Tag Archives: New England Patriots

AFL, College Football HoF, NFL

MacPherson, Dick (1930-2017)

Card: ProSet 1991
Acquired: TTM 1992, Patriots Blitz

Syracuse Orangeman coaching legend Dick MacPherson was hired to fix the woeful Patriots. (Somebody had to do it.) He’d field a surprisingly competitive team in 1991 but the team would regress in 1992 and he’d be fired at season’s end after an 8-24 record. Fear not though, this is when Patriots’ lore gets good as the next coach hired was Bill Parcells.

Coach MacPherson though should be remembered though, rightfully so, for his work at the college level, which started way back in 1958 with the University of Illinois. He’d make stops at the University of Massachusetts, Cincinnati, and Maryland before going to the pros as an assistant with the Denver Broncos of the AFL from 1967-1970. He’d return to coach at Massachusetts from 1971-1977, then off to the Browns for the next 3 seasons to coach linebackers.

In 1980 Dickey Mac would make his mark taking over for the Orangemen at Syracuse turning the college sports program around. He’d coach there for the next 10 years before 2 final years with the Patriots, and retire. His cumulative college record was 111-73-5. MacPherson was inducted into the CFHoF in 2009 and he provides commentary on the Syracuse Orangemen radio network.

EPITAPH:

8/8/2017- Dick MacPherson passed away at the age of 86, surrounded by friends and family in Syracuse, NY.

NFL, ufl

Zolak, Scott

Card: StarPics 1991
Acquired: TTM 1993, Patriots Blitz

Scott Zolak is another in a long line of fine Maryland Terps quarterbacks. The school has an absolute knack for locating and putting the best talent on the field at that position. Neil O’Donnell, Stan Gelbaugh, Boomer Esiason, Frank Reich, Shaun Hill, and Mike Tice, are among some of the names over the last 30 years who have played at the pro level in some capacity after graduating from the school. Zolak was no exception. In the 4th round of the 1991 draft, the New England Patriots rolled the dice on the young quarterback while they injected new blood into the aging position. He didn’t take the field that year at all, sitting at #3 behind Hugh Millen and Tom Hodson, but 1992 would prove to be a different story and thus he’d enter into New England lore forever for his actions. After Millen went down and Hodson was inneffective, Zolak would lead the winless team on a two game winning streak- playing respectably in 3 contests before Millen returned to finish out the season. In 1993, Drew Bledsoe would be drafted and another purge would happen at quarterback. Zolak, would survive the purge and remain on the team’s roster through 1998 playing sparingly and slowly moved up the depth chart to #2 behind Bledsoe. He’d also be on the roster through three coaching regimes (Dick MacPherson, Bill Parcells, and the shortlived Pete Carroll era), seeing life on the Patriots from an interesting perspective.

Zolak after 1998 would bounce around. He’d be cut out of Jets training camp and head over to the Dolphins for two unremarkable seasons and then try out for the Detroit Lions, but later opted instead to go up to the booth to become a color commentator. Scott has embraced his life as a sports personality head on and continues to do radio commentary for games and was recently picked up by the fledgling United Football League to do color commentary on the New England Sports Network for the Hartford Colonials games.

G/Gs  55/7   Att 248  Comp 124    Yds 1314   Pct 50%   Td 8    Int 7      Rat   64.8

Arena, NFL, XFL

Sabb, Dwayne “Big Saab”

Card: StarPics 1992
Acquired: Patriots Blitz 1993

Drafted out of tiny New Hampshire in the 5th round of the 1992 draft by the New England Patriots to play linebacker, Dwayne Sabb has had quite an interesting and lively career. He’d play for the Patriots initially through the 1996 season. A good backup for the team, he’d start 24 games over 5 seasons making 7 sacks, 3 picks, 92 tackles and 3 fumbles. After he left New England he’d sign with the Chargers for the 1997 season, but not make the squad. In 1998 he signed with Buffalo and had the same result.

Sabb would sit out a few seasons until the XFL arrived. He’d sign with the New York/New Jersey Hitmen in 2001 and would be one of the league’s leaders in sacks before it folded at the end of the season. He’d finish the season with 26 tackles and 4 sacks for the team. Dwayne afterwards would spend the remainder of his career in the Arena leagues playing fullback and linebacker for the New Jersey Gladiators in 2001 and 2002. After a moderately successful time there, he’d play one season for the Buffalo Destroyers (2003) and Philadelphia Soul in 2004 before retiring.