Continental Football League (1965)
Tombstone
Born: 1965 – Continental Football League founding franchise
Folded: November 24, 19651ASSOCIATED PRESS. “R.I. Indians Quit”. The Globe (Boston, MA). November 25, 1965
First Game: August 15, 1965 (L 27-16 vs. Charleston Rockets)
Last Game: November 14, 1965 (L 17-6 vs. Wheeling Ironmen)
Continental Football League Championships: None
Stadium
Marketing
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Ownership
Owner: David Haffenreffer
Our Favorite Stuff
Continental Football League
Logo T-Shirt
Variously described as everything from “semi-pro” football to the “third Major League” behind the NFL and AFL during the late 1960’s, the Continental Football briefly established a sprawling network of pro football clubs that stretched from Florida to Mexico City to British Columbia. The Continental League helped launch the careers of Hall-of-Famers Bill Walsh and Ken Stabler and other NFL stars of the 1970’s including Otis Sistrunk, Bob Kuechenberg and Coy Bacon.
Our friends at Old School Shirts make the only Continental League shirt we’ve found and like all of their retro Americana tees, it’s soft and fits great!
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Background
The Rhode Island Indians were a minor league football team that played a single season in the Continental Football League during the autumn of 1965. The team played at City Stadium in Providence and replaced the recently deceased Providence Steamroller of the Atlantic Coast Football League, who played at the same field from 1962 through 1964.
During its five-season lifespan, the Continental League would eventually grow into its name through expansion, mergers and partnerships, claiming teams across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. But in its inaugural season of 1965, the league was largely confined to the northeastern U.S. and the mid-Atlantic states. The Indians played a total of 14 games in their history, taking on opponents from Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Virginia, West Virginia and Toronto, Ontario.
Under Head Coach Harry Connolly, the Indians were one of the weaker entries in the 1965 Continental League membership. The team finished 3-14, including a 7-game losing streak to close out the season.
Tom Kennedy
One Rhode Island Indians player of note was starting quarterback Tom Kennedy. Kennedy, who had also called signals for the 1964 Providence Steamroller, was a quintessential minor league journeyman of the era. The Los Angeles State product crisscrossed the country, playing for seven minor league teams between 1962 and 1970.
But in 1966, just a season after guiding the hapless Indians, Kennedy found his way to the NFL. He appeared in six games for the injury-depleted New York Giants. On November 27th, 1966 Kennedy made his first and only NFL start against the Washington Redskins. Though Kennedy’s own numbers that day were pedestrian (165 yards, 1 touchdown, 3 interceptions), the game would enter the record books as the NFL’s highest scoring game of all time. Washington defeated the Giants 72-41.
Kennedy never appeared in the NFL again after the 1966 season. His minor league career ended in 1970.
End of the Road
One week after the Indians closed their debut season with a 17-6 home loss to the Wheeling Ironmen at City Stadium on November 14th, 1965, team owner David Haffenreffer announced that the team was out of business.
The Indians were replaced the following year by yet another short-lived minor league grid squad. The Rhode Island Steelers of the Atlantic Coast Football League set up shop at McCoy Stadium in nearby Pawtucket in 1966. But the team failed to win a single game before quitting the league in midseason that October.
Rhode Island Indians Shop
Editor's Pick
Outsiders II
by Bob Gill with Tod Maher & Steve Brainerd
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In Memoriam
Flanker Dave Zucconi, a Brown graduate who went on to become the powerhouse director and fundraiser of the Brown University Sports Foundation from 1985 until 1999, passed away on January 22, 2003 after battling cancer. Brown Alumni Magazine rememberance.
Quarterback Tom Kennedy died on March 15th, 2006 at the age of 67.
Downloads
10-2-1965 Indians @ Charleston Rockets Roster
10-2-1965 Rhode Island Indians Roster
Links
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