From 11 years ago, “Mosi was one of the good guys.”

I wrote the following column 11 years ago today, upon learning of the untimely death of former Patriots’ fullback and former King Philip Regional High football coach Mosi Tatupu. Rather than having you read my ramblings, I went instead to the best possible source of information — Steve Grogan, the tough-as-nails quarterback who played alongside Tatupu for so many years.

I’m still proud of this work so many years later — thus I offer it to you here.

Mosi Tatupu in uniform.

The phone had been ringing off the hook in Steve Grogan's office at his Mansfield sporting goods store Wednesday morning.

"Unfortunately," the former quarterback of the New England Patriots said, "we've reached that point in our lives where, when the phone rings, more often than not it's going to be bad news."

Grogan, like most of Patriot Nation, was shocked and deeply saddened Wednesday to learn of the death of his former teammate, Mosi Tatupu. Grogan said he was home, dressing for a day at work, when he saw Tatupu's face flash across the television screen, "and I wondered, 'What's he on TV for.'"

Tatupu died Tuesday at Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro, but the news of his passing first came out of his home state of Hawaii. He was raised there and became one of its greatest high school football players before beginning an odyssey that would make him one of the most beloved sports figures in New England.

A personal friend of the family told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin that Tatupu, 54, had "health issues" recently, including high blood pressure - something that few of his former teammates knew.

"I don't think anyone did," Grogan said. "I was trying to remember when the last I saw him was it was in the fall, or around Christmas-time, and he had been going back and forth between here and Seattle to be with Lofa (Tatupu's son, a starting inside linebacker with the Seattle Seahawks).

"I can't tell you how many alumni basketball games or other events that I've been to with Mosi over the years," Grogan said. "He was a fun guy to be around, a great guy. We had a lot of fun together. He will be missed."

One of the things about Tatupu that resonated with fans and teammates alike was his lunch-pail, blue-collar work ethic that fit in so well with the Patriots of his era.

"Everyone loved Mosi because he was a working man's football player," said Grogan. "Whether it was special teams, goal-line back, blocking or catching, whatever he had to do, he did it. People appreciated that."

An eighth-round draft choice in 1978 out of Southern Cal, Tatupu earned his stripes in the pros through what many would call grunt work - special teams, the hell-bent-for-leather charges down the field on kick coverage or returns that require a special mentality for the job to be done well.

Although he set a state record for rushing as a high school player in Hawaii, one that would stand for 17 years, Tatupu knew he was not destined to be the next Jim Brown in college or the pros. He was a blocker and a hitter, and he threw himself so completely into the task that he earned his own following - the "Mosi's Mooses" cheering section at the old Foxboro Stadium, a weekly celebration of a part of football that may have been lacking in glamour, but was absolutely essential to a team's success.

The current success of the team tends to obscure the past somewhat, but the Patriots of Tatupu's era were a very good team. Of his 13 seasons in a Patriot uniform, the team finished over .500 in all but three. The cumulative record was 99-101 over that time, but prior to the last two seasons (5-11 in 1989, 1-15 in 1990), the Tatupu-era Pats reached a pinnacle of 18 games over .500.

Part of the reason for the success of those teams was the camaraderie that developed among a core group of players that remained intact through much of that time, Grogan said - players of like mind, who enjoyed what they did and where they did it, despite the many obstacles placed in their way by a financially threadbare ownership.

Tatupu as King Philip’s foootball coach.

"We didn't have 20 whirlpools, we just had two," Grogan said, chuckling over the memories. "But that bunch of guys we had in the '80s, that was an atmosphere of fun and camaraderie. Mosi, he was such a great guy in the locker room and he was the same way on the practice field. He had fun out there, and because of that, he was successful."

Tatupu's career didn't lack highlights. He was a Pro Bowl player in 1986, and a national college football award for special-teamers bears his name. And, one of his best pro games as a runner is eternally remembered in New England sports lore, if for other reasons.

It was a snowy day on Dec. 12, 1982, at then-Schaefer Stadium, and the Patriots and Miami Dolphins were locked in a scoreless battle. Tatupu, with his low center of gravity, no-nonsense running style and an uncanny ability to protect the football, emerged as the Patriots' leading rusher in the game with 81 yards on 13 carries.

Grogan chuckled again over how Tatupu (born in Pago Pago, American Samoa) could adapt so well to conditions unknown to the South Pacific.

"Here was this Samoan who'd grown up in Hawaii and played his football at Southern California, and he was the best running back in the snow that we had," he said. "He was amazing at it."

Tatupu's hard running in the snow helped set up the unforgettable climax of that particular game - a moment frozen (pun intended) in time when then-coach Ron Meyer waved stadium employee Mark Henderson, a work-release inmate, and his John Deere snow-sweeping tractor onto the field to clear a path for John Smith to kick a 33-yard field goal that eventually won the game.

Tatupu spent all but five games of his career in a Patriot uniform, the last five being with the Los Angeles Rams in 1991. Like many other Patriots of that era, Tatupu remained in the area after his career ended, put down roots and became part of the fabric of our communities.

He spent from 1995 to 2001 coaching the King Philip Regional High School football team when his son was a student there. Lofa was a two-time Sun Chronicle all-star, attaining fame as a quarterback at KP, but his true calling would come on the defensive side of the ball, first at the University of Maine then at Southern Cal, and finally as a Pro Bowl linebacker with the Seahawks. Most recently, Mosi was coaching running backs at Curry College.

"So many of us shared the same core values," Grogan said. "And you can see that in Lofa. You know he was raised properly."

Amid the sadness of loss, Grogan said Tatupu left a legacy that would be a pleasure to remember.

"Mosi was just one of those guys when you think about him, you can't help but have a smile on your face," he said.