The Return of the Roller

Rhode Island Alumni (1960-64)
Jimmy Adams (Hope-URI)
Joe Almonte (Cranston-URI)
Joe Cimini (Mount Pleasant-Miss State)
Mel Clanton (Hope-Virginia Union)
Jack Cronin (St. Rays-Brown)
Emo Dinitto (Mount Pleasant-BU)
Paul DiQuattro (St Rays-UNH)
Carl Fleigner (Classical-BC)
Jim Gerlach (LaSalle-URI)
Charlie Gibbons (Rogers-URI)
Frank Hardy (Hope)
Rod MacDonald (Hope-Navy)
John Maio (Cranston-BU)
John Meschino (Cranston-BU)
Frank Morey (St. Rays-URI)
Bernie Pina (LaSalle-URI)
Bill Poland (LaSalle-URI)
Vito Pontarelli (St. Rays-Wyoming)
John Rollins (LaSalle-URI)
Paul Rowles (Cranston-BU)
Chuck Schiano (Cranston-Miami)
Owen Taylor (Central)
Tom Thibideau (Pawtucket East-Alabama)
Don Warburton (Pawtucket East-Brown)
Jim Warren (East Providence-URI)
Dick Zotti (Central-BC)

*Maybe incomplete

The Providence Steam Roller football club returned to action after over a decade absence in 1960. They were coached by Connie Pensavalle and played their home games at Cranston Stadium in the new semi-pro New England Football League. The team was made up of many former R.I. schoolboy stars including Mel Clanton (Virginia Union), Jimmy Adams (URI), Dick Zotti (Boston College), Vito Pontarelli (Wyoming), Bill Poland (URI), Charlie Gibbons (URI) and Boston University stars Emo Dinitto and John Maio. The Roller finished the season with 9 wins and only two losses and league champions. In front of an enthusiastic crowd of 4,000 at Cranston Stadium, the Roller upended Morrisey Club of Quincy 12-6 for their return victory. In 1961 the roller continued in semi-pro play adding former R.I. standouts Johnny Rollins (URI), Don Warburton (Brown) and John Meschino (BU). The squad finishing with a 4 and 3 record and Mel Clanton was named MVP of the team.

The Roller return to the professional ranks in the Atlantic Coast Football league in 1962. Joe McGee returned to the organization as general manager. They moved to City Stadium in Providence on the Mount Pleasant High School campus. The ACFL was likely the closest pro football had ever come to having a true AAA minor league, similar to baseball. Some NFL teams would eventually maintain farm clubs in the league. Local players Adams, Clanton, Dinitto, Meschino, Pontarelli, Warburton and Zotti returned and the team added big tackle Rod MacDonald of Navy, Chuck Schiano (Miami) and Tom Thibodeau (Alabama). The team compiled a 8-1-1 record which saw them beat the Portland Seahawks 55-0 in front of 10,047 spectators at home. They made the league championship game at the indoor Convection Hall in Atlantic City, NJ losing to the Patterson Miners 14-17 in double overtime.

The following season in 1963 they added Central High's Owen Taylor and and Frank Hardy of Hope High School. The most significant signing was 1957 Heisman Trophy winner Joe Bellino (Navy) before he would go onto the Boston Patriots. "The Jet" gave them a marque name and excitement with his talented play on offence. The team drew even better in 1963 with home games averaging over 8000 spectators with a high of 12,053 in a 14-17 loss to the Newark Bears. They finished the regular season 6-6-0 and in second place. Dave Zucconi (Brown) from New York contributed in a big way on offense. Zucconi played all five seasons for the Roller and would later become a legendary supporter of Brown University Athletics. The Roller won the runner-up playoff game 41-21 against the Harrisburg Capitols at Bishop McDevitt Field in Pennsylvania led by quarterback Jerry Morgan (Northern Iowa). Morgan, from Indiana, would go on to have a successful coaching career at Hope High School in Providence.

The final season of the Steam Roller eleven was 1964 and they put up a more impressive 8-5-1 record for third place in the league. They added local Phil DiQuattro (UNH) at fullback. The highlight of the season was 12,382 paying customers at City Stadium watching a tight 10-17 loss to the Boston Sweepers. Financial problems took down the club in early 1965. The IRS seized the team’s assets and auctioned them off that summer. The remaining players scattered, with some following Pensavalle back to his hometown of Everett, Massachusetts where a new franchise dubbed the Boston Steamrollers (with Meschino) entered the ACFL for the 1965 season. Other ex-Steam Roller players remained in Providence to sign with the new Rhode Island Indians (Adams, Clanton, DiQuattro MacDonald, Rollins and Morgan), a Continental Football League team that replaced the Steam Roller at City Stadium in the fall of 1965. The Indians folded after one season and Providence returned to the ACFL in 1966 with the formation of the Rhode Island Steelers (with Adams, Hardy and Rollins). The Steelers also lasted just one year. The ACFL itself went out of business after the 1973 season.