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Trending now: The limited edition Riverboat Ron T-shirt

By Katie Toussaint

Stephanie Rivera arrived at Pinky’s Westside Grill on Thursday showing off her latest style selection: The Riverboat Ron T-shirt. The ensemble was complete with modest black shorts, a black belt with a rhinestone buckle, a black jacket and color-coordinated black-and-Carolina-Panthers-blue tennis shoes.

The style doesn’t come off as an overpowering, fangirl-supporting-husband-and-Panthers-Coach-Ron-Rivera move. It’s fun and light, and sparks some curiosity.

The shirt design was inspired by the “Riverboat Ron” term that the Riveras recently trademarked. They just designed a logo for it over the summer and, Stephanie said, “Once the final product came, we were like oh, that would make an awesome T-shirt.”

They worked with graphic designer Joey Ellis and came up with the look, which shows the Riverboat Ron caricature holding up a card with an “R” on it. Ron is dressed in an old-time gambler outfit with a vest and hat, leaning on a football. And he’s smirking.

“Ron really liked the smirk,” Stephanie said, “because when he’s thinking and he comes up with something, he gets that smirk.”

He didn’t originally love the Riverboat Ron nickname, though, which Stephanie said came from the media after Ron “gambled” on a few fourth-down plays a few seasons ago. Ron didn’t identify as a gambler on the field.

Stephanie said, “Then he looked at it and, in some of the games we’d lost, he didn’t take chances and he thinks about it and is like, ‘There are definitely calculated chances that you have to take in a sporting event.’ And so as he looked at it and he really dug deep, he was like, ‘No, I analyze things … I have to take the more aggressive approach.’ Which, to some people is gambling. To him, it’s still calculated.”

At some point, a fan came up with the caricature, Stephanie said, “and then it just blew up from there.”

Now she’s waiting to see the Riverboat Ron T-shirt blow up on social media, and in sales. The T-shirts, which sell for $25 plus shipping and handling, will only be available online through Oct. 14. The proceeds from the T-shirts (which carry the tagline “Safe bet, adopt a pet”) go to the Humane Society of Charlotte.

The pair also annually supports the United Service Organizations of North Carolina and the Ronald McDonald House of Charlotte, and this month participated in Purple Stride in honor of Ron’s brother, who passed last year from pancreatic cancer.

This T-shirt is the third annual fundraising project the Riveras have undertaken for the Humane Society, since the two are dog lovers. They were behind the “Puppies, Panthers and Kittens… Oh My” calendar in 2014 that raised about $27,000 for the Humane Society, as well as the “Rescue Recipes Cookbook” that raised $40,000.

The Riveras live in Charlotte with their golden retriever, Fiyero, and their adopted terrier mix, Penny. And they want fans to start ordering their shirt — and showing support.

“Once they get the T-shirt we want them to then take a picture and put it on social media,” Stephanie said.

Details: Order and share the T-shirt

Purchase the shirt for $25 at http://www.dapperinkstore.com/shop/riverboatron.

Social media tags:

#RiverboatronT

@RiverboatRonHC

@HumaneCharlotte

@CoachRiv2

Photo: Katie Toussaint

This story was originally published September 16, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Trending now: The limited edition Riverboat Ron T-shirt."

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