Providence Steam Roller

The Steam Roller team from Providence, RI is our early Pro Football team of the week. Learn more about the team and its origin and history with our podcast and post.

The story of the early beginnings of the Providence Steam Roller has a common theme to many other teams of early pro football. According to the Sports and History website, the team started off in 1916 as a semi-professional team.  The team was founded by Charles Coppen and the first general manager of the squad, Pearce Johnson. The team was owned by a trio of interesting men; Coppen, James Dooley, and Peter Laudati.

Coppen was an American journalist who at the time made his name as being the sports editor for the Providence Journal. His interest in sports was not just journalism and owning football teams as he was also a baseball executive in 1914 as the president of a minor league of baseball called the Colonial League.

Johnson as we said managed the team from the onset, and he worked with Coppen as a part-time editor at the Providence Journal. This man had his involvement with the franchise for all 18 seasons of its existence. Interestingly enough Pearce also managed a minor league version of the Providence Steam Roller in the American Association in the 1940s and in his later years he became a football historian for the Pro Football Researchers Association.

James Dooley was a Judge in the his state's Eigth District Court and is a Rhode Island State sports legend. Not only known for his football investment but also is known to have founded a  league hockey team, the Providence Reds of the CAHL. Judge Dooley once served as the president of the upstart hockey association as well. He also had involvement with horse racing in the state.

Peter Laudati was a big time sports promoter of the region. He was a major real estate developer of the era and was the man responsible for the building of the Cyclodrome in Providence, a venue where the Steam Roller would play its home games. Laudati promoted other sporting venues as well. In addition to the Cycledrome he built Providence’s Kinsley Park, home of the Providence Grays baseball team in the 1930s and was instrumental in bringing the New York Yankees, featuring Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, to play an exhibition game at that park.

The Cycledrome, as its name eludes to, was primarily built as a 10,000-seat bicycle racing stadium. It featured had a wooden racetrack circling an open infield area, where they placed the football field. This set up unfortunately ran through waht would normally be the end zones. This forced some imagination and non-conformance to the field attributes making them only 5 yards deep rather than the standard 10. Laudati and the team made money by charging gridiron spectators $1 to $2 for game tickets and as an alternative for those who couldn’t attend a game in person paid 50 cents to hear the game announced at theaters and parks through the latest radio technologies of the day.

According to the American Football Database of Fandom.com

 "By 1919 the team was drawing in more spectators than Brown University by a margin of 2-1, due to newspaper reports at the time. However it seemed unlikely since the Steam Roller crowd was on average 3,000 spectators a game. The players' wages were lower than those of Indiana and Ohio, so it was harder for the Steam Roller to bring in "ringers". Several college football players did play for the Steam Roller, but under aliases, so as to not jeapardize their amateur status.

In 1924, Providence's schedule featured several NFL teams. The Steam Roller posted a 3-2-1 record against those teams, defeating the Rochester Jeffersons (3-0), Minneapolis Marines (49-0) and Dayton Triangles (10-7). Both of their two losses came against the Frankford Yellow Jackets (21-10) and (16-3). The team also posted a scoreless tie against the Columbus Tigers. The 1924 Steam Roller then went on to win the mythical "undisputed championship of the Northeast". The team's success that season was enough to make Steam Roller management and fans start thinking about playing in the NFL"

There is little recorded about the team in the early years but we do know that they had a milestone moment in 1925 when the Steam Roller team joined the NFL as a franchise. Soon after they hired some big name players to help them compete in the League. Jimmy Conzelman was signed for $292 per game to be the player/coach and eventually even George Wildcat Wilson from the University of Washington. These salaries and other payables always put pressure on the team's finances. Cost cutting measures such as some on the team living with Pearce Johnson and his mother, while others were fed meals by Laudati's wife were done to make ends meet. Players were also given just one jersey and asked to keep it in good order for the whole season. Times were tough but they were about to be well worth the effort.

The 1928 season was the pinnacle of the franchise's existence. It started off by defeating Red Grange and the New York Yankees 20-7 in the opener, but in their second game they fell in a close one, 10-6 to the Frankford Yellow Jackets. The Steam Roller then went on a tear realing off four straight vicoties over the Dayton Triangles, Yankees, Pottsville Maroons and the Detroit Wolverines all in succession. Next was a rematch with the Yellow Jackets at Frankford in which the game ended in a scoreless tie. A third contest the following week between these two powerhouses saw Providence win at home 6-0 to avenge their only loss and then the team continued on with victories over the New York Giants, Pottsville and a season finale 7-all tie with the Green Bay Packers. The American Football Database article goes on to say:

"Despite the Yellow Jackets winning 3 more games than the Steam Roller and posting an 11-3-2 record, Providence was awarded the title due to having a better winning percentage."

The team celebrated according to multiple reports at the Biltmore Hotel with some reported 200 fans at a victory banquet. Conzleman received the MVP trophy and a total of five team members earned All-NFL honors. Wildcat Wilson and Clyde Smith were named to the first team, while Curly Oden, Milt Rehnquist, and Gus Sonnenberg were placed on the second team. The next year was filled with obstacles, the largest being the Great Depression which devestated the franchise's attendance and payrole and eventually its winning percentage as players left for other pursuits to try and make ends meet. Eventually having trouble fielding competitive teams and making ends meet the franchise folded in 1933.

There are some pretty interesting milestones that the Steam Roller accomplished:

• First team to play four NFL games in a six day period.
• First NFL team to play in a bike stadium
• First team to host and play in a night game November 6, 1929
• First New England team to take home the NFL title
• They also have the dubious distinction of being the last now defunct team to has won the NFL Championship

The picture in the banner above is from a photo I took at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton of the championship banner of the 1928 Providence Steam Roller.