Providence Steam Roller

The Providence Steam Roller (also referred to as the Providence Steam Rollers, the Providence Steamroller and the Providence Steamrollers) was a professional American football team based in Providence, Rhode Island in the National Football League from 1925 to 1931. The Steam Roller won the 1928 NFL championship and bear the dubious distinction of being the last team not still in the NFL to have done so. The team had been established in 1916, but did not join the NFL until 1925. Most of their home games were played in a 10,000-seat stadium that was built for bicycle races called the Cyclodome.

The Steam Roller hosted the NFL's first night game on November 6, 1929 losing to the Chicago Cardinals, 16-0.

Because of financial troubles brought on by the Great Depression, the team suspended operations after the 1931 season. They never played in the league again and officially folded in 1933. However the name was revived by Pearce Johnson, one of the original team's founders. The subsequent Steamrollers played intermittently until 1964 as a semipro, minor leagues and independent team.

The name was revived again in 1988 for an Arena Football team, the New England Steamrollers.

A rare home movie showing the Providence Steam Rollers playing the Framingham Lion Tamers was recently discovered and preserved by Northeast Historic Film a regional moving image archive in New England.

Pro Football Hall of Famers

*Jimmy Conzelman
*Fritz Pollard

eason-by-season

External links

* [http://www.profootballhof.com/history/decades/1920s/providence.jsp Hall of Fame article about the team]

* [http://www.footballresearch.com/articles/frpage.cfm?topic=provdnce Professional Football Researchers Association history]

Notes