Gino Cappelletti

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Cappelletti was born in Keewatin in northern Minnesota, on March 26, 1934. He attended Keewatin High School in his hometown, and was employed on the railroad and in iron ore mines during his teenaged years, also dating Patricia Morris. He went on to play college football at the University of Minnesota, where he was a quarterback, backing up All-American Paul Giel. 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. Cappelletti played quarterback for the Sarnia Imperials of the Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) in Canada during 1955. He joined Toronto Balmy Beach in 1956, but was drafted into the U.S. Army in midseason, returning to Canada in 1958. Cappelletti signed with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League, but was traded to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, was later cut, and went back to the ORFU, leading the Sarnia Golden Bears to the league championship. He 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. With the launch of the AFL in 1960, he joined the Boston Patriots and was initially a kicker and defensive back. 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, led the league in scoring five times, and was a five-time AFL All-Star. One of 20 AFL players active during the entirety of the league's 10-year existence, Cappelletti, George Blanda, and Jim Otto were the only players who played in every one of his team's AFL games. 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 th

In Their Own Story

On December 18, 1965, Cappelletti set an AFL single-game scoring record that still stands. That year, he won the league MVP, scoring 155 points in a 14-game season—one of the top-five scoring seasons in professional football history. His 1961 season saw him score 147 points. Cappelletti's unique skill set allowed him to do things no other player could match in a single season: he ran for a two-point conversion, threw for one, caught a pass, intercepted a pass, returned a punt, and returned a kickoff. He was also the second AFL player to record three interceptions in a regular-season game (off Tom Flores). Playing at Fenway Park from 1963 to 1968, the team shared the sideline along the left field wall with the visiting squad. Cappelletti recalled a game against the Kansas City Chiefs where coach Hank Stram called for screen passes, and he yelled across the shared sideline to his defense about what was coming.

Reader's Guide

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). The Santos–Cappelletti duo lasted 28 seasons, the longest radio tandem in modern NFL history. They called 585 regular-season and postseason games together, including six Super Bowls. 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.

Did You Know?

• 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.
• He kicked six field goals without a miss in a 39–10 win at Denver on October 4, 1964.
• Cappelletti was the AFL's all-time leading scorer with 1,130 points.
• He was the second AFL player to record three interceptions in a regular-season game, off Tom Flores.