|
|
 |
 |
Men Restraining Women Roller Skaters
Original caption: Roller derby scene. Photo circa 1950. |
History | Rules
During the worst of the Great Depression, a Chicago promoter named Leo Seltzer came up with the idea of a skating spectacle to compete with the dance marathon craze then sweeping the country.
Far from the raucous sport you see today, the debut Roller Derby on August 13, 1935 in the Chicago Coliseum was an endurance test. Billed as The Transcontinental Roller Derby, it featured teams of one man and one woman who took turns skating 57,000 laps, or the equivalent of a 4,000-mile cross-country race. Roller Derby was an instant success, drawing 20,000 spectators in the first week alone. Seltzer soon took his show on the road.
Legend has it that "true" Roller Derby surfaced in Miami in 1938, when famed New York sportswriter Damon Runyan saw a few contestants tangle during a "speed jam." Runyan suggested to Seltzer that body contact and keeping score might boost attendance. Presto! The following night, Derby returned to the track, ready to rumble.
In the 1950s, the new medium called television catapulted Roller Derby into a national phenomenon, drawing thousands of fans and making legends out of women challengers like Midge "Toughie" Brasuhn and Gerry Murray. There were the Pioneers in Chicago; the Jolters in Cincinnati; the Chiefs in New York; and the champion Bay Bombers in Northern California.
|
 |
|
Women In Roller Derby Struggle
Original caption: 6/24/1947-Chicago, IL: Gerry Murray (left), Captain of the Chicago team, and Midge Brasuhn of the Brooklynites, fight for the lead position during the roller derby finale in Chicago June 22nd. |
| In 1958, Jerry Seltzer, Leo's son, moved the operation to the San Francisco area, and Derby continued popular through the '60s. But by the '70s, the wheels started coming off, despite the 1972 kitsch classic "Kansas City Bombers," starring Raquel Welch as a troubled Derby skater. Overhead costs and the gas crisis forced the younger Seltzer to shut down his dad's show in 1973. Over the next decades, several promoters tried various routes to resurrect Derby but none of these went the distance. It took the new century, and women's interest, to revive the old sport. |
 |
|
Judi Mcguire Collides with Viki Steppe
Original caption: 3/11/1973-New York Judi McGuire (45) takes header over rail after colliding with Renegades' Viki Steppe during early action in Mar. 11th roller derby at Madison Square Garden. |
| The game started rolling again about four years ago, fueled by fierce all-girl leagues launching around the country. Today's young women athletes are independent amateurs who pay to play. Holding jobs outside the rink, they buy their own gear (and health insurance) and compete with total determination and passion. Dressed in revealing outfits, flaunting kick-ass attitudes, these tough girl leagues are attracting increasingly bigger and hipper crowds. Female Derby teams now skate in places like New York and Phoenix, Los Angeles and Raleigh, Seattle and Kansas City, the Cayman Islands and, of course, in Austin as the TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls. The teams have 10 players, with five on the track for each jam or play period. The Jammer, or sprint skater, scores points by lapping the other team's players, which is where all that body contact comes in. No competitor will let the Jammer pass without a fight. Meantime, her teammates do all they can to help. Play gets plenty aggressive.
With a return to television on the A&E Network real-life series ROLLERGIRLS, the Roller Derby revival has come full circle. Are you ready? Click to see some Featured Clips.
|
 |
|
Sister Mary Jane, in a Jam Reigning TXRD Lonestar League Champs, the Holy Rollers, play todays game with a fierce, reckless edge. |
|
|
