By Nathan Hardin
nhardin@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — Joseph Cataldo knows what it’s like to cheer for the losing team.
Growing up just miles from Foxboro Stadium (now Gillette Stadium), Cataldo and his three brothers bicycled to watch the then-mediocre New England Patriots play.
“We would chain our bikes to the fence,” Cataldo said. “At halftime they would open the gates up and let people in.”
The Patriots didn’t start becoming consistently competitive until Cataldo moved to Salisbury in 1994, which happened to coincide with Robert Kraft’s purchase of the team that year and consequent drastic changes within the team organization.
Sunday evening, the Patriots will play for the fourth championship in franchise history — all under Kraft’s ownership.
Cataldo, owner of Cooper’s at 122 E. Fisher St., spoke Friday about growing up in Wrentham, a small town that at the time had about 3,000 residents and was about 5 miles from Foxborough, Mass.
Before the stadium was built in 1971, Cataldo said, the area was made up of small towns thriving on the success of Boston’s sports teams.
“It was actually a quiet little town when they built that stadium,” he said. “They were still in obscurity really, because they never did very well.”
After winning three Super Bowl titles in a decade, Foxborough is now a booming sports epicenter.
Cataldo said his father took him to the original stadium when they were building it.
He and his brothers also went to school with several football players’ kids.
“A lot of the players lived in our neighborhood,” he said. “A lot of their kids went to our school at the time.”
Years later, after winning their first Super Bowl in 2001, the team bulldozed Schaefer Stadium and built Gillette Stadium in a nearby parking lot.
But not to the dismay of fans.
Fans celebrated in 2001 after the stadium, which was widely believed to be one of the worst in the league, was demolished, Cataldo said.
“The old Schaefer Stadium had metal bench seats and it was open on each end zone, and it used to be very, very cold during some of those games.”
Cataldo moved in 1994 to help a friend start a restaurant.
He said he’ll be recalling some of those childhood memories Sunday while watching the Pats play.
“I’ll be watching, but I don’t know if I’m going to watch it at home or a friend’s house, but I’ll definitely be watching,” he said.
“It’s great to see them be successful and to be at the top of the league all the time.”