Andrew P. Puopolo was a

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and the victim in one of the most highly publicized

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

murder cases of the 1970s.

Early life

Puopolo grew up in the

Jamaica Plain Jamaica Plain is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood of in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Settled by Puritans seeking farmland to the south, it was originally part of Roxbury, Massachusetts, Roxbury. The community seceded from Roxbur ...

section of

and graduated from the prestigious

Boston Latin School The Boston Latin School is a Magnet school, magnet Latin schools, Latin Grammar schools, grammar State school, state school in Boston, Massachusetts. It has been in continuous operation since it was established on April 23, 1635. It is the old ...

before enrolling at Harvard. A senior and the starting

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

for the

Crimson Crimson is a rich, deep red color, inclining to purple. It originally meant the color of the kermes dye produced from a scale insect, '' Kermes vermilio'', but the name is now sometimes also used as a generic term for slightly bluish-red col ...

during the 1976 season, he was scheduled to graduate the following spring with a degree in biology. He was planning to attend medical school.

Murder

On Tuesday November 15, 1976, Puopolo and a group of his Harvard Crimson teammates spent the evening out. During the early morning hours of November 16, Puopolo's teammate Charlie Kaye was approached by a

prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...

while he was sitting in a van. Reaching into the van, the prostitute distracted Kaye by fondling him and then stole his wallet. As the prostitute ran away, Puopolo pursued her. Three men came to the aid of the woman, and in the ensuing altercation one of the men stabbed Puopolo. Deprived of oxygen as a result of his injuries, Puopolo suffered extensive

brain damage Brain injury (BI) is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. Brain injuries occur due to a wide range of internal and external factors. In general, brain damage refers to significant, undiscriminating trauma-induced damage. A common ...

. He remained in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

for 31 days before suffering a fatal

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

on December 17, 1976. He died while still attached to the respirator that had been keeping him alive.

Trial

The three men convicted of Puopolo's murder were all black and appealed their first degree murder convictions in part on a claim that the prosecution used peremptory challenges to exclude blacks from the jury. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court remanded the case for new trial after finding that eleven of twelve deliberating jurors were white. Two of the three men were found not guilty on their retrial, with the third being sentenced to twenty years for manslaughter. One man found innocent in the aforementioned trial, has sued the now defunct Boston Underground News for libel, after having been denied employment at an unnamed local convenience store, supposedly due to false allegations published by the defendant. The case was eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

Aftermath

Scholarships at both Boston Latin and Harvard as well as an athletic field in Boston's North End are all named in memory of Andrew Puopolo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Puopolo, Andrew 1976 deaths Players of American football from Boston American football cornerbacks American people of Italian descent Harvard Crimson football players Deaths by stabbing in Massachusetts People murdered in Massachusetts People from Jamaica Plain Boston Latin School alumni People murdered in 1976

Early life

Murder

Trial

Aftermath

See also

References