Rhode Island Rams (1955)

Our last post, on the 1969 Boston University team that reached the Pasadena Bowl, got me thinking about other New England teams that reached lower-level bowl games. I’ve already covered Maine’s 1965 Tangerine Bowl team, New Hampshire’s 1947 Glass Bowl team and UMass’ 1972 Boardwalk Bowl team. But what about the time Rhode Island — yes, Rhode Island, known more for basketball than football — made a bowl game, the improbably named Refrigerator Bowl, in 1955?

The 1955 Rhode Island Rams.

The history of Rhody football is one of struggle marked by a couple of bursts of excellence. The Rams won four Yankee Conference titles in the ‘50s, three more in the ‘80s and … that was it. Rhody’s only league titles and postseason appearances have been during those two periods. 

The Rams’ run of excellence in the ‘50s was guided by Harold “Hal” Kopp, who coached them in 1950, left for a year (guiding them in between was future Holy Cross coach Ed Doherty), came back in ’52 and grabbed three YC titles over the next four years. But 1955 was expected to a rebuilding year, especially when only 21 players reported to the first practice in September with the first game less than three weeks away. But more players filtered in as training camp went on, and the Rams tied Northeastern, 13-13 in the season opener. After a win over Maine and a tie over New Hampshire, the Rams won five straight games to complete the regular season at 6-0-2 and win the YC title with a 4-0-1 mark. 

The old Rhode Island yearbooks are LOADED with awesome cartoons
such as these, which hype the Refrigerator Bowl.

On Nov. 12, 1955 (the same day one Emmett “Doc” Brown cracked his head against the toilet and developed the concept for the flux capacitor, which of course makes time travel possible), Rhody destroyed arch-rival UConn 25-0 to clinch a spot in the Refrigerator Bowl in Evansville, Indiana, and presumably, a place in Gray’s Sports Almanac. (According to Wikipedia, which never lies, the game was named for the city’s status as the “refrigerator capital of the United States.”) 

The Refrigerator Bowl mostly featured smallish schools that went on to become either FCS schools or lower-level FBS schools (Kent State, Arkansas State, etc.). Rhody’s opponent, Jacksonville State (that’s Jacksonville, Alabama, not Florida), currently an FCS team, edged the Rams, 12-10, on a fourth-quarter touchdown to send Rhody to a final record of 6-1-2.

Rhode Island (white shirts) faces Jacksonville State in the 1955 Refrigerator Bowl.

Rhody placed six players — tackles Charles Gibbons and Robert Novelli, guard Paul Fitzgerald, center Charles Hunt, end Peter Dalpe and halfback Ed DeSimone — on the 12-member Yankee Conference first team (two centers are listed; I presume there was a tie). Gibbons also was named AP Little All-American, the first Rhody player to earn an All-American nod. Koop let after the season for Brigham Young University, where he lasted three years before he was forced out amid rumors of NCAA rules infractions. 

Three of Rhody's four captains also were all-conference selections.

Charles Gibbons, with the spoils of victory.

The helmets sported something new that remains a part of the Rhody ensemble to this day — ram horns! This early version lasted only a couple years and was a little busy, with a pair of stripes down the middle cluttering the landscape. The horns returned in ’62 and have (mostly) been on the helmet ever since, in seemingly countless color combos. (My personal favorite is the 1967-75 version.)

Rhode Island’s next YC title was in 1957, but its next postseason appearance wasn’t until 1981, when it began a run of three titles in five years.

Hal Kopp bids farewell for greener pastures. In the 1970s, he was the
coach of Bentley University's first football team.