American former professional football player who was a nose tackle in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Louisville Cardinals and was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the first round of the 1991 NFL Draft. He also played for the Denver Broncos, Buffalo Bills, Chicago Bears, New England Patriots, Oakland Raiders, and Cleveland Browns before retiring after the 2007 season. Washington was selected to four Pro Bowls in his career and with the Patriots, he won Super Bowl XXXVIII over the Carolina Panthers. At 6'5" and more than 375 pounds in his prime, he was described as "the prototypical [3-4] nose tackle of this era." His gargantuan frame earned him nicknames like "Mt. Washington" or "Washington Monument". Also notable for his longevity, Washington was a starting nose tackle, one of the most physically demanding positions in football, until the age of 39.
Walter George Patulski is a former American football defensive end at the University of Notre Dame and the National Football League (NFL).
Van Miller was an American radio and television sports announcer from Dunkirk, New York, where he began his career at Dunkirk radio station WFCB calling play-by-play for high school football games. In the 1950s, he moved to Buffalo where he became the chief play-by-play announcer for the Buffalo Bills Radio Network, the official radio broadcasting arm of the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League from the team's inception as an AFL team in 1960 to 1971, and again from 1977 to 2003. At the time of his retirement in 2003, Miller was the longest-tenured commentator with one team in pro football history.
Frederic Charles Smerlas is an American former professional football player who was a nose tackle for 14 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). A five-time Pro Bowl selection with the Buffalo Bills, he also played for the San Francisco 49ers and New England Patriots.
Chris Palmer is an American former football coach and college athletics administrator. Palmer served as the head coach for Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) from 1999 to 2000 and in the same capacity with the Hartford Colonials of the United Football League (UFL) in 2010. He was the head football coach at the University of New Haven from 1986 to 1987 and at Boston University from 1988 to 1989. Palmer has also served as an assistant coach with the Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, New England Patriots, New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers, Houston Oilers, Tennessee Titans and the Buffalo Bills of the NFL. He later returned to the University of New Haven and served as the athletic director from 2018 to 2019.
The 1961 National Football League Draft took place at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia on December 27–28, 1960. The league would later hold an expansion draft for the Minnesota Vikings expansion franchise. This draft was also the first regular draft for the Dallas Cowboys as they had only participated in the 1960 NFL expansion draft that year.
The 1960 National Football League Draft in which NFL teams take turns selecting amateur college American football players and other first-time eligible players, was held at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia on November 30, 1959. Many players, including half of those drafted in the first round, signed with teams in the newly created American Football League, including the first overall pick and Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon. At the time of the draft, the Cardinals were still the Chicago Cardinals; they moved to St. Louis in March 1960. The Dallas Cowboys were enfranchised in January 1960 after the draft.
Ronald "Jingle Joints" Sellers is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Florida State Seminoles, twice earning All-American honors. Despite being limited to a total of 30 games of regular season eligibility, Sellers still holds Florida State career record for most 200-yard receiving games. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1988. He played pro ball for the AFL's Boston Patriots in 1969, when he was an AFL All-Star, then for the NFL's Patriots, Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins.
Matthew Wilson Slater is an American former football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons with the New England Patriots. A special teams player for most of his career, he is considered one of the greatest gunners of all time.
Edgar Thomas Chandler, Jr. was an American football player who played linebacker professionally for six seasons for the Buffalo Bills in the American Football League (AFL) and the National Football League (NFL), and for the NFL's New England Patriots. Chandler was a two-time All-American at the University of Georgia, in 1966 and 1967.
The Boston University Terriers football team was the American football team for Boston University located in Boston, Massachusetts. The school's first football team was fielded in 1884, and the program was discontinued in 1997. The Terriers football team compiled an all-time record of 323–390–34. The team competed in NCAA Division I-AA from its formation in 1978, as members of the Yankee Conference and later the Atlantic 10 Conference.