I last saw ex-Patriot Mosi Tatupu at the Joe Morgan Walpole High Scholarship Fund golf touranment at Walpole Country Club last October.
Apparently, he saw my name on the “Long Drive” sheet — our group was second group to get to long drive hole — and he asked me where I hit it.
When I told him, he said, “Oh, mine was farther. I was just checking.”
Mosi passed away yesterday at 54 at Old Colony Hospital on the South Shore. He was not a good guy. He was a great guy.
Everywhere you saw this guy, whether you knew him or not, he was smiling. If you wanted an autograph … anybody … he signed it for you.
As a player? Fahgettaboudit!
He was the best. Not the best player, just the best teammate.
Just to let you know how my family felt about him. We named our only dog, “Mosi.”
Here are four comments from ex-Pats stars on their fallen former co-hort:
Patriots and Pro Football Hall of Fame LB Andre Tippett:“You probably couldn’t ask for a better teammate than Mosi. It was the way he approached the game. He worked hard. He practiced hard. He had a way about him. He always had an upbeat attitude, he was happy all the time and just pleasant to be around. He had a special connection with the fans and his teammates. Everybody loved him.”
Patriots Hall of Fame QB Steve Grogan:“As a teammate, he was one of the best. He was one of those guys that made life fun whether it was in the locker room or on the practice fields. He had a smile that radiated. The fans appreciated him because he was a lunchpail kind of guy and did whatever was asked of him — whether it was on special teams, on the goal line, in blocking or catching situations. I think Patriots fans really appreciated that.”
Patriots Hall of Fame WR Stanley Morgan:“There was only one Mosi. I first met Mosi the year after I came to the Patriots, when he got here in 1978 and it was love at first sight I guess you could say. He got along great with everybody. He had that air about him that you were comfortable around him all the time and nobody was a stranger around him. People were attracted to that.”
Patriots 1980s All-Decade C Peter Brock:
“The thing about Mosi was that he did everything. He wasn’t the glamour guy out in front, getting all the carries, he just played football and he played hard. A lot of people remember the ‘Snow Plow Game’ and, of course, John Smith’s kick won it, but it was Mosi, who ran for more than 100 yards that day, that really won that game. It’s really a shock and it’s so much tougher because we played before the era of free agency, so you really got to know everybody. We were a community. We raised our children together. Because of that it’s just like losing a family member.”
