The grandson of Darryl Stingley will be trying to keep the Patriots from advancing, and other thoughts
Darryl Stingley spent the rest of his days in a wheelchair and died of complications from his quadriplegia at the age of 55 in 2007. His son, Derek, grew up to play three years of minor league baseball in the Phillies system, then five-plus years in the Arena Football League, before settling in Baton Rouge, La., and becoming a football coach.
Derek Jr. was Louisiana’s high school player of the year in 2018, a star at LSU, then the third overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. He’s a two-time All-Pro and the highest-paid cornerback ($90 million over three years) in league history. He was only 5 when his grandfather died.
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When he was a high school senior in 2018, Derek Jr. spoke with the Globe’s Stan Grossfeld about his famous grandfather and said, “l know he’s walking up there, jumping around, probably catching a football or doing something. Just looking down on me saying he’s proud of me and my dad.”
The Stingley name represents an important era in the history of the Patriots.
Long before anyone knew of Bob Kraft, Bill Belichick or Tom Brady, the Sullivan-owned Patriots roamed the earth in cheaply built Schaefer Stadium off Route 1 in Foxborough. Born the Boston Patriots as part of the upstart AFL in 1960, they merged into the NFL in 1970, but were not taken seriously until new coach Chuck Fairbanks arrived from the University of Oklahoma in 1973.
Fairbanks’s first draft yielded future Hall of Famer John Hannah, Sam Cunningham, and Purdue wideout Darryl Stingley. Steve Nelson arrived a year later, then Russ Francis, Steve Grogan, Mike Haynes, Tim Fox, Pete Brock, and Stanley Morgan. By 1976, the Patriots were very good. They beat that season’s Super Bowl champion Raiders, 48-17, during the regular season, then lost a close playoff game in Oakland, primarily because of a bogus roughing-the-passer penalty.
Darryl Stingley was part of it all, catching 14 touchdown passes and running for two more scores in five seasons. In the ’78 exhibition game at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Stingley ran a crossing pattern from the right side over the middle and stretched out for a pass that was too wide and high to be caught.
Coming from the other direction, Raiders safety Tatum delivered a vicious hit with his right shoulder. Stingley dropped to the ground and did not move. There was no flag on the play.
The Globe’s John Powers was in the press box:
“That game was during the Patriots’ renaissance. The Raiders were always looking to intimidate you. All the starters from both teams were in the game. Stingley was having a great camp that year, but on that pass, he was fully outstretched and vulnerable, and he took that shot. The trainer went out and signaled for the doctor. I sat next to that doctor on the team plane ride home and he said they knew right away that Darryl had a broken neck.”
Wide receiver Darryl Stingley played five seasons for the Patriots in the 1970s.Globe file photo Frank O’Brien
Grogan, who threw the ill-fated pass, said, “I don’t think any of us realized how serious it was until we were on the plane getting ready to go back to Boston. When we found out, it was just devastating.”
Raiders coach John Madden was deeply impacted.
“John went to the hospital to see Darryl the night it happened and many nights after,” recalled Lesley Visser, who covered the Patriots for the Globe in 1978, and worked many years with Madden at CBS. “The Madden family gave the Stingley family comfort and resources for decades, although John didn’t want anyone to know. He once told me he thought of Darryl as a surrogate son.”
“It’s fun to see Darryl’s grandson out there playing like this,” says Grogan. “I’ve been following young Derek for a number of years, even when he was back in college.
“Darryl was a fun guy to be around. He always seemed to have a smile on his face. He had a great talent for going and getting the ball when it was thrown to him. I’m a little surprised to see his grandson on the other side of the ball, but they both had great talent.”
In a 2003 photo, three generations of the Stingley family: Derek Jr., Derek Sr., and Darryl.The Boston Globe
In a 1994 interview with the Globe, Darryl Stingley talked about Derek Sr.’s effort to play big league baseball and said, “To know one of my sons attempted a professional career, use the Stingley athletic prowess, I do see pleasure in it … ”
The son of the Patriots receiver didn’t make it to the big time, but the next generation will be representing the family name on the Foxborough field in Sunday’s playoff game.
“I think he [Darryl Stingley] would be ecstatic, over the moon,” Derek Stingley Sr. told the Houston Chronicle after his son became an NFL player. “Just to know that his grandson has carried on the legacy of our name in a sport that basically took his livelihood away. But at the same time, something that he truly loved and cared about.”
⋅ Quiz: Since 2000, the NFL’s MVP award has been won by quarterbacks 21 times and running backs four times. Name the four running backs; 2. Name four 20th century Heisman Trophy winners who went on to be inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in this century (answers below).
⋅ This space took Jaylen Brown to task last weekend, and I was feeling a little guilty about it until I read Brown’s latest nonsense regarding NBA officials and his notion that there might be a conspiracy against the Celtics.
Brown is being preposterous. Again. First he complained about not being NBA “Player of the Month,” an award that would be best cited if Bill Chisholm drove around with a bumper sticker on his car that read, “My highest-paid player made the honor roll and was NBA Player of the Month!” Brown compounded that silliness, insisting that he’s the best two-way player in the NBA when he failed to crack top five in fan All-Star voting. Then came this bon mot about NBA officials. “I’m tired of the inconsistency. I thought it was some [expletive] tonight,” Brown said after the Celtics were beaten at home by the Spurs. He invited the league to fine him (the NBA slapped JB with a $35,000 penalty) and brought up the possibility of a conspiracy. Brown doesn’t like the foul disparity that routinely marks Celtics games. Maybe it’s got something to do with the fact that the Celtics are always playing 25 feet from the basket, launching their 42.6 3-pointers per game. That style is generally not rewarded with free throws.
Coach Joe Mazzulla got in on the act when the Celtics were beaten by the Pacers Monday, saying, “Illegal screen,” six times in a one-minute postgame news conference. It was a reference to the Pacers’ final offensive possession, which resulted in a winning shot by Pascal Siakam.
The NBA’s official report validated Mazzulla. It was an illegal screen. Red Auerbach would love all this. The Green Godfather always believed there was a league-wide conspiracy against the Celtics.
⋅ Eleven months after having two highly paid, All-Star-caliber third basemen, the Red Sox have no third baseman and all they have to show for Alex Bregman and Rafael Devers is payroll relief, Kyle Harrison, and Jordan Hicks. That’s Management Malpractice 101. The good news is that four days after the Bregman debacle, one day before 2026 tickets went on sale, the Sox backed away from their maniacal quest for payroll flexibility, agreeing with Phillies lefthander Ranger Suarez on a five-year, $130 million deal. Love it. This represents an excellent reversal from Boston’s allergic reaction to multiyear contracts. Prior to the acquisition of Suarez, the Sox (still top five in ticket prices) ranked 23rd in percentage of revenue that goes toward player payroll. That put them behind the Twins, Rockies, Athletics, and Nationals, but still slightly ahead of the Guardians, Pirates, and the vaunted Tampa Bay Rays. Now the Red Sox have “too many” starters. Bet that won’t be the case in August.
⋅ Brooming Justice Dept.: Stefon Diggs got a timely delay for his arraignment in his felony strangulation case. Diggs had been slated for arraignment in Dedham District Court Jan. 23, but his lawyer successfully petitioned for a delay, which moves the case to Feb. 13, five days after the Super Bowl. Meanwhile, the defense says Diggs is attempting to come to a “financial resolution” with his accuser. Ah, yes … the Patriot Way.
⋅ Cry me a river: Was it really necessary for Kraft to mention the financial hit he took when he fired Jerod Mayo? Kraft went on a podcast with David Andrews and Brian Hoyer this past week, noted that one of the hardest decisions he had to make was firing Mayo after only one year, then added, “By the way, it was very expensive, because there was not only his contract, but 25 other coaches. It’s the worst financial implications since we’ve owned the team.” Seriously? Given all the tremendous benefits the team has reaped from replacing Mayo with Mike Vrabel, this is Kraft’s takeaway? Somehow I feel that most of that lost money has been recovered by this season’s success.
⋅ Patriots rookie kicker Andy Borregales is thinking of going back to Miami for Monday night’s national championship game between the Hurricanes and undefeated Indiana. Borregales was the Hurricanes’ kicker before he was drafted by the Patriots in the spring of 2025.
⋅ Speaking of the Hoosiers, pardon me if I don’t get all warm and fuzzy about the Indiana-Miami matchup. Fact is, both squads are loaded with fifth- and sixth-year seniors, and the average age of their players is between 22-23. Indiana’s Heisman-winning quarterback, Fernando Mendoza, turns 23 this year. That’s the same age as Patriots starter Drake Maye. Overall, the Hoosiers are almost as old as the 2025 Green Bay Packers, who were the NFL’s youngest team this season, averaging 25 years per man. Indiana’s coach, Curt Cignetti, has figured out what Rick Pitino figured out when the transfer portal came to NCAA basketball: Get old guys. It’ll be boys vs. men. Put 23-year-old men on the field against 18-year-old true freshmen and you’ll win just about every game. At St. John’s, Pitino’s got what amounts to an NBA G-League team playing against college freshmen. Monday’s Indiana-Miami “college” championship is really just a minor league football game.
Fernando Mendoza and Indiana face Miami in Monday night’s national championship game.Brynn Anderson/Associated Press
⋅ Indiana’s spot in the big game brings back memories for Chelsea legend Bob Fee, who played three seasons (offensive and defensive line, plus fullback) for the Hoosiers from 1954-56, then went on to coach football and track at Chelsea High after he was selected by the Chicago Cardinals in the 14th round of the NFL Draft in 1957.
⋅ Former Holy Cross wide receiver Jalen Coker was one of Carolina’s best players last Saturday, catching nine passes for 134 yards and a touchdown in the Panthers’ wild-card playoff loss to the Rams.
Former Holy Cross star Jalen Coker had nine receptions for 134 yards and a touchdown in the Panthers’ wild-card loss to the Rams.Rusty Jones/Associated Press
⋅ Welcome home this weekend to Boston University grad and former UMass play-by-play radio caller Marc Vandermeer, who is now voice of the Texans.
⋅ Former WBZ-TV sports reporter and 1976 United States Olympic figure skater Alice Cook — who has been living with ALS for two years — was in St. Louis for the US figure skating championships last weekend and joined Olympic teammates Dorothy Hamill and Tai Babilonia at a reunion of the team that competed in Innsbruck 50 years ago.
Dorothy Hamill, Alice Cook, and Tai Babilonia — all members of the 1976 US Olympic figure skating team — reunited at the US figure skating championships in St. Louis.Courtesy/Alice Cook
⋅ Quiz answers: 1. Marshall Faulk, Rams (2000), Shaun Alexander, Seahawks (’05), LaDainian Tomlinson, Chargers (’06), Adrian Peterson, Vikings (’12); 2. Marcus Allen, Barry Sanders, Tim Brown, Charles Woodson.
Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @dan_shaughnessy.
