Former Harvard Star Leo Faces Test with Patriots

This may be the year of the Pats. Boston's pro football team looms so good at this early date, according to halfback Bobby Leo '67, that the former Harvard great is worried about just making the team.

Leo is one of two sophomores who, along with 30 rookies and free agents helped the Patriots open their training camp yesterday at Phillips Academy in Andover. He is now making the switch from flanker to halfback, and feels that the Patriots' new acquisitions have greatly strengthened the club and posed a difficult challenge for him.

In addition, Leo, who is 5'10", 180 pounds, is small for a halfback. Like another little man who has made it big in the AFL, Mike Garret, Leo is counting on his speed, especially to the outside, to win him a place on the roster.

His quickness was on display for Boston fans last fall, when, in one of the only two games he played, Leo, as flanker, caught a pass from quarterback Babe Parilli and streaked through the Buffalo defense for a snappy touchdown. He also showed fine speed in brief appearances on the kickoff and punt return platoons.

Service on active duty with a National Guard unit kept him away from training camp with the Pats last summer, and Leo spent much of the fall on the taxi squad learning the plays and techniques he had missed. The two games he got into at the end of last season aside, he now sees himself as a rookie at Andover facing the weekly anxiety of cuts, and looking forward to the start of scrimmages July 30.