On April 4, 1961 the Oakland Raiders traded QB Vito “Babe”
Parilli and FB Billy Lott to the Boston Patriots for FB Alan Miller, HB Dick
Christy, and DT Hal Smith. It was the biggest deal thus far in the year-old
American Football League’s short history.
The Raiders were coming off a 6-8 first season and had
problems at the organizational level with too many owners, which resulted in
front office disarray. Thanks to the intervention of AFL Commissioner Joe Foss,
the ownership situation had been sorted out just prior to swinging the trade
with the Patriots.
Boston was 5-9 in 1960 and had finished at the bottom of
the league in points scored. There was a particular need for depth at quarterback
behind 36-year-old Butch Songin, and Parilli, a month short of his 31st
birthday, looked to be a good fit. While Alan Miller had led the team in
rushing, it was expected that the addition of Lott, a fine blocker who led the
Raiders in receiving, along with returning FB Jim Crawford, hindered by a bout
with pneumonia in ‘60, would be an overall improvement in the backfield.
As for the players obtained by the Raiders, Miller was
expected to start at fullback, Christy was fast and versatile and could return
kicks, and Smith filled a need for quality interior linemen on defense.
Babe Parilli, the key player in the trade, had been a
star at Kentucky, where he was coached by Paul “Bear” Bryant and led the
Wildcats to two bowl victories. A first-round draft choice by the Packers in
1952, he split time with Tobin Rote for two years with uneven results (a
promising rookie year was followed by a season in which he tossed 19
interceptions and only four TDs) and moved on to the Cleveland Browns. He first
went into the military, missing two years before seeing some action in 1956 and
finding it difficult to endure criticism from Head Coach Paul Brown. Traded
back to Green Bay in ’57, he was cut during training camp in 1959. Parilli
played a year with Ottawa in the CFL before joining the Raiders of the new AFL
for 1960. There he split time with talented young Tom Flores, completing 46.5
percent of his passes for 1003 yards and five touchdowns while giving up 11
interceptions.
Parilli started off the ‘61 season backing up Songin, but
after Lou Saban was replaced as head coach by Mike Holovak, the two
quarterbacks were platooned as the team went 7-1-1 on the way to a 9-4-1
overall record. Parilli led the AFL with a completion percentage of 52.5 and
tossed 13 TD passes against 9 interceptions. While not always the most
consistent passer, he had an excellent arm and was a good ball handler who was adept
at play action, which fit well with Holovak’s offense. By 1962 Songin was gone
and Parilli the unquestioned starting quarterback.
The Patriots got off to a 6-2-1 start in 1962 with
Parilli having an even better year until, in a key Eastern Division loss to the
Houston Oilers, he went down for the remainder of the season with a broken
collar bone. With backup Tom Yewcic behind center, Boston ended up once again
at 9-4-1 and in second place. Parilli had a career-high completion percentage
of 55.3 as he threw for 1988 yards and 18 TDs, giving up just 8 interceptions.
The Patriots dipped to 7-6-1 in 1963, but paradoxically they
won the division thanks to a tiebreaking playoff win over Buffalo. Parilli’s
performance was more uneven as his completion percentage fell to 45.4 and his
interception total rose to 24. And while he had a 300-yard passing day in the
Eastern Division playoff win, the Patriots were routed by the Chargers in the
AFL Championship game. Still, he was named to the AFL All-Star Game for the
first time.
Parilli had his finest pro season in 1964 as he led the
AFL with 3465 passing yards and 31 TD passes, although his 27 interceptions
also led the circuit. The Patriots improved to 10-3-1 but failed to catch the
Bills and once again settled into second place. Parilli was a consensus
first-team All-AFL choice and an AFL All-Star once again, but he talked of
retirement before being lured back for another year.
As it turned out, the “Sweet Kentucky Babe” lasted two
more seasons with Boston. Over the course of seven years, Parilli threw for
16,747 yards and 132 touchdowns while being picked off 138 times. The team had
a winning record in his starts and he was an AFL All-Star for a third time in
1966, when the Patriots went 8-4-2. He then spent two years backing up Joe
Namath with the New York Jets and earned a Super Bowl ring following the 1968
season as a result, retiring in ’69.
As to the other player obtained by the Patriots, Billy
Lott led the team in rushing in 1961, gaining 461 yards on an even 100 carries
while catching 32 passes for 333 more yards and scoring a total of 11
touchdowns, but he ran the ball only 43 times over his two remaining seasons
for 112 yards and caught four passes.
Things did not go so well for the Raiders in ‘61, who
were blown out in their first two games of the season by a combined score of
99-0 on the way to a dismal 2-12 record. Alan Miller started at fullback,
proved to be a good blocker, but was more productive as a pass receiver (36
catches, 315 yards) than a ground gainer (85 carries, 255 yards). He played a
total of four seasons with Oakland, rushing for 979 yards, catching 111 passes
for 1186 yards, and scoring 17 TDs.
Dick Christy appeared in one preseason game for the
Raiders before being dealt again, this time to the New York Titans. A
productive all-purpose back, his best year was 1962 when he accumulated 2147
total yards and was an AFL All-Star. Hal Smith appeared in eight games in 1961,
his only season with the Raiders.
All in all, the trade worked out well for the Patriots,
where Babe Parilli was a solid performer for a team that often contended during
his time there, topping the division once. He was so well regarded for his
knowledge and leadership that Mike Holovak held a spot open on his coaching
staff that was reserved for Parilli to fill once he retired. While he never
became an assistant under Holovak, he did become a pro assistant, serving as quarterback
coach for the Steelers and Broncos before holding the same position with the
Patriots in 1981. He was also a head coach in the World Football League and
with several Arena Football League teams.
