For one game only, and the first in a decade, the Patriots will revive their original Pat Patriot uniforms featuring the iconic colonial man cartoon drawn by Rockport’s own Phil Bissell.
Bissell tells the story of how Pat Patriot came to be in his book, “PATSPA!: 65 Years of Cartoons, Caricatures & Creating a Football Icon,” saying the stories are murky concerning how the late Billy Sullivan, the team owner, came up with team name. But The Boston Globe asked Bissell to create a cartoon, which ran on the front page the next day.
“I drew him and I named him and then he was stolen from me by Jerry Nason,” Bissell told Times reporter Sean Horgan in December 2014, referring to then-Globe Sports Editor Jerry Nason. “I sat down and within 45 minutes it was ready to go to press.”
The Gloucester Daily Times talks to sports cartoonist Phil Bissell about the return of Pat Patriot to the New England Patriots uniform for their October 9, 2022 (tomorrow) NFL game against the Detroit Lions.
Theatrical and editorial sports cartoonist, Christian Science Monitor, 1949-1953; sports cartoonist, Boston Globe, 1953-1965; sports and editorial cartoonist, Worcester Telegram and Evening Gazette, 1967-1975; sports cartoonist, Boston Herald, 1975-1977; editorial cartoonist, Lowell (Massachusetts) Sun, 1980-1987; illustrator, cartoonist, Cartoon Corner Syndicate, Rockport, Massachusetts, since 1987. Consultant District of Columbia Graphics, Lexington, Massachusetts, since 1987. Originator football helmet logo New England Patriots, 1960.
This also gives us the opportunity to belatedly add Phil to our Senior Strippers list!
