Unbeaten Revere High School 1964 Football Team to be honored at September 6 Ceremony
September 3, 2024
REVERE, MA – Revere High School's misfortunate 1964 football team, which was forced to forfeit an unbeaten season due to a roster technicality, will be recognized during a halftime ceremony Friday night at Revere's season-opener against Whittier.
Players from the 1964 team will be on hand for the ceremony, which will feature remarks from Robert Baldwin, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletics Association (MIAA) and Mayor Patrick M. Keefe. Mayor Keefe will unveil a banner honoring the team that thereafter will hang in the Revere High fieldhouse.
The 1964 Patriots sported a 7-0-1 record as they prepared for the annual Thanksgiving Day clash against undefeated Winthrop. The Massachusetts Class B championship was at stake in the holiday tilt.
A week before the game, however, the Massachusetts Secondary Schools Principals Association (Headmasters) launched an investigation into the eligibility of a Revere player. According to a Boston Globe account at the time, Revere halfback Paul Nuell "... a senior, was the victim of a rule misinterpretation by Revere school officials." The Headmasters ruled that Nuell "...had completed his allotted eight semesters of eligibility..." even though illness prevented Nuell from playing football during a repeated sophomore year. Revere officials had believed that since Nuell never practiced or played during that repeat sophomore year because of his illness, it would not count against his eligibility. The Headmasters concluded, however, that during his repeated sophomore year, Nuell did not miss a required 25 or more consecutive days of school, which would have qualified him for an additional year of eligibility.
As a result of the infraction, Revere was forced to forfeit its first eight games, dropping their "official" record to 0-8. (As an aside, Chelsea declined to accept the Revere forfeit).
The ruling destroyed Revere's championship hopes. Heavy rain on Thanksgiving Day pushed the game to Saturday, November 28. In a defensive struggle before over 7000 people at a jam-packed Paul Revere Stadium, Revere scored the game's only touchdown on a last-minute dive by running back Bill Cintolo. A Jim DelGaizo-to-Vic Mancini pass for a two-point conversion accounted for the final 8-0 score. Despite Revere's unbeaten record on the field, no championship was realized.
Revere High and Boston College graduate Brandon Brito, a teacher at Garfield Middle School and assistant coach on this year's team, is completing a full-length film documentary about the 1964 team that will be released in November. Members of the 1964 team will meet current day players before the game and be recognized at halftime Friday night.
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