Brazil’s Corinthians Steamrollers have entered the New England Patriots Hall of Fame on good looks alone. At least the stylish look of their new commemorative 10th anniversary uniforms modeled after the 1928 NFL champions, the Providence Steam Rollers.
The team, with 1.35 million Facebook followers (more than the entire CFL and eight NFL teams), plays in one of the top American football leagues in Brazil. Team president Richard Trigo wanted a special jersey to mark the occasion of the club’s 10th year. A search of team names produced Providence’s Steam Rollers and a visit to the New England Patriots Hall of Fame in 2015 convinced him and club official Felipe Pereira to make a replica of the Providence jersey.
The jersey was displayed for members of the Brazilian club in January. In fact, it gained such immediate popularity that at a recent tryout camp for the 2016 season, more than 700 players turned out in hopes of wearing the new Steamrollers jersey.
Pereira (who lives in Boston) approached the Patriots Hall of Fame offering to donate one of the new jerseys. Naturally, Hall officials were more than happy to accept and arranged a special ceremony in honor of the occasion.
The old Steam Rollers jersey on display in the HOF was worn by George Pyne II who played for the team in 1931, the club’s final season in the NFL. His son George III played for the Boston Patriots of the AFL in 1965, and his grandson Jim, played in the NFL for eight years after earning All-American honors as a center at Virginia Tech. Another grandson, also named George, played at Brown.
Fittingly the Pyne family were on hand for the ceremony. The “new” Steamrollers jersey has been placed in the display case alongside the Providence Steam Roller jersey worn by Pyne.
Standing to the right: left to right, Fabio Marin, HC, Ricardo Trigo, Corinthians president, Felipe Pereira, Lily Ames, Hall of Fame curator and Brian Morry, Director of the Hall of Fame