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February 4, 2008
ANDOVER — When the Super Bowl XLII gets underway on Sunday, Feb. 3, the Phillips Academy community will be watching the action on both sides of the ball with special interest. It’s not just about famous alumnus Bill Belichick ’71, the brainy mastermind who coaches the New England Patriots, or his PA teammate and longtime strategist Ernie Adams ’71, who has been Belichick’s close friend for 33 years.
This time the boys from Big Blue will be up against one of their own, a rookie for the New York Giants who has made it to the game of games in his first season in the pros. Zak DeOssie ’03, a North Andover native and four-year PA quarterback, was drafted last spring right out of Brown by the team his father Steve played for in the early 1990s. Like his father, the 252-pound, 6-foot 6-inch DeOssie plays on the Giants' special teams and serves as a long snapper for punts. Ironically, during college, DeOssie also had a chance to work as a ballboy for New England Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady.
Belichick and Adams played offensive line together at Andover, with Belichick at center. Adams, who's known as a brilliant strategist, talked his way into a job with the Patriots after graduating from Northwestern, and then four years later wound up at the New York Giants. There he reunited with Belichick, a graduate of Wesleyan, and the two have been working together ever since. In 2000, after several other stops in the NFL, the two friends joined the Patriots.
If you know other members of the Andover family with Super Bowl connections, please let us know. And, whatever side you’re on, enjoy the game!
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