Parris Island- 1978 Patriots Training Camp

A patron visits Charlie’s Diner 218 Union St, West Springfield, Ma. looking for directions to Wilbraham Ave. Restaurateur, Jeff O’ Connor gives New England Patriots Head Coach and General Manager Chuck Fairbanks, written instructions on July 11, 1978.

West Springfield didn’t look anything like Norman, Oklahoma. It was the first trip for Chuck to visit his aunt in nearly 20 years. Coaching stops at Arizona State, University of Houston and the University of Oklahoma had occupied his time between visits. Training camp was about to start in a few days at Bryant College in Smithfield, RI. He hoped that Aunt Margaret would be home to see him.

After the pleasantries and the family history lecture, Chuck had fulfilled his mother’s wishes to visit her sister. As he got up to leave, Margaret’s oldest boy, Mike Hall strolled into the living room. He shook hands with the Head Coach, and after some small talk, asked Chuck if he could try out for the Patriots. Mike’s mission was not to make the team. He just wanted to go through training camp like the boot camp he had participated in at Camp Lejeune for the United States Marine Corps. He was 5’ 11” 180 lbs., 22 years old and claimed to run the 100 yard dash in 9.6 seconds. He wanted to work primarily with the special teams and wanted to be paid $25.00 per day.

The rules were different back in the 70’s. There were no contracts or union rules for the teams to follow. Most teams had rosters filled with wannabes (sacrificial lambs) needed for tackling drills and scrimmages. Many would only last for the morning scrimmage, and most couldn’t make it past the first day.

Preseason scrimmages were open to the public so the one hour 20 minute ride from West Springfield to Smithfield was no problem. Only the real players wore numbers on their jerseys. QB’s would wear red pullovers so they wouldn’t get tackled or hit, unnecessarily. Those with the yellow jerseys were the ones who had a remote possibility of ever playing football for a paycheck.

Mike would wave to his friends by the chain link fence when they gave the players a break for instructions or water, but he was pretty excited about playing professional football. Mike was aligned with special teams and offensive backs and the coach was Tom Yewcic. Tom was a former QB and punter who had played for the Boston Patriots in the old AFL from 1961-1966. He was there when beans and franks were the team meal at training camp at the National Guard Armory in Concord, MA.

Most of the drills were for punt return or kickoff coverage. These would take place at the end of the afternoon practices. Once Coach Yewcic was satisfied that the players knew their lane assignments and made the tackles, they could hit the showers. Most of the players were dead tired when the Head Coach checked in to see how the teamers were doing. He was a stickler for details, and wanted the players to know all the assignments for all the different drills. His favorite was the Suicide, where the returner was not allowed to make a fair catch.

Extremely tired players who were all on the verge of quitting gave Mike Hall little or no blocking with each return. Following the initial block at the line of scrimmage, the kick coverage team was free to unload on the lone returner. Time and time again, they came downfield and smothered him. Each time, he got up and taunted them. Each night, they had to quit because it got to be too much Mike, and it was late.

The head coach had roster cuts and personnel decisions to make, but he heard the stories. Coach Yewcic would be shaking his head when he met with Chuck. Neither of them had ever encountered a more reckless, dysfunctional nut job in all their years in football. He was worth every dollar.

Little did they know that less than six months from training camp, the real dysfunction would set in when Head Coach and General Manager, Chuck Fairbanks was fired. This was prior to the season finale on Monday night against the Dolphins in Miami. Chuck would be allowed to coach the playoff loss to Houston on New Year’s Eve before departing for the University of Colorado as Head Coach.

It was an extremely warm night when Chuck called his Aunt Margaret to wish her a Happy New Year. She handed the phone to Mike to “say hello to Uncle Chuck.“ Mike wished him well, and told him he still had college eligibility, if he needed a return man. The blizzard of ’78 was finally over.



Paul Murphy is a freelance writer from New Hampshire.

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