Charles B. Coppen was an American journalist who was the sports editor for the ''

Providence Journal ''The Providence Journal'', colloquially known as the ''ProJo'', is a daily newspaper serving the metropolitan area of Providence, Rhode Island, and is the largest newspaper in Rhode Island. The newspaper was first published in 1829. The newspape ...

''. He was also a baseball executive and a part owner of the

Providence Steam Roller The Providence Steam Rollers (also referred to as the Providence Steam Roller, the Providence Steamroller and the Providence Steamrollers) were a professional American football team based in Providence, Rhode Island in the National Football Leagu ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. He not only shared ownership of the team with Peter Laudati and James Dooley, but was also a co-founder of the team with Pearce Johnson, the team's

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

. In addition to his duties to the Steam Roller, he also had a budding law practice. His career with the ''Providence Journal'' ended with his involvement with the Steam Roller and in managing boxers. Coppen was also the manager of Providence's stadium, the

Cyclodome The Cycledrome was an American football stadium and velodrome located in Providence, Rhode Island.This reference erroneously calls it the "Cyclodome." Its name derived from its intended use as a bicycle racing stadium (velodrome) when it was bu ...

. It was also Coppen who named the Steam Roller. During halftime against a game between the Steam Roller and the Providence Pros, Coppen who was getting a hot dog, heard a remark that the opposing team was "getting steam-rolled". Coppen loved the remark so much named his team the Steam Roller.

Colonial League

In 1914, Coppen was elected president of the

Colonial League The Colonial League is an athletic conference consisting of 14 high schools mostly from the Lehigh Valley portion of eastern Pennsylvania. It is part of PIAA District 11, District XI of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association. The C ...

, a newly formed minor league. By May, it was suspected that

Alexander Bannwart Alexander William Bannwart (December 25, 1880 – February 21, 1959), also known as Al Winn, was a Swiss-American businessman. He was involved in baseball, politics, and real estate. Bannwart graduated from Phillips Academy and Princeton Univer ...

, who aided in the business management of the league, was working as an agent of the

Federal League The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that played its first season as a minor league in 1913 and operated as a "third major league", in competition with the e ...

, an outlaw league working outside of the National Agreement. Bannwart denied this. Upon these news reports, some of the founding members of the Colonial League resigned, fearing banishment by the

National Baseball Commission The National Baseball Commission was the governing body of Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball from 1903 to 1920. It consisted of a chairman, the presidents of the National League (NL) and American League (AL), and a secretary. The ...

. At the April 1915 league meeting, Coppen was re-elected as president and Bannwart was elected secretary. Walter S. Ward, the treasurer of the

Brooklyn Tip Tops The Brooklyn Tip-Tops were a team in the short-lived Federal League of professional baseball from 1914 to 1915. The team's name came from Tip Top Bread, a product of Ward Baking Company, which was also owned by team owner Robert Ward. They were so ...

of the Federal League and son of George S. Ward, an owner of the Tip Tops, was elected as the league's treasurer. Wanting to expand into Springfield, Massachusetts, and

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

and

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

, territory that belonged to the

Eastern Association The Eastern Association of counties was an administrative organisation set up by Parliament in the early years of the First English Civil War. Its main function was to finance and support an army which became a mainstay of the Parliamentarian mi ...

, the Colonial League reorganized itself as a farm system for the Federal League and voluntarily withdrew itself from organized baseball. The Colonial League struggled financially in 1915, and Bannwart's polices were blamed. In August 1915, Bannwart resigned from the Colonial League. The league collapsed during the 1915-16 offseason.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coppen, Charles National Football League owners National Football League executives Providence Steam Roller