About
It is the mission of Boldest Football to restore pride, sportsmanship, camaraderie, and professionalism to the New York City Department of Correction.
Mission Statement
The mission of this organization is to promote Pride, Sportsmanship, Camaraderie, and Professionalism to the members of service in the New York City Department of Correction, and to give our members of service an opportunity to exercise and maintain physical and mental health by playing football and raising awareness and money for charity; to network and connect with M.O.S. outside of their own facility; to gain a sense of purpose in the NYCD outside of their responsibilities in the jails.
Boldest Football
Team History
NYCD Boldest Football was started in 1996. To be comparable to the other local public safety teams, whose nicknames represent solid characteristics such as NY’s Finest, NY’s Bravest & NY’s Strongest, “NY’s Boldest Football” was born. The team operated from 1996 – 2005, and as we look back at the teams that were fielded during that time, we remember some of the key people that helped to operate the team. John Pecora, Billy Picone, Marty Parker, Ron Adams (from Boys & Girls HS football), Shawn McCall, Joe Dellaratta, and Odessa Turner (former WR from the NY Giants & SF 49ers) are some of those critical people, to name a few. In addition, the team was fortunate to receive some donated equipment from the NY Giants, and at one point also sported uniforms that Champion sponsored, as a thank you to the members of the Correction Department that assisted in the rescue and recovery efforts, following the aftermath of 911.Heading into the 2005 season, the team was experiencing problems.
To stay alive, NYCD Boldest Football combined with DSNY Strongest Football. Unfortunately, following that 2005 season, Boldest Football was unable to continue.Five years later, after several failed attempts to gain the backing of the NYCD Administration, Correction Officer Christopher Harris approached then-Chief Larry Davis about restarting the team. Chris Harris gained Chief Davis’s full support. Harris announced the team’s first meeting and began putting flyers up all over Rikers Island to try and spark interest from prospective players. The 1st meeting had over 40 skeptical MOS, unsure if this could happen. At this meeting, Officer Christopher Chamberlain introduced himself to Harris and told him he wanted to be involved in any way, shape, or form. Harris named Officer Christopher Chamberlain Vice President and Captain Brian Ohara (a former Boldest Football team member) 2nd Vice President. Together they brought the Boldest Football team back from the grave. The entire organization was built from scratch, creating a new logo and uniform, implementing a full administrative staff, a new coaching staff, and a roster full of new players. Amazingly, the 2011 roster even fielded five players from the old team! In early 2015, Christopher Harris left the department of corrections and announced that Christopher Chamberlain would be the new team president. During his 1st year as president, Chamberlain swept the City agencies (NYPD, FDNY, and DSNY), led the team to a 7-1 record, and won the NPSFL Division 2 Championship (Charlotte won the Division 1 Championship). In 2021 after 11 years with the team and six as team President, Chamberlain stepped down and announced Travis Briggins as his successor.Travis Briggins has been an integral part of Boldest Football since its restart in 2010. He’s a long-time team captain and star player. He is up to the challenge to continue the success of the former Presidents.
In this “New Era,” he aims to rebuild the brand of Boldest Football, increase team membership, and lead the team to its 1st ever NPSFL Division 1 Championship.We are proud to represent the New York City Department of Correction on and off the field. Sponsorships from groups like our union COBA, The Correction Captains Association (CCA), Law Offices of Joseph A. Romano, Astoria Bowl, Koehler & Isaacs, Rella & Associates, The NY Giants, Pollo Campero, Sparkles Car Wash, combined with the support of our fans, dubbed as the “Orange Crush Nation” has been tremendous and instrumental in our new success. On the field, we strive to be the best Public Safety football team in NYC as well as in the National Public Safety Football League (NPSFL), which is a nation-wide league that consists of public safety football teams that are comprised of police officers, correction officers, firefighters, EMT/ Paramedics, military personnel, and other public safety personnel. Off the field, we are committed to community service and charity work that includes spending time with children at the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, participating in the meals on wheels program, walking for the March of Dimes, annually donating a real Christmas Tree with decorations to a daycare center, donating bicycles to toy drives. In addition, these continuous raffles result in giveaways like flat-screen TVs, autographed sports memorabilia, video game consoles, and many other items, and annually donating proceeds to the Correction Officers Benevolent Association – Widows and Children’s Fund, which we have adopted as our primary charity.
