by the Patriots Daily Staff

The 2009 season will mark the 50th anniversary of the American Football League, and the NFL will pay tribute to the pioneering league by featuring 11 “Legacy Games” between the eight original AFL teams.

The Patriots will participate in four of those contests, including a Monday Night Football opener with the Buffalo Bills on September 14, an October 11 visit with Broncos in Denver, an October 18 home game against Tennessee (playing the part of the Houston Oilers), and a December 6 road game in Miami.

For those occasions, the Patriots will roll out brand new throwback uniforms that replicate those worn by the team’s 1963 AFL Eastern Division champions.

It should be great fun for those fans that first followed the team in the wide-open AFL, before it merged with the NFL in 1970.

With that in mind, we’ve been Googling the web for artifacts of the 1960’s Patriots. You might get a kick out of the following:

A 1959 story from the old Boston Daily Record about founder Billy Sullivan’s efforts to bring professional football to Boston.

A 1960 pull out supplement from the same paper, officially welcoming the Boston Patriots to the city as they prepared to play their first AFL game.

A long You Tube video of the 1963 AFC championship game. This might be a bit like watching a replay of Super Bowl XX, but in forty-plus years as a fan, I don’t think I’ve ever seen more than a few seconds of this tape.

A 1965 Sports Illustrated story on the Patriots as they challenge for another Eastern Division title.

The Patriots’ 1965 media guide.

A 1966 Sports Illustrated story on the Patriots as they look to rebound from an injury-plagued 1965 season.

The Patriots’ 1967 media guide.

A nice fan tribute to the Pats’ top players of the 60’s.

A fun database of Patriots football cards from the 60’s.

Another You Tube video – this one looks at the entire 50 year history of the team, but there’s some excellent early clips of the old Boston Patriots.

Finally, here’s a couple of Uni Watch links on those much-anticipated throwbacks – the origins of the team’s original tri-cornered hat logo, and the birth of the much beloved Pat Patriot.

If you’re aware of other such artifacts of the Patriots past, by all means, let us know about them in the comments section below.