FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Forty-six years ago today, the Boston Patriots officially became the New England Patriots.

Not a bad day for a history lesson of sorts.

“It was mixed. Some people thought it was a good deal, and then others thought we were the Boston Patriots and that should be it,” recalled Gino Cappelletti, who played for the franchise from 1960-70 and is in the team’s Hall of Fame. “I’d say those who preferred Boston probably won out over those who wanted New England.”

Now 82, Cappelletti fondly remembered how the team’s new name came about in the year home games were moved to the new Schaefer Stadium in Foxborough. The team previously had played at Boston University (1960-62), Fenway Park (1963-68), Boston College’s Alumni Stadium (1969) and Harvard Stadium (1970).

Prior to retiring in 1971, Cappelletti scored the first points for the newly named New England Patriots at Schaefer Stadium, a 36-yard field goal in an August exhibition victory over the New York Giants.

As for why the Patriots changed their name, a Boston Globe story from March 23, 1971, written by Will McDonough provided the details. The story had the following headline: “Name now official -- It’s N.E. Patriots.”

“The feeling now is that the Patriots are representing all New England, not just the city of Boston, not just the state of Massachusetts,” owner Billy Sullivan said in the Globe piece.

The Patriots’ board of directors had decided on Feb. 18 of that year they wanted to change the name. According to McDonough's story, the impetus for the change was Boston's reluctance to build a stadium while the franchise was fighting for its existence in the 1960s.

Initially, the Bay State Patriots was the choice of some involved in the process. But according to McDonough, NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle didn’t like that name, and felt if there was going to be a change, the name should be reflective of the entire New England region.

“There were a lot of things about the name Bay State Patriots that the owners throughout the league found unacceptable,” Sullivan said in the Globe piece. “We didn’t need their permission to change the name. We could take any name we wanted. But we had to change the bylaws of the league to read New England Patriots and we needed their permission to do that.”

So they officially became the New England Patriots, with Sullivan saying in the Globe piece, “We are on our way to having one of the great franchises in pro football.”