archived as www.stealthskater.com/Documents/RollerDerby.doc
(also …RollerDerby.pdf) => doc pdf URL-doc URL-pdf
other articles are on the /Humor.htm page at doc pdf
URL
note: because important websites are frequently "here today but gone tomorrow", the following was
archived from various websites on 01/12/2012. This is NOT an attempt to divert readers from
the aforementioned websites. Indeed, the reader should only read this back-up copy if the
updated original cannot be found at the original author's site.
Roller Derby Highlights
revised 08/21/2012
( skip to => Video Clips )
http://home.globaleyes.net/cbuck/mrrd.html
Charlie O
'Mr. Roller Derby'
The picture (above left) was a rookie year photo of Charlie O'Connell. Charles or Charley (as the
1953 yearbook called him) came up through the ranks of the Junior Roller Derby to become the National
Skating Derby's Rookie of the Year in 1953. The native New Yorker broke in with his hometown
Chiefs only to care much of his legend on the other coast as coach and star of the San Francisco Bay
Area Bombers before returning as General Manager/skater with the Chiefs in the final years of the
International Roller Derby League.
Charlie O wasn't Superman. He was injured too many times to be termed the 'Man of Steel'. A
comparison to John Wayne may be closer as he was as a rugged competitor whose swagger on the track
told everyone that could see that he was the man to watch. He would take out the opposition to clear the
way for his jammers to score the winning points. He would prevent the opposing jammers from staging
a rally. And he wasn't above making that vicious circle in the pivot helmet to score when his team
needed it.
1
For the most part, Charlie O wore the number 40, both in his days
with the Bombers (right, against Ken Monte) and in his second stint
with the Chiefs. But on occasion you could catch him wearing a
different jersey as evidenced below.
That's him wearing 42 in a picture from the 1958 Roller Derby
yearbook. A picture of him wearing 31 skating against Bob
Woodberry can be found on Big Bad Bob's page. It came from the
Charlie O tribute in the 1971 yearbook although the picture probably
was taken sometime in the 1967 season after his #40 was retired.
Charlie was back with the Bombers one more time in 1973 for the league championships in Madison
Square Garden. Alas, his team lost to the eventual world champion Chiefs in the semi-finals.
According to published reports in 1996, Charlie O and his wife Judi McGuire were still in California
running their bar.
http://www.wisn.com/print/1854278/detail.html
From the 1969 Roller Derby Program Yearbook:
Every sport has its "super-star" and Roller Derby is no exception.
What Joe Namath is to football and what Willie Mays is to baseball,
Charlie O'Connell is to the banked track skate-sport.
Like "Broadway Joe", O'Connell is a New Yorker. And like
Mays, "Charlie O" leads a championship San Francisco team. The
6'1" Bay Bomber mentor has won every trophy and honor in the
book during his 16-year career.
Unpassable on defense, he is seemingly unstoppable on offensive
jamming. At 34 -- an age when most men start slowing down -O'Connell still clocks a quarter-mile time trial on the 50'x90' oval in
under 36 seconds -- a feat some of the league's bright young hopes
are hard pressed to equal.
O'Connell started the ball rolling with rookie-of-the-year honors in his 1953 freshman season and
has been a perennial on the all-star roster ever since.
2
The former New Yorker has been given the league's M.V.P. award on 8 occasions and was narrowly
edged by the Braves' brilliant young Ronnie Robinson (the son of boxing great Sugar Ray Robinson) in
1968. "Mr. Roller Derby" is also among an exclusive handful of active skaters inducted into the Hall of
Fame. Fans voted him 1968 Roller Derby King -- his 5th title repeat in a decade!
With a salary reputed to be in the $50,000 range, O'Connell is the highest paid skater in the 34-year
history of the sport.
Worth every penny, he has led the Bay Area contingent to championship playoff victories in all but
two of the last 11 seasons. The Bombers fell in 1959 to the Chicago Westerners (now Pioneers); in 1963
to the Cardinals; and have since skyrocketed to 5 straight world titles. In the process, the league pennant
has escaped O'Connell's grasp only 4 times, most recently to the "Cinderella" Northeast Braves in '68.
Following Roller Derby's 1967 season, O'Connell decided that 15 years of banked-track bruises was
enough and announced his retirement.
But a post-season nationwide tour which found "Sold Out" signs on arenas from coast-to-coast
changed his mind, however, and the start of the '68 season found Charlie back in the line-up with his
skates well-oiled and "hanging loose" again. In the meantime, the Bombers had retired his No. 40 jersey
so Charlie had to spend most of that year in a No. 31 outfit.
http://articles.sfgate.com/2004-07-03/bay-area/17436651_1_roller-derby-skates-charlie-o-connell
Ken Monte
matinee idol in Roller Derby / a terror on 8 wheels
Ken Monte -- a tall, strapping roller skater who became a star of the
roller derby exhibitions and the darling of hordes of screaming,
stomping skate fans -- has died. Mr. Monte, 75, died June 24, 2004 of
cancer in his Alameda home.
A terror on the banked track, Mr. Monte was known for his speed
and skill as much as his flying elbows and crushing knees. And woe to
the opponent who got in the way of one.
"He was devastating. Just a tremendously powerful skater," said his
friend Gary Powers, a roller derby historian. "He never backed down
from a confrontation."
A native of Wautoma, Wisconsin, Mr. Monte grew up in Chicago
and sold newspapers at Cubs baseball games before dropping out of
school at 15 to join the Roller Derby.
The derby had been invented in the 1930s by a Chicago promoter eager to capitalize on America's
infatuation with roller skates during the Depression. In the Derby, teams of 5 skaters circle a banked
wooden track and score points by lapping and forcing their way past one another -- often by means of a
flailing elbow or worse.
3
"Ken was very good at putting a knee into someone's chest or an elbow or shoulder into an
opponent's upper body or stomach," Powers recalled.
Every bit as much a legitimate sport as pro wrestling, Roller Derby filled arenas around the country
in the 1940s and 1950s. Mr. Monte skated for the Brooklyn Red Devils who were also known as the
Northwest Cardinals and the Mexico City Cardenales. When visiting the Bay Area, Mr. Monte would
do his elbow throwing at the Cow Palace against the
legendary Charlie O'Connell of the San Francisco Bay
Bombers.
Mr. Monte was the "pivot" skater of his Red Devils,
the team leader who helped the 2 blockers to keep
opponents at bay and the 2 jammers to slip past and score
points.
His stature and good looks made him a matinee idol,
especially when the Derby caught on during the early days
of television. When Mr. Monte became a spokesman for
Lucky Strike cigarettes, that was the brand his fans lit up.
In New York, Mr. Monte did ferocious battle against
Charlie O'Connell (left) and Ken
the Red Devils' archrivals -- the New York Chiefs. The Red
Monte in their older years
Devils women's team was led by Mr. Monte's wife Midge
Brasuhn, also known as "Toughie." The couple divorced in 1962 and Ms. Brasuhn died in 1971.
Mr. Monte retired in 1977 and had lived in Alameda for 2 decades. He leaves no immediate
survivors. At his request, no service was held.
http://derbymemoirs.bankedtrack.info/Gammon_Mike.html
"Dynamite" Mike Gammon
Born Michael Paul Milane on November 2, 1941 to Paul and Gerry (Murray) Milane, Mike was
destined for Roller Derby stardom. Mike grew up on the Roller Derby track. The often-used cliche is
that Mike could skate almost before he could walk. An exaggeration for sure but probably not too far
from the truth. There are photographs of Mike at age 2-1/2 on skates and in uniform.
When Gene Gammon and Gerry Murray married, Mike took his
stepfather's last name. He made his skating debut with the New York
Chiefs at age 17 in the spring of 1958. Later that summer, a young man by
the name of Mike Paul (Gammon) skated a few series on the West Coast
with the Brooklyn Red Devils. Mike made his official skating debut in
1959 and, naturally, took Rookie of the Year honors along with another
young skater by the name of Jan Vallow.
While in the New York training school in 1958, Mike met and married
Judi McGuire. For years they were the league's top scorers and, arguably,
the league's most dynamic husband-wife team.
4
For the most part, Mike skated with the Chiefs until the team was disbanded in 1967. Rather than
place the Gammons on another team immediately, Jerry Seltzer let them slip away. The Gammons and
Chiefs teammates Buddy Atkinson Jr., Dru Scott Atkinson, and Pete Boyd joined the new Philadelphia
Warriors team of the National Skating Derby helping to establish that team as a powerhouse Roller
Games franchise.
Gammon returned to the Roller Derby in 1969 with the Southern Mustangs. For the next 2 seasons,
Mike skated with the Cardinals/Red Devils during the regular season and the Oakland Bombers during
the annual road trip.
In the autumn of 1971, Mike returned home to New York when the Chiefs franchise was reactivated. No one belonged in the Chiefs uniform more. When New York area fans voted on which
skaters they would most like to see on their home team, "Dynamite" Mike Gammon was their top choice
even above "Mr. Roller Derby" Charlie O'Connell. Mike remained with the Chiefs until mid-May of
1974. Living out of a suitcase on the road had taken its toll and it was time to go home to the Bay area.
Gammon returned to skating in 1975 with the New York Braves of the short-lived United Banked
Track Roller Skating Association (better known as Roller Stars). The next year, Mike skated some
exhibition games with the new Bay Bombers as a prelude to the official opening of the International
Roller Skating League. When the league opened for its inaugural season in 1977, "Dynamite" Mike
Gammon was again a member of the San Francisco Bay
Bombers. Mike retired following the 1978 season but came
back to skate again in 1983 and 1984. Gammon -considered invincible on skates -- fell victim to careerending injuries.
To watch Mike Gammon skate was to see near perfection
on the track. Mike Gammon possessed speed, agility, and an
uncanny sense of balance. Add those qualities to his
superior knowledge of the game and how it should be skated
and you have one of the greatest skaters to ever set foot on
the banked-track.
Mike Gammon will always be considered one of the true
superstars of Roller Derby.
In recognition of his
unparalleled contribution to the sport, Mike Gammon was
one of the first to be inducted into the National Roller Derby
Hall of Fame when it was re-opened in 2004.
5
http://astroworf.tripod.com/fw1.html
Joanie Weston
What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Sport Like This?
Away from the wheeling warfare of Roller Derby, Joan Weston hardly seems capable of decimating
an opposing team of women skaters with brutal hip, leg, and shoulder blocks. As she sits quietly in her
dressing room in New York's Madison Square Garden, she is dressed in a navy blazer that she wears
over a white pleated mini-skirt. Her hair (still wet form a post-game shower) is tied back with a pink
ribbon into a ponytail. She looks like an athletic, slightly older Candice Bergen. But her laugh is more
like Phyllis Diller's as she ribs her teammates and they rib her back.
In startling contrast to her girlish appearance, she is tending a purplish wound on her forearm, the
souvenir of a block that sent her into and over-the-rail, off the banked track, and onto the Garden's
concrete 8 feet below.
There she is …Joan Weston, the female superstar of Roller Derby, 37 years old, 5'10" tall, an 18year veteran of the roller-skating wars. Rough and tough on the track, she also quotes Sigmund Freud,
reads Boswell, and is president of the Democratic Club of San Leandro, California.
Born in Huntington Park, California, Joan Weston was raised by her grandparents, E.J. and Olive
Edwards after her parents, Evelyn and Gard Weston were divorced during her infancy. She recalls her
father was "a beautiful man. He resembled Clark Gable. I adored him. I guess I'll never forget the one
summer I spent with him before he was killed in a car crash. I resented my mother. I thought she was
responsible for their troubles. Actually, I never knew my mother when I was a child. I never wanted to.
She lived one place and I lived another. My grandparents were of pioneer stock. They owned a gas
station and restaurant and worked at both six days a week. My grandfather was the town's soft touch.
Always good for a couple of bucks. Grandmother pretended to be the stern one. She was just under 5feet tall. But when she talked, you listened.
"I never had a chance to run wild. It was Grandfather's wish that I be a St. Mary's girl and so I was.
I loved it. And if I hadn't been more anxious to be on the varsity, I might have been an excellent
student. But my head was always in a cloud. Either a cloud of dust at home plate or at the scrimmage
line.
"I thought seriously then of being a trick horseback rider, a carryover from my days of envying Dale
Evans and her hold on Trigger and Roy Rogers. That made Grandma itchy. When I decided later that I
wanted to be a nun, she nearly had kittens. She threatened to take me out of school. We were not
Catholics, you see.
6
"Next I decided I would be a great slugging first basement with a girls' softball team. That seemed
almost normal to Gran, so she let me play in the San Gabriel Valley Girls' Softball League. 2 years later
when I was offered a contract to turn pro, I had just seen my first Roller Derby and I was already
hooked.
But Joan found she herself wasn't quite prepared for Roller Derby. "The language terrified me.
When I learned what the words meant and that many of the skaters believed actions spoke louder than
words, I nearly quit. It was a far cry from St. Mary's.
"In retrospect, it seems fun. But it wasn't when it was happening. I wanted to skate, wanted to
compete. But I was afraid of what looked to me like Peyton Place on roller skates. I had been so
sheltered. I finally decided to call my mother. She had worked as a waitress all her life at truck stops
and she knew all the words. She had heard all the stories. She didn't laugh at her dummy daughter. She
just said, 'Joanie, Derby people aren't any different from any other people in this world. People and sex
are like franks and beans. They go together.'
"My mother has never liked the idea of my being in Roller Derby. But only because of its
roughness. She has never seen me skate and won't. It terrifies her. My grandmother came only once.
Needless to say, she didn't rush off to start a fan club for her granddaughter.
"But I guess I really loved it from the start even after my 'auspicious' debut. I stumbled and fell in
front of 9 skaters and every one of them fell over me. Was I clumsy! But the speed --.the sense of
freedom when you're skating at 30 miles an hour -- and the game itself all had me hooked.
"The violence never attracted me. I always hoped my skating rather than my fists would do the
talking. It hasn't always worked out that way and that embarrasses me. I've had my share of fights.
Even won most of them. But in the winning, I've always felt like a loser. Unless I'm kidding myself, I
don't think hostility is my bag. With some of the newer kids it is. They fight skaters, management, fans,
everything. They're angry. I think they reflect the mood of the times. Yet when it comes to fighting for
a cause like equal pay for female skaters, they chicken out. I earn about $30,000 a year now. If I were a
man, I'd be earning close to $50,000. It isn't fair."
Nicknamed the 'Blonde Amazon', 'Blonde Bomber', and the 'Golden Girl',
the entire roller derby enterprise began to revolve around this enigmatic athlete in the 1960s
7
The Blonde Bomber skated full time for 18 years, over 250 games each year.
Then she skated in the part time leagues for another 24 years.
This makes Joan the skater who skated the MOST games of any other female over her lifetime.
Joan Weston is single and doesn't seem unhappy about it.
"I was engaged when I was 20 to a teammate. He was tall, dark, and absolutely gorgeous. The
publicity department had a field day. 'Made for each other,' they said. It took us 18 months to find that
we weren't. Since then, there have been 2 disastrous engagements. One man even demanded that I stop
skating which I refused to do. I don't think I'll ever marry.
"Do I have regrets? Yes. But -- and this is a big 'but' in my life -- I do have stardom and that can't
be minimized. Anyone who tries to minimize it doesn't have it. Money is one of its joys. But money
isn't where it's really at. Money isn't why you work for stardom continuously even when you already
have it. Stardom is recognition, approval, power. Do you know what it's like to be able to bring 20,000
people to their feet? To make them hate or love you? That's where it's at. Power!
"I'm nearly 40 and I'm in great shape and can still outskate most kids half my age. But I bruise a
little easier each year and take a little longer to heal. I don't plan to retire even though within 4 years
thanks to sound investments, I'll never have to work again. But what would I do? I could finish college
and get my teaching license. But the truth is I want to stay with Derby. I would miss the crazy life. I
belong to her. I'm part of growing heritage, part of a family. 150 maniacs all.
"I'd like to train skaters and work with new kids. But I wouldn't coach. That's a man's job. I can
just hear the screams from Gloria Steinem and company now. Sorry about that. But I still believe
certain roles should be played by men and others by women. I'm willing to let a man be my coach. And
if he wants to view me as a sex object, I won't complain. I mean if a man wants to think I'm Raquel
Welch, that's not going to upset me. I may have taken a lot of spills in my career. But punchy I'm not."
8
From Astroworf's site at http://astroworf.tripod.com
Joanie Weston
The Blonde Bomber
The very first Internet search I did was for Joanie Weston. I was appalled to find no reference to her
and very little on the Roller Derby itself. That was at the end of February, 1997. So I decided to do
something about it.
I put the first page of this website up to remember the Roller Derby on May 10 th, not knowing that
she would make her appearance on the Internet the following day in the obituary column.
I don't think I would have been a Roller Derby fan had it not been for Joanie. She was my Viking
princess when I first laid eyes on her in the mid-1960s when I was just 10 years old. Perhaps the best
woman skater of the time, she was tall and strong with a smile that could melt even the hardest heart.
She could step off the track immediately after pummeling an opponent and still speak and carry herself
as a lady.
Joanie entered the league as a member of the New York Chiefs in 1954 and soon established herself
as a star. After a stint with the L.A. Braves, she served a 4-year tenure with the Chicago Westerners
where fans awarded her with her first of 3 "Roller Derby Queen" titles. But it was in the mid-60s when
the nation took notice as Joanie became a Bay Area Bomber, a member of America's Roller Derby team.
No. 38, Joanie helped lead the Bombers as its women's captain to a record-tying 5 consecutive Whirl
championships. She was with the Bombers for 7 years before the regionalization of the International
Roller Derby League took her back to Chicago to be the women's captain of the Midwest Pioneers.
9
When the IRDL folded in 1973, Joanie joined up with the Roller Games, briefly skating for the L.A.
T-Birds and even on a Bomber team that included former IRDL stars such as Annis "Bid Red" Jensen.
Her entire tenure there may have been less than a full season as she became part of one of the many
unsuccessful attempts to revive the game in the 1970s as a member of the California Red Devils in a 3game season in the Roller Stars League.
Joanie returned as
a Bay Bomber and to
her familiar No. 38
when the
International Roller
Skating League
formed in the 1980s.
It lasted about 5 years
and even earned a
tryout on ESPN. But
just when it looked
like the league was
hitting the bigtime
again, the plug was
pulled.
Joanie last skated in September, 1996 in an exhibition. Just 2 months later, she was diagnosed with
Creutzfeldt-Jakob (the human equivalent of "mad cow" disease). She succumbed to it at the age of 62.
In memory of Joan, skaters got together for a game to benefit research into the disease that took her. A
couple of pictures from that benefit can be found at another of my sites (Astroworf's Attic).
When I first learned of Joanie's passing, I immediately was concerned that she may have died alone,
not knowing that she had married Nick Scopas. When I found out in the news groups that they I had
been married, I was truly thankful that she had someone other than her legions of fans to make her
happy. I was especially pleased that it was Nick Scopas because one thing my memory hasn't skewed is
the looks -- and the smiles -- that those two shared as members of the Pioneers.
Over the years, Joanie had many rivalries as she fought to protect herself and teammates from the
villainy from the likes of Ann Calvello, Cathie Read, and Sandy Dunn. In 1966, she had a couple of
others to worry about as the IRDL and Roller Games played a partial interleague schedule.
10
http://forgottennewsmakers.com/2010/06/01/joan-weston-1935-%E2%80%93-1997-roller-derbyqueen/
JOAN WESTON (1935 – 1997) Roller Derby Queen
In 1935, Joan Weston and Roller Derby were both born. When they finally met, it was a match
made in Heaven.
Weston’s parents divorced when she was a baby and she was raised by her maternal grandparents.
They worked 6 days a week at the restaurant and gas station they owned in Southern California. Despite
their preoccupation with earning a living, they created a strict but loving environment.
Weston idolized her father who had movie star good looks. She fondly remembers a summer spent
with him before he was killed in a car accident. Not knowing how to channel her grief, she blamed her
mother for her parents’ divorce. This compounded the emotional distance between them.
Even though they weren’t Catholics, her grandfather insisted on a Mount St. Mary’s College
education. Her grandmother was amenable to that until Weston decided she wanted to become a nun.
Weston then appeased her by directing all her energy into sports. A natural athlete, Weston excelled in
every sport she tried. But that didn’t mean her grandmother would let her try anything. She balked
when Weston wanted to take up trick horseback riding as being too dangerous. Softball seemed like a
good compromise and Weston played school and league ball. This proved to be a good match. In one
college game, Weston hit 8 home runs.
Upon graduation, there weren’t many options for female athletes. When Weston watched the Roller
Derby, she saw her future and couldn’t wait to take her skating from the sidewalk to the indoor banked
track. Her 5'10" 165-pound frame and bleached blonde hair were the perfect body and image. She
moved to northern California to learn the sport and join a team.
Weston’s sheltered upbringing hadn’t prepared her for the unrefined behavior and profanity of the
skaters. She felt so intimidated and out of place that she almost quit. Knowing that her mother being a
truck-stop waitress would understand that life a lot better, Weston called her for encouragement. Her
mother’s advice was that Roller Derby people were no different than anybody else. “People and sex are
like franks and beans,” she said. “They go together.”
It wasn’t the Roller Derby people or the lifestyle that attracted Weston. She simply loved to skate
and skating at 30 miles-an-hour gave her a sense of freedom. At the beginning she had to overcome
some clumsiness, however. In her first outing, she tripped and fell in front of 9 skaters, all of whom fell
over her.
After playing on various teams for several years, Weston gained her Roller Derby Queen reputation
on the San Francisco Bay Bombers. She started wearing the orange-and-black in 1963 when she was 28
years old. Her fans called her the 'Blonde Bomber', 'Blonde Amazon', and 'Golden Girl'.
Skating was so much her life that she skated full time (over 250 games each year) for 18 years and
part-time for another 24 years. She played the Pivot position which gave her an opportunity to play
defense and offense as necessary. Even though the Roller Derby was not a mainstream sport, Weston
11
was the highest paid female athlete in the 1960s. She earned less than her male counterparts, however,
by nearly $20,000.
Derby teams toured the country to compete at local arenas, traveling by Greyhound bus or car. One
year Weston put 60,000 miles on her car. The players stayed in Holiday Inns that dotted the trail. Each
night her best friend was waiting in the room for Weston to return. Malia -- a spotted mutt who was
born in a box on a Greyhound bus -- knew when Weston should be arriving and was peering out the
window when her car pulled into the parking lot.
It wasn’t easy to maintain romantic relationships while on the road. When she was 20, she got
engaged to another skater who was drop-dead handsome. The Roller Derby publicity department
milked the relationship for all it was worth. But after 18 months, it ended. There were 2 other
engagements that ended badly. One suitor insisted Weston stop skating. But she sacrificed the
relationship instead of her career. With so much heartbreak, when she was 37 years old Weston
declared she would never marry.
In 1965 the Roller Derby management promoted her to captain of the acclaimed Bay Bombers
supplanting Annis "Big Red" Jensen. On tour, Weston wore the white shirt of the home team.
About that time, a rivalry blossomed between Weston and Ann Calvello, another superstar skater
who wrote the red shirt of the rival teams. Weston vs. Calvello became the biggest rivalry in the history
of the sport and it was personal. Games turned into Good vs. Evil slugfests and Calvello never missed
an opportunity to provoke and punish Weston’s teammates with illegal kicks and punches. This fueled
Weston to seek revenge.
Calvello’s cheap shots incensed audiences who would throw things at her and occasionally even
damage her car. Each skater played her part to perfection. But in the end, the audience demanded that
Good triumph over Evil. Even though Weston was the predictable victor, audiences packed the arenas
the next night to see what would happen.
Injuries are a fact of life in Roller Derby and Weston -- like all players -- suffered her share of
debilitating ones. In an interview she recounted knee cartilage surgery and a dislocated collar bone.
Trips to the dentist were frequent as dentures replaced missing teeth. In one game she got into such a
heated argument with the referee that two of her teeth flew out of her mouth right past the ref’s ear.
Because of the violence, Weston’s mom could never accept her daughter’s career choice, or even
watch a Roller Derby game. Her grandmother had the courage to watch only one. The star athlete
found her support within the ranks of the sport. Eventually she married skater Nick Scopas and their
relationship lasted until death parted them.
If they weren’t proud of her job, Weston’s family could be proud of what she accomplished. The
Blond Bomber was voted "Roller Derby Queen" 4 times; received the Most Valuable Player award in
1968; and was inducted into the National Roller Derby Hall of Fame.
In the 1970s, a skaters’ strike, the gas crisis, and increasing costs made managing the Roller Derby
too expensive for Jerry Seltzer, son of founder Leo Seltzer. The original Roller Derby league skated
their last game on December 3, 1973. Seltzer sold everything Roller Derby to other promoters.
Weston and Roller Derby started life and ended together. She was 38 years old and her body didn’t
bounce back from injuries as quickly. So this was the perfect time to retire. It was not the end of
12
skating for Weston, however. She channeled her experience and expertise into training young skaters
and staging exhibition games.
Weston’s life wasn’t all skating all the time. She loved Hawaii and won the 1962 outrigger
championship on a canoe called Malia (the namesake for her dog). Her love of softball exceeded her
tenure skating and she played in leagues in northern California.
Weston contracted Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, a rare degenerative brain disorder. She died at age 62
in Hayward, California, survived by her husband. 25 years, earlier she was asked if she had any regrets.
She said she did. But that there was one thing that compensated: stardom.
“Stardom is recognition, approval, power. Do you know what it’s like to be able to bring 20,000
people to their feet? To make them hate or love you? That’s where it’s at. Power!”
References:
Weston’s last video interview: http://rollergames.ning.com/video/joan-westons-last-sit-down
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/18/us/joanie-weston-62-a-big-star-in-the-world-of-rollerderbies.html
http://derbymemoirs.bankedtrack.info/mem_Weston_Joan.html
http://rollergames.ning.com/video/joan-westons-last-sit-down
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Weston
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/frank_deford/05/19/roller.derby.revival/index.html
http://articles.sfgate.com/2006-03-16/bay-area/17285386_1_roller-skated-san-francisco-baybombers/2
http://baycitybombers.com/Stories/calvello.html
http://www.ktvu.com/station/1854287/detail.html
http://www.rollerderbyhalloffame.com/id5.html
http://www.rollerderbyhalloffame.com/id3.html
http://www.rollerderbyfoundation.org/index.html
Welcome to the Roller Derby Foundation …
… dedicated to preserving the history of Leo Seltzer's banked track creation -- ROLLER DERBY -- by
remembering the great athletes who gave their all to the sport and fans; by bringing together those
whose passion for the sport keeps the game alive in our hearts and minds years after the original Derby's
demise; and most importantly, to giving back to the skaters whose efforts contributed much to the
cultural history of the nation and whose accomplishments will never be forgotten.
13
Roller Derby's most prolific scorer -- MIKE GAMMON,
wearing the Northwest Cardinals' #15 -- against 'Mr.
Roller Derby' CHARLIE O'CONNELL, #40, legendary
coach of the world-famous San Francisco Bay Bombers &
Derby's greatest male star in skating action from 1970.
O'Connell was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 1967 after
his first retirement, then continued skating till 1978.
Gammon, who skated with the original Derby until it
closed in 1973, continued skating on-and-off till 1984 and
was in the first class of inductees when the National Roller
Derby Hall of Fame reopened in 2004.
14
Left to right, it's 3 Hall-of-Famers:
BOBBIE JOHNSTONE (wife of Hall-ofFamer Buddy Atkinson, Sr. and mother of
2005 inductee Buddy, Jr.), ANNIS 'Big
Red' JENSEN (wife of Hall-of-Famer Russ
'Rosie' Baker and mother of wheeler
Barbara Baker) & ANN CALVELLO in
1950s
action
between
Philadelphia
Panthers & Chicago Westerners. Jensen
was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1960.
Calvello joined her in 1968 and Johnstone
was part of the class of 2005 inducted in
Chicago along with son Buddy, Jr.
JOSEPHINE 'MA' BOGASH & son BILLY seen here in an
early Transcontinental Roller Derby publicity photo. 'Ma'
Bogash was the game's first marquee skater and also its first
female Hall-of-Famer. Billy Bogash was Derby's biggest
scorer during the first 15 years of the game and was player
representative for the skaters' association for many years.
Billy Bogash was inducted into the Hall-of-Fame in the early
1950s.
Hall-of-Famer Hal Janowitz (on the right
wearing #39) coached the CHICAGO
WESTERNERS to their only world title in
1959 and is seen here against Dave Pound.
Janowitz skated his final season (1961) with
the Bay Bombers.
GERRY MURRAY -- considered to be
the most natural skater in the history of
the game and probably the all-time
scoring champion among women -- was
beloved by legions of fans. Her battles
with another Hall-of-Famer 'Toughie'
Brasuhn were the stuff of legend.
Captain of the New York Chiefs and
mother of superstar Mike Gammon,
she's seen here during a very brief stint
with the San Francisco Bombers in 1959.
ANN CALVELLO, Roller Derby's 'Queen of the Penalty
Box' was its most famous "bad girl". Calvello began skating
in 1948, made her mark almost immediately with the Philly
Panthers, was an original Bay Bomber ('54-'59) before
starting a new phase of her career as a 'red shirt' in the 60s
when she established herself as one of the all-time greats.
15
GENE GAMMON -- who coached the New
York Chiefs for many a championship
season -- was married to Gerry Murray
and raised legendary skater Mike
Gammon.
One of the hardest-hitting
blockers of all time.
For many fans, Marjorie Claire Louise Theresa
Brasuhn (sometimes known as 'Midge' but always the
one and only 'Toughie') was Roller Derby's most
famous skater. Years later, this diminutive woman's
name is still instantly associated with the sport. Born
Jan. 17, 1924, Toughie's televised battles with Gerry
Murray were legendary, insuring the success of the
infant medium and helping to secure Roller Derby's
place in the history of the nation. Brasuhn passed away
August 9, 1971 in Hawaii.
http://www.sacsports.net/features/rd1.html
A nostalgic look back at the skate game Roller Derby that all of America loved
While going through some old boxes the other night, I dug out an autograph book that brought back
a lot of memories. Hand-painted on the cover with enamel model airplane paint in brown-and-orange
letters, it said Bay Bombers (1971).
Visions of the Memorial Auditorium in downtown Sacramento suddenly sprang into my head. Of a
banked skating track and wheeled warriors doing battle on roller skates. "It's time for Roller Derby..."
Anyone who lived in Sacramento back in the 60s and 70s has to remember the Roller Derby. The
San Francisco Bay Bombers, Eastern Red Devils, Northeast Braves, Midwest Pioneers, Ohio Jolters, and
several other teams that would appear and disappear as time went by. Of course, the Bay Bombers were
our team. In their familiar orange-and-brown uniforms, the Bombers were the heroes of my youth and
adored by fans throughout the area.
Coach Charlie O'Connell, Tony Roman, Larry Smith, Cliff Butler, Carol "Peanuts" Meyer, Francine
Cochu, and Joanie Weston were only a few of the fan favorites at the games played at the Memorial
Auditorium. Of course, the Derby played all over Northern California as well. And during "our" offseason, it toured the country, delighting fans from Denver to Chicago to New York.
16
The original Roller Derby was created by Leo Seltzer back in the 1930s. The first-ever Derby
"game" was skated on Aug. 13, 1935 in the Chicago Coliseum with over 20,000 people watching. At
that time, rather than a competitive game, the Derby was an endurance race. Male/female teams would
switch off skating a race of 57,000 laps which amounted to 4,000 miles (roughly the distance across the
United States). A large map was displayed with markers showing where the teams would be if they
were really skating across the country.
The "modern" Roller Derby was born by accident only a few years later as Seltzer was showing off
his game to New York sportswriter Damon Runyan in Miami in 1938. During a "speed jam", a few of
the players tangled up and Runyan suggested to Seltzer that contact should be part of the game. The
next night, it was.
The Roller Derby had its ups-and-downs over the years, eventually migrating from East to West. In
1958, Seltzer's son Jerry took over the business (or what was left of it) and by the mid-1960s, Roller
Derby was back on its feet.
Roller Derby thrived in Northern California in the 1960s and 70s. The Bay Bombers, formed in
1954, became the team of choice and the rest is history. Under Seltzer, the Roller Derby survived until
its last official game in 1973.
During the last 2 years of the Seltzer-owned Derby, the sport went nationwide with games being
skated all over the country and teams adopting various cities as their "home" base. The Pioneers skated
in the Chicago area; the Jolters in Cincinnati; the Chiefs in New York; and of course, the Bombers in
Northern California.
For a brief period of time, the Bombers were replaced
by the California Golden State Bay Area Chiefs (with
O'Connell at the helm). But the ever-loyal Bomber fans
didn't stand for this very long and soon the Bombers (and
O'Connell) returned to their familiar brown-and-orange
uniforms.
An unexpected enemy put an end to the Derby by
1973. Driving everywhere, Roller Derby soon succumbed
to rising gas prices and transportation costs. Fans -- at
least for a while -- had to live with only their memories of
the game.
San Francisco Bay Bomber coach Charlie
O'Connell (right) throws a jump block
against John "Porky" Parker during a
1970s Roller Derby contest.
Some skaters scattered to other skating organizations.
But disgruntled with the "style" of play, none of them
lasted very long (by choice) with these groups. Meanwhile,
Seltzer founded the successful BASS ticket service while his
uncle Oscar continued running the Roller Derby Skate
Company.
In 1977 David Lipschultz revived the Derby, bringing it back to some of its former glory in Northern
California. Lipschultz had got involved in the Derby after skaters Charlie O'Connell, Mike Gammon,
and announcer Don Drewry made an attempt to bring the game back in 1976.
17
A television producer at Channel 20 in the Bay Area, Lipschultz was interested in putting the Derby
back on TV. On April 24, 1977, the first television game of the new International Roller Skating
League was taped at Kezar Pavillion. Lipschultz eventually took complete control of the league and
under the IRSL banner signed many of the old Derby stars. Roller Derby was finally back in business.
The new organization lasted until Dec. 12, 1987 when its last game was skated at Madison Square
Garden in New York. Financial problems and involvement with partners who suddenly backed out
spelled an end to this version of the Derby.
Left with no place to go, the skaters again tried other organizations, most notably the Southern
California-based Roller Games. But again, unhappy with the pranks and showmanship involved with
the "other outfit", many skaters opted for retirement rather than continuing on.
Other promoters have tried to revive the Derby over the last few years in one form or another but
none have succeeded. Several skaters have put together "pick-up" games for charity recently. So while
there is no organized Roller Derby league, Roller Derby still exists in the hearts of the skaters.
June 29, 1991 in Burbank, 200 former Roller Derby stars dating back to the 1940s had a get-together
to relive old times and swap war stories. Roller Derby will always be more than a memory for them.
http://www.sacsports.net/features/rd2.html
When David Lipschultz started the Roller Derby back up in 1977, it was a dream come true for
many of the skaters who had been in the old Jerry Seltzer-owned Derby that preceded it. Names like
Charlie O'Connell, Joan Weston, Tony Roman, Larry Smith, Francine Cochu, and Ann Calvello
returned to the banked track that had made them famous.
For most of the skaters, the Derby was a way of life. They took pride in their profession and they
loved skating. Although the most recent incarnation of Roller Derby died in December of 1987, if
Roller Derby were brought back today, a majority of the old skaters probably wouldn't hesitate to return
to a rough-and-tumble life on the banked track.
Fans might wonder where some of their favorite skaters are today. Certainly, they are a lot older
than when they were in their prime back in the 60s and 70s. But many still live in and around Northern
California.
Long-time San Francisco Bay Bomber coach Charlie O'Connell owns a bar in San Leandro.
O'Connell last skated in 1978 and then retired as an active skater on the advice of doctors. He had
suffered so many broken bones in his arms that doctors warned him that he risked loss of movement if
future breaks occurred. Indeed, the final few years of his skating career saw him with protective braces
covering both of his forearms. O'Connell is married to another former skater Judi McGuire (who was
married to Mike Gammon).
"The Golden Girl" Joan Weston is another Bay Area bar owner. Long a fan-favorite, Weston skated
and also ran the Roller Derby training school in Hayward for a time in the Lipschultz-era. Weston
married another Derby skater Nick Scopas and the two are also part-owner of a race horse and raise
show dogs.
On a sad note, former Bomber speedster Tony Roman died of cancer around Christmas on 1988.
Wife Carol "Peanuts" Meyer lives in the Fremont area. The once dynamic skating duo had 3 daughters
and a son.
18
Ronnie Robinson -- the son of boxing great "Sugar Ray" Robinson -- currently lives in the New
York area and has opened a Roller Derby training school with designs on bringing the game back even if
it's only on the minor-league level.
Ann Calvello -- the skater that fans loved to hate -- started skating in 1948 and
lasted right up until the end of the Derby in 1987. She turned 62 on Aug. 1, 1991
and just recently retired from Kaiser Hospital in San Francisco. She was one of
the original Bay Bombers back in 1954.
Calvello is a story in herself. With her father in the Navy, growing up wasn't
easy for Calvello who found moving from city to city the rule rather than the
exception. Finally settling in the San Francisco area in 1941, Calvello often went
to local roller rinks and got hooked on flat-track speed skating. At that time she
hadn't even heard of Roller Derby.
In 1948, Roller Derby great Buddy Atkinson Sr. visited some of the roller rinks
to recruit skaters for a 3-month tour of Europe. Calvello signed up and skated
under the banner of the International Roller Speedway - getting her first taste of
Roller Derby action. After returning to the United States, Calvello joined up with the Oakland Roller
Derby in 1949. She's been skating ever since.
Although there hasn't been an actual Roller Derby League since 1987, even at age 62 Calvello would
be one of the first skaters in line if the Derby were to start back up tomorrow.
"I've kept in good shape and can still skate," said Calvello in a phone interview. "If they want me,
they know where to find me. They have my phone number."
Most skaters bristled when asked about the realism of Roller Derby. Calvello -- who frequently
sported polka-dot-dyed or multi-colored hair styles on the track -- downplayed the whole issue as to
whether games were fixed.
"I think a lot of the criticism about it being phony," said Calvello, "came from when we were out on
the road. A lot of the kids that were on the road with us had no business being there. They couldn't
skate and didn't look very convincing."
Calvello's voice still carries the fire that marked her long skating career and made her the skater fans
loved to hate.
"I never did like being cheered," said Calvello. "It was more fun having them boo me. I didn't like
being on the home team."
Calvello was a member of the "home team" when the Bay Bombers started up in 1954. But she also
skated for a number of other teams including the Chicago Westerners, Hollywood Ravens, Jersey
Jolters, Red Devils, and Midwest Pioneers. When the Seltzer-owned Derby died in 1973, Calvello was
in Hawaii recovering from a knee operation.
"There was no warning," said Calvello. "I thought it was the worst thing that could have happened.
I never even knew the Derby was gone until some other skaters told me."
Calvello came back to skate for the Lipschultz-owned Derby from 1977-87, happy to once again be
back in action.
19
"Dave was very young at the time," said Calvello. "But he tried very hard to give everyone a chance
to skate."
Calvello sounds bitter about the twice-demised Derby leaving her without a job. But she admits she
would be back if it started up again and they wanted her.
"I certainly don't miss the one-nighters through ice and snow and all the driving. We drove
everywhere. But it was part of the job and it had to be done. I miss the skating though. I loved to be
before the crowd and in the limelight. Just once before I'm gone, I'd love to be able to skate again before
a packed house."
Rumors abound about the Derby starting back up again. Several promoters have breezed through the
Bay Area in years past claiming to want to start Roller Derby up again. But none has lasted more than a
few games. Seltzer has even reportedly been approached about a new league which would be pure sport
and feature only men skaters rather than having mixed teams.
"It would never work," said Calvello. "No one would watch it. The fans want Roller Derby the way
it's always been. To come back, Roller Derby needs a good promoter who is willing to spend the money
to put it on."
Perhaps it won't be in front of a packed house, but Calvello and some other Derby skaters will get a
chance to skate in front of their loyal fans once again with a benefit game scheduled in September, 1991
at a high school in Vallejo. Another group of skaters headed by Ronnie Robinson, Pete Boyd, and Bob
Woodberry (all former Northeast Braves team members) have a game scheduled in Wheeling, West
Virginia on Sept. 14.
The Derby may be gone as a national sport (at least for now ca. 1991). But the game will always
live on in one form or another.
http://www.sacsports.net/features/rd3.html
After Roller Derby migrated from the East Coast to the West Coast in the late 1950s and early
1960s, the game began to thrive again in its new environment. The early 1960s saw 3 different
organizations running Roller Derby on the West Coast, each competing within itself and also sharing
"visiting" teams with the others.
The L.A. Braves were located in the Los Angeles area; the Bay Bombers in the San Francisco area
(run by Jerry Seltzer); and the Portland/Seattle/Spokane Westerners (run by Derby founder Leo Seltzer)
all operated under the Roller Derby banner.
The Jerry Seltzer-run Derby, of course, was the only organization to survive into the late 1960s and
early 70s. But even it finally succumbed, driven out of business by rising prices and restrictions brought
on by the gas crunch of the 70s.
In its Northern California prime, the Roller Derby enjoyed a great deal of prosperity. The skaters
took pride in their skating and athletic ability and visibly bristled when anyone tried to cast a shadow
over Roller Derby as not being a real sport.
"It bothered them a lot," said one former skating employee who preferred not to be identified
because of his current position with another sports group. "They really cared about what people thought
and got angry at not being considered athletes.
20
"At times there was a lot of 'showmanship' involved. But the skating was always fast and furious.
The veteran skaters learned quickly how to sell themselves to the crowd."
Skaters wait before a capacity crowd for their Roller Derby contest to begin during a visit to the Memorial
Auditorium. The Derby frequented the Sacramento facility on a regular basis in the 1970s and 80s and even held its
championship playoffs there one year.
The skaters were said to get very defensive anytime anyone would knock their game. But at the
same time they realized the need to be "showy" in order to draw fans. Anyone doubting the validity of
the game probably never took notice of the long list of injuries that followed many of the skaters around.
Charlie O'Connell had so many breaks in his arms toward the end of his career that he was forced to
skate with braces on them or face loss of movement should another break occur. Ann Calvello was
sidelined with a knee injury so serious that doctors said she'd never skate again (although after surgery
she eventually did return). Many skaters rolled around the track nightly with injuries that probably
would have put many people in the hospital.
Toward the latter part of the Seltzer-owned Derby, Roller Derby began skating games against its
Southern California rival, the Roller Games.
"That was always interesting," said the former Derby employee. "There was a lot of animosity
between the 2 groups. Many of the Roller Games skaters didn't like to skate against the Roller Derby
skaters because O'Connell and some of the others would really slam them around.
"And the Roller Derby skaters just didn't like Roller Games in general because of their skating style.
They didn't like the excessive showmanship, shouting matches, and pies in the face."
21
Between 1971 and 1973, Roller Derby went nationwide with "home" teams placed in different
regions. Each team skated a season of 120 games with home games in its own local area.
The gas crisis of the early 1970s brought an end to that, however, and the International Roller Derby
League skated its last game on Dec. 6, 1973. It wasn't until 1977 that a new Roller Derby organization
emerged -- the International Roller skating League.
Several skaters had tried to get a new league going without much success. David Lipschultz (then a
producer at Channel 20 in San Francisco) came into the picture and got it back on its feet. Lipschultz
originally had only been interested in putting the Derby back on television.
"The skaters were trying to organize themselves in that first season," he said. "But they weren't too
good at it. I wound up taking over the whole league."
The IRSL was in business for just over 10 years. "In that time," said Lipschultz, "we were
continually evolving. We would have gone national again but ran into several problems."
Lipschultz relates that one of the biggest problems was getting quality female skaters on the banked
track. "If we went national, we were going to need female skaters. The training school was turning out
a lot of good men skaters but no women."
The Derby did test the waters in 1984 after skating primarily in Northern California. But according
to Lipschultz, "We took a beating financially."
Roller Derby toured the Midwest, flopping in Chicago after good advance sales.
"We were up against a baseball team that had just moved into first place for the first time in 20 years
and a sellout crowd at the Bears football game that allowed it to be shown on TV."
Moving on to Green Bay, Wisconsin, the Derby did no better, playing a date on a hot rain-soaked
Sunday afternoon that kept the crowd to a minimum.
"That was a booking error," said Lipschultz. "They told me the weather would be great. But that
type of weather was normal for that time of year. I found out later that no one had ever booked the
arena in August before."
Indeed, those were only the start of some of the problems that would plague the Derby in coming
years, most of which were overcome by the determination of Lipschultz to make Roller Derby a success.
"Television stations looked on us as an entertainment attraction rather than a sport," said Lipschultz.
"They wanted us to pay to put our games on the air. Religion and wrestling pay television to carry its
programming. I was determined not to do that. I didn't feel that we should pay a station to put on a
program that brought them good ratings."
Lipschultz would often have to settle for a No. 2 or No. 3 station in a particular area to get his way.
"We were giving them free programming," said Lipschultz. "But stations were continually trying to
get money out of us."
Between 1985-87, Roller Derby finally looked as if it was going to take off into the big time.
22
"A lot happened during that period," said Lipschultz. "We established an east coast team - the
Eastern Express - which played its games around the New York area. We entered into a contract with
Madison Square Garden for both live and television games; had a contract with ESPN to produce a
series of telecasts; and we entered into a partnership with the most successful rock-and-roll promoter in
the New York area."
Lipschultz also said that the wheels were turning on a licensing program for merchandise including
home video tapes, Halloween costumes, and video games. "There was a real serious effort at
merchandising at this point," he said.
"What we were trying to do was to create a pool of money for the league and also give our skaters a
percentage of it."
Lipschultz said that there was also talk of a rock-and-roll or celebrity tie-in to which end a talent
agency called International Creative Management was brought in. Talks with the USA Network for
weekly games were under way as were negotiations for a European tour.
Then the bottom fell out.
The IRSL skated its last game at Madison Square Garden on December 12, 1987. Lipschultz invited
everyone who was important to the Derby to that game and asked them for their suggestions on how to
improve it.
"Everyone was so busy with ideas that we decided to shut down the league and make fundamental
changes to the rules to make it easier to understand and give it more mass appeal. In going back to the
drawing board, we shot a video tape with the skaters from the musical 'Starlight Express'," said
Lipschultz. "These skaters were really good and would have easily adapted to Roller Derby. We
wanted to blend them in with the talent that was already there. We needed larger-than-life personalities.
Roller Derby didn't have a Hulk Hogan and we needed one."
Unfortunately, Lipschultz soon realized the bitter truth about a business such as Roller Derby.
"Once you shut down," he said, "it isn't very easy to start up again."
Lipschultz said that skaters balked at the changes he had in mind for the game including the
development of "personalities" and more showy interviews like those found in wrestling programs.
"None of it would have hurt the game. It would have just made it more appealing to the fans. It put our
final game in jeopardy of not being played at all," he said.
To make matters worse, ESPN had just paid a huge sum to the NFL to start showing football and as
such was no longer interested in paying the IRSL for its weekly programming. "Lack of television
revenue coupled with in-fighting among the partners and skaters led to the decision to shut down the
league."
Lipschultz was trying to put the pieces back together when a whole new "Roller Games" show
appeared on TV complete with a figure-8 track and a pit with an alligator.
"Its ultimate failure helped poison TV to any kind of roller skating," said Lipschultz.
So what's in the future for Roller Derby?
23
"Eventually I will start it up again," said Lipschultz. "But the time isn't right for it right now."
Lipschultz also said that the game will probably change from its last incarnation, but will still be
recognizable as Roller Derby.
"We may go to roller blades rather than the standard roller skates," he said. "The track might be a
different size or shape. The possibilities are numerous."
Lipschultz also said that the new game may only be 50 percent "old" Roller derby with new
innovations added. "Television will dictate what Roller Derby becomes," he said.
But at the same time, Lipschultz believes that the game mustn't become all theatrics and must stay
legitimate in order to succeed. "I'd like to see it stay as a legitimate game," said Lipschultz. "If it is to
have any chance of growing into a world-wide sport, it would have to be that way."
Lipschultz also envisions a much different business structure for the Derby of the future. "It's going
to have many owners with lots of money," he said. "Television almost certainly would play a part in the
ownership. We'd need more training schools too, rather than just one in California."
Lipschultz said that Roller Derby is too popular a sport to remain dormant for very long and predicts
its ultimate return within a few years, perhaps expanding world-wide before the end of the decade. "The
time isn't right though," he said. "The disastrous failure of Roller Games with their alligator pit is still
too big on everyone's mind."
Lipschultz's plan for bringing the Derby back to prominence will involve merging the old with the
new. "Older skaters from the past will merge with the new skaters and teach them. There will be
recognizable figureheads as well as new rising stars."
Having gone from the top to the bottom with the IRSL, Lipschultz has learned his lesson well.
"When the time is right and the right people become involved, Roller Derby will return. I really love
the game and want to see it done right. This time it will take investors who are willing to spend millions
of dollars on it rather than just one person trying to keep it alive."
http://www.sacsports.net/features/rd4.html
About a month ago when I finished up my 3-part series of articles on Roller Derby, I had heard that
a benefit game was planned for a high school in Vallejo. Sept. 28, 1991 they had that game and I was
invited to attend. It probably had been over 10 years since I had seen a live Roller Derby game.
Perhaps even longer. My memory fades off into the mists of time.
When I showed up at Hogan High School, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I had no idea who
would be skating, if they even had teams, or if I would recognize any of the skaters from the "olden
days."
I guess my whole concept of this game would be that it would more-or-less resemble a pickup game
where you got some players together and divided them up into teams. That probably wasn't too far from
the truth. But it was still exciting to see the skaters out there.
24
A poster outside the gymnasium proclaimed that the Bay City Bombers would be challenging the
L.A. Turbos this night. Once inside, a few of the skaters who were circling the track for their warm-ups
looked familiar to me while others did not.
Ann Calvello (the subject of part of my previous Roller Derby articles) was there. We chatted
briefly before the contest started. Prior to the start of the game, someone presented Calvello with a
rotten banana, harking back to the days when she was called "Banana Nose" Calvello from her many
broken noses.
Cal Stephens, Delores Tucker, and a few others that I remembered were also there but weren't
skating that night. There were a lot of new (at least for me) faces. But I was willing to give this group a
chance to prove themselves.
My first shock of the evening came when Dee Dee Medina (the skater who arranged my tickets)
informed me that I was to start the game. After realizing that she hadn't meant "start" as in skating the
game, my bout of panic induced dizziness passed. But having never been on the infield of a Roller
Derby track, there was still some trepidation on my part.
Fortunately, my role was simply to stand at the starting line on the track, blow a whistle, and drop
my hand - signaling the start of the game. Then I was out of there like greased lightning, grabbing the
railing around the track and swinging down to the floor before the skaters had even reached the first
turn.
The game was exciting despite the obvious. Many of the skaters were terribly out-of-shape. But the
half-filled gymnasium of people were still enthusiastic. One fan -- a lady of over 90 years of age -- sat
by the track in her wheelchair, enjoying the game as much as the kids crawling through the stands.
With the women's first period over, the men took to the track for their first skating period of the
night. One thing that stood out in my mind from that night was the sheer violence of the men's skating
game. Skaters received blocks at just the right moment to send them over the railing, thudding 10 feet
below to the gymnasium floor. The hard-blocking and egos of skaters getting bested by one another
soon led to the inevitable fighting that frequented the Roller Derby that I remembered.
Steve Sartain (left) in pursuit of Roller
Derby's #1 point scorer Jumpin' Joe Perez.
Ann Calvello (left) mixes it up with Delores Holmes.
Despite some obvious showmanship by some of the skaters to get the ire of the crowd, the game was
a hard-fought duel to the finish with the Bombers finally winning in overtime.
25
A question I have often asked myself over the years is "Is there really a Roller Derby without
Charlie O'Connell and the San Francisco Bay Bombers?"
I think I have finally had that question answered. There is indeed!
For me, watching 2 unknown teams with skaters that I had never heard of (for the most part) was
every bit as exciting as watching my old favorites whiz around the track.
More is in store as well as the public address announcer mentioned 2 more teams being added in the
near future along with the opening of a training school.
NOTE: This game was a charity event to raise money for Hogan High School.
With such a large fan base in the Sacramento area, perhaps it won't be too long before someone
decides to bring Roller Derby here for their own fund-raising event.
All that is needed is a gymnasium with a regulation-sized basketball court. It would be nice for the
fans of Sacramento to enjoy - even if for only one night - the game that made such an impact on them
for so many years.
[StealthSkater note: I printed the following in 2000 but it didn't list the source <url>. A current
Google search on some of the text didn't turn up anything either.]
My Days in the Roller Derby
Many people think that Roller Derby died out during the 1980s. But I know first-hand that the sport
was quite popular in many circles. In fact, Roller Derby enjoyed more "legitimacy" during that period
than it had during its high-profile days of the 1960s and 70s.
How Roller Derby is Played
Roller Derby is played by teams of 10 players each. Each team comprises 5 male and 5 female
players.
Each game consists of 4 rounds. The female players skate the first round and each round thereafter
is alternated between the females and males.
For each round, one team player is designated as "Jammer" and wears a helmet to indicate his/her
position. Points are scored when the Jammer passes members of the opposing team and leads the "pack"
by a lap or more.
Jams last for 60 seconds at most and may be cut short by any Jammer. The Jammer signifies the end
of a jam by placing both hands on the hips.
Are the Violence and Fighting associate with Roller Derby fake like wrestling?
No! Every fall you see and every elbow you see go into somebody's face is 100% authentic.
Believe me, I've been on both the giving and receiving ends of my share of blows and there's nothing
fake about them.
26
Technically, fighting and violence are against the rules. But a few minutes on penalty isn't much to
discourage the "taking out" of a particularly effective opposing Jammer.
The refs also have a hard time discerning when a penalty is in order since it's hard to tell what
elbowing is malicious and what is a natural physical movement as a result of skating.
Here I am back in 1984 serving as Jammer
for the Bucks. I'm busy dropping former
Eliminator Karen Sherlock! BIFF! As a
result of this match in sunny California, I
acquired my nickname "Suzie Siderailer"
(or just "Siderailer" for short).
[StealthSkater note: Like pro hockey, Roller Derby fans like to see violence. Personally, I enjoyed
hockey more when the emphasis was on speed and precision passing like it was played in
the 1950-60 Olympic years. Too many times can a great skater's skills be minimized by
common thuggery by a player with no skills.
And also remember that while
violence/fighting may "sell" to the fans, it doesn't help the gate receipts if a star player is
out-of-action or playing sub-par for the next month because of a one-time fight. They are
finally learning that in today's NFL. Hall-of-Fame linebacker Dick Butkus once said that
"You want to hurt but not injure. There is a distinction."]
How I Got Involved in Roller Derby
It sometimes surprises people to find that I was once heavily involved in the sport of Roller Derby.
But I grew up in a Roller Derby town. We had a skating rink in our area and I used to go there every
available moment to practice my speed and skills. The rink was run by former T-bird Sandy "Smasher"
McNay. Back in those days, I worshipped Sandy for both her skills as a skater and her knowledge of the
game. She soon informally became my personal trainer.
By the time I was 13 (the "legal" age for the sport), I was the up-andcoming child prodigy headed straight for "Roller Derby Queen". I made
my first entrance to the Roller Derby scene as part of the Junior Bucks
team. After my second game in this league, I was accepted into the
Senior League as a full-fledged Tri-City Buck!
Here's another picture, only this one is less
flattering. Here we are in a 3-car pile-up in
the crux of the turn and just about ready to
get stomped on by T-Bird Nelly Gribson.
Watch Out!
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Why I Left Roller Derby
I still miss my Roller Derby days. I would be there now if it weren't for my ankle broken at the 1987
Nationals when "The Bludgeoner" Brenda Reema slammed me into the far wall.
Roller Derby is a hard life. But it's a lot more exciting than being a grad student.
[StealthSkater note: I printed the following in 2000 but it didn't list the source <url>. A current
Google search on some of the text didn't turn up anything either.]
Shake, Rattle, and Roller Derby
Pro-Wrestling is for wimps. Real men have their fights while they're wearing skates. Michael
Angeli races death on the pro Roller Derby circuit.
Remember Roller Derby? Skaters in tights flying around a banked track assaulting each other at
high speeds and bodies hurtling out of the rink like vomit? The sling-shotting, the rabbit punches, the
pulverized tailbones? Ripping off your helmet and using it to pound your opponent into tenderloin
while the refs are busy picking splinters out of their asses?
Well, it's back. They're calling it RollerJam. And they're using in-line skates instead of the old
quads. But stacked or straight up, it's still a rugby rodeo on wheels. Starting this month it's going
nationwide with the California Quakes, New York Enforcers, Florida Sundogs, and 3 other teams
competing in the new cable-ready 6-member World Skating League.
When I heard the WSL was holding tryouts in Panorama City, California, I knew this was my
chance. After all, they need bodies. Lots of bodies! They need dudes with hits in their shoulders and
fire in their feet. Dudes like me.
Ever since I was a kid, I've loved Roller Derby. It reminded me of my family making for the
bathroom in the morning. Sadly, I never got to compete. Roller Derby folded up its tent before I was
old enough to join the circuit. And since the cruel injustices of genetics forced me long ago to abandon
my dreams of glory in the NFL, the NHL, and the NBA, I know that this is mast shot at athletic stardom.
It's now or never. Right?
Just a short high-speed chase north of Van Nuys, Panorama City is a sweltering crankcase of
sweatshops, stray bullets, and an improbably charming roller-rink called the Ice Chalet where I and 80
other people assemble one morning, hungry for the Big Break.
And what could be bigger than this? Just think of what's at stake for me. I'll have a cable audience
on TNN that reaches 73 million homes followed by probable global recognition. I'll get product
endorsements; my face will be plastered on posters; and there'll be little action figures with my scowling
likeness. Hell, I might even get the Minnesota governor's mansion.
The road to fame, however, runs straight under the discerning nose of Erwin Miller. (Incidentally, it
is a nose that has been broken 6 times.) 61-year-old Erwin skated in the 1960s' salad days of Roller
Derby, making a name for himself on the Eastern Warriors as a jammer (i.e., the guy on the team who
can score points by zooming past a muscular curtain of opposing blockers). Back in his day, Erwin
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came out of retirement to help get the newly-formed World Skating League off the ground. Now he's
the drill sergeant who will take us from being pussy-gumball Sunday-on-the-Strand-in-Venice figureeighters to kiss-ass eat-the-rail RollerJammers.
Erwin glides up while I'm sitting in the bleachers. He's staring at my skates and gear. The kneepads
are as big as Weber kettle lids. I'm wondering to myself if any of it is gonna save me.
"We didn't use the advanced gear that you have now," he says. "I used to have my sister buy me a
girdle to wear under my pants. A synthetic girdle that could absorb all the moisture because the pants
were cotton and when you'd sweat they'd get soaked. The girdle held my butt pad right where I wanted
it."
Erwin skates away. I look down at my skates. Their brand new. In fact, I bought them yesterday.
The truth is that yesterday was the first time I ever put on in-line skates. Sure, I had a pair of quads back
when Michael Jackson's Thriller was on the charts. But sitting here strapping myself into these shiny
new skates, I'm thinking that I must have had a brain gag to buy in-line skates. I know it because that
little voice in my head won't shut up. That little voice of sanity that usually keeps me from openly
screaming like a toddler strapped on a seesaw with a sadistic nanny. Balancing on wheels that are only a
half-inch thin is stupid enough let alone when 5 drooling lunatics want nothing more than to make you
take a "header".
Are the icy fingers of dread treating me to a full body massage? A little lower and to the left, please.
"Okay," Erwin shouts. "Let's have everyone out here. Now, we have all different kinds of skaters
here. Speed skaters, figure skaters. But from what I see, nobody has an advantage. It takes elements
from all types of skating to make it in Roller Derby. I'm looking for some key signs. And I'll be able to
judge whether-or-not what you're doing fits into the World Skating League. I've been a competitive
skate since 1966 so I do know what I'm talking about."
Erwin has 3 drills for us. We skate; he judges. Lord help us.
First drill: keeping up with the Jones.
We're supposed to skate around the oval as a group, gradually increasing our speed so that Erwin can
evaluate our ability to maintain a brisk pace. Then each of us will try a "breakaway" which is the
cornerstone of Roller Jam. In competition, the jammer sprints ahead to try to lap the pack, scoring one
point for each opposing skater he passes. The fun starts when the enemy blockers do everything they
can short of felony mayhem to keep the jammer from breaking through.
"All right," Erwin says. "You take the lead."
He points to Tawny, a 19-year-old with silky blonde hair and a kiss-me pale complexion who lives
in Valencia and works in a retirement home. (She made the hour drive down in her 30-yr-old VW, she
told me earlier, despite severe sinus problems that developed after the police maced her at a rave.)
We move out, skaters chattering encouragement, everyone surrendering a little inner tube of
personal space to each other. The rink -- unlike those that the WSL will use in competition -- is not
banked but flat. Even so, by the second lap we have reached my top speed. Which is half as fast as the
pack is destined to go. Try chasing car on foot. That's how fast the pack is moving.
29
"Close it up!" Erwin hollers at me as he skates in a little scallop at the center of the oval. Then he
points to Tawny: "Breakaway!"
She pops ahead, struggling to keep a lead. Meanwhile, I have my own personal problems. The
entire pack is about to lap me. It sounds like Niagara Falls is approaching.
"Close it up!" Erwin yells.
"Closin' it up, boss!" I yell back. But the herd is closing on me. A rolling stampede of Brahmans
with wheels for hooves and elbows for horns. I feel my momentum getting way out-of-hand. Coming
around a curve, I get forced into the rail … flail at the RollerJam banner … and come up with a piece of
it but I go down anyway. I'm on back.
Suddenly I see one guy closing fast with panic flaring in his eyes because he's gonna run straight up
my make-a-wish foundation. At the last second, a guy with cinnamon-colored dreadlocks who skates on
quads and could pass for Tiger Woods' younger brother swoops in and yanks me to my feet as he's
passing.
Erwin blows his whistle to end the drill. As we're gliding, my lifeguard Malik (who is 22) offers a
few tips.
"Lengthen your stride. It'll improve your balance. The longer the stride, the more graceful you
become. You watch hockey? Hockey's Mario Lemieux looks like he's going really slow. But he's got
this long stride and passes everybody. Let the wheels do the work."
Erwin skates up, wheels the rink grit off my shoulders.
"What's this all over you back?" he taunts me. "Did somebody fall?"
I only wish I had those Weber kettle lids about now.
Second drill: getting off.
The idea is simple. Stand on the starting line … wait for the whistle … then accelerate as fast as you
can. It's like running splay-footed only with motor oil smeared on your feat.
We form a line. "Stay on your edges," Malik whispers behind me. "Look ahead and show 'em up."
Erwin blows the whistle and one-at-a-time we explode off the line. "DIG! DIGE! DIG!" he's
barking.
And I'm digging, blowing right by him. But there's a problem.
I forget that I'm not so good when it comes to stopping. I hit the plexiglass wall at the other end
face-first and discover that not only is this an effective way to stop but it also startles the hecklers among
the 75-or-so onlookers. Maybe Lemieux should try it.
30
Third drill: Slalom-I-Like-'Em
Traffic cones have been set up to create a course chockablock with hairpin turns and switchbacks.
Points will not be deduced for falling. If we do go down, we're supposed to get up and keep going until
we reach the finish.
"I'll leave the speed up to you," Erwin adds with an evil grin.
A fugitive-looking guy with a haircut that would get him arrested in parts of L.A. goes first. It's not
a pretty sight. He doesn't actually skate. He hobbles as if his feet have been broken to keep him from
escaping.
When it comes down to it, Fugitive Guy shouldn't feel bad because nobody looks great here. And
that goes triple for Doug from Simi Valley. He's a bank auditor who has been skating all his life. Back
in the days when they still ran on quads, Doug was a 4-time national speed-skating champion. As he
takes his run, the crowds are hollering "Go for it, baby!" But this is learning to walk all over again,
sitting on the back of an ocean-liner and steering it with a paddle.
When it comes to my turn, I make it through without falling. But you could go out on V an Nuys
Boulevard, get yourself shot to death, and come back reincarnated as Racquel Welch in the time it took
me.
Then it's Malik's go. He takes a running shot, nails the first turn, keeps accelerating, makes jagged
steep cuts, and blam! Lands full-out on his chest. He bounces up and zigzags through the last 2 cones.
It's an astonishing run that gets him a big whoop and a hollering ovation.
And that's it. Erwin wheels out in front of us, thanks us, and gives us the old "don't call us we'll call
you" speech.
In the 3 hours we've been here, however, a bit of combat camaraderie has been forged. Heartfelt
goodbyes are exchanged. Malik offers a hand. Tawny gives me smile before heading back to Valencia
to give ambulatory octogenarians a joystick. Doug is hopeful because the producers want to talk to him.
And Fugitive Guy … where's Fugitive Guy? Oh well.
Me, I'm feeling good. If the domed Ice Chalet were a mother's womb and our grueling test an
ultrasound, I no longer feel like the hidden defect, the reason to abort. I might not have the speed. But I
know I have got the strength. Maybe I'm a strong little shit after all.
Not to spoil the suspense, but I didn't make the cut. But 3 weeks later (just around the time my groin
stopped hurting), I'm invited to Orlando to witness the World Skating League's inaugural RollerJam
match between the New York Enforcers and the Florida Sundogs as well as preliminary scrimmages
between other squads.
"And bring your skates," a publicist tells me. "Erwin wants to take around the banked track."
Universal Studios, soundstage 21
After the grungy charm of Panorama City, the finished product in Orlando is a bit like see the
before-and-after pictures of trailer trash when they've hit the Powerball. They may own a Rolls now.
But they still park it on the lawn. And now the glitz-and-glamour machine of tag-team flacks from TNN
31
and WSL is hitting on all 8 cylinders. So much so that teams that have never existed suddenly have
history and personality.
The Enforcers, I'm informed, "play dirty and do anything to win". The Sundogs are America's
squeaky clean team. The California Quakes are more interested in their tans (their female skaters have
been dubbed "The Bod Squad"). And so on.
Unfortunately, it seems that none of my Panorama City compatriots made the cut. No, it's an allnew crowd here. Most of the women are flat-out gorgeous. Case in point: Susanne Schalin, a former
model from Finland. (Unfortunately, the harsh realities of competition require a butt pad which makes
really cute babes look like they're walking around in loaded diapers.)
And of course there a few token arfars among the ladies. For example, Jannet Abraham aka "The
Minister of Pain" weighs in on the wrong side of 200 pounds. With her butt pad, she could clog the port
of Miami!
The men come in reciprocating extremes. Big or small, nice or mean, tattooed or pristine, warhorses
like 40-something Mark D'Amato (the only guy in quads) or young guns like 17-yr-old Tommy Smith
(who still lives with his parents).
As the scrimmage gets under way, subplots and melodramas take shape. Mrs. Finland skates on the
Sundogs which is the same team as her husband Pasi (Mr. Finland 1993). Pasi dies inside every time
someone throws an elbow at his wife.
And there are plenty of elbows and injuries. A woman on the Sundogs takes a cheap shot and
suffers a torn ACL. A ref gets in Mark D'Amato's way and ends up with a cast on his arm. Another girl
blows out a knee. And Pasi's left leg ends up looking like someone took a paring knife to it. But worse,
no one seems to know how the scoring works. "When in doubt, put up 3 fingers for 3 points" I hear one
referee explain to another.
But once again, I got my own problems, the biggest one being the publicist's ear. After a battery of
misinformation and last-minute changes in plans, they tell me -- quite firmly -- that I won't be allowed to
get on the track at all.
Ao a few hours before the taping of the big Enforcers-Sundogs match, I slip onto the soundstage
where some skaters are warming up. Chellie -- an adorable blonde who skates for the "filthy lowdown"
Enforcers -- agrees to sneak me out on the track and kick my ass so I can see if I really do have what it
takes to skate in the WSL.
Chellie is known for talking smack and taunting the other skaters into catfights. "I'm the sassy bitch
queen," she brags. Lending me her kneepads, she's strapping them on my legs because … Well, just
because. I ask her what her best trash-talking line is.
"Whatever…" she gestures impassively.
"No. But I you must have one really nasty one."
"That's it." She tilts her head. "Whatever."
"Huh? Well, I don't know. That wouldn't exactly enrage me."
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"It's not what I say but how I say it."
She grabs a handful of my hair and yanks my head back.
"Like this!"
That's a little better. Now we're getting somewhere.
Chellie also wants to lend me her butt pad. But like Monica Lewinski (from Bill Clinton fame), I
draw the line at butt pads. You ask me, butt pads are for the incontinent. She tells me to touch her butt
pad. It's like poking your finger into a pillow at a bad hotel.
"You could do severe damage to your coccyx," she warns. "But you probably have one to spare,
right?"
A few minutes later we're out on the track. Banked? Are you kidding? This thing is so sideways
that it's like a freaking hatband!
"If you stay on the track properly," Chellie says, "you don't even have to skate because it'll take you.
The idea is to go high in the straights and low in the curves, in the grooves."
We're soaring at a crazy clip. A hell of a lot faster than I ran on the flat track at the Ice Chalet. A
teammate of Chellie's suggests that she skate behind me in case I fall.
"I'll hold him up," Chellie assures him.
"Hold me up? I want you to knock me down!" I declare. "I want you to slam me, bang me! I want
you to knock me into Sea World!"
Which maybe she would do if I weren't having trouble keeping up with her.
Chellie calls back to me over her shoulder. "Come on, baby, let's go!"
Is that a taunt? Doesn't matter, I still can't catch up to her to receive my whupping. Finally, Chellie
slows down and stretches her arm back to me.
"Grab my wrist with both of your hands. I'll whip you and you'll be going really fast. Then I'll hit
you."
For a petite girl, Chellie is very strong. In fact, she flings me out ahead on the track with such
power that coming on the next turn I don't turn but hurl into the railing stomach-first … do a paddlewheel somersault … and flip back out on the track.
Chellie helps me up. She gets me going again and gives me another whip. This one is wisely
executed at the begging of a straightaway. I'm out like a shot ahead of her! From behind me I hear her
shout: "Don't look back! Just keep going!" In 3 strides she pulls even with me and delivers a weak
elbow to my ribs.
"Come on!" I protest. "That wasn't hard."
"I don't want to take you down. You don't have a butt pad …"
33
"Damn the pad! Hit me!"
Chellie lowers her shoulder and plows into me with so much gusto that she feels compelled to
quickly assure me that what she did was a perfectly legal hit. There was nothing dirty about it in any
way. All I know is for the first time in my life I'm skating backward.
"Is that all you got?" I taunt her. "Come on! Make me time-travel. Are you gonna lay one on me or
what? You need help taking me out?"
"Tim!" Chellie hollers to this guy in an Enforcers uniform.
He is Tim Washington, a cousin of pro boxer Marvin Hagler and as big as a water heater.
"This guy says I need some help taking him down."
Tim bolts out on the track like an attack dog and comes straight for me. As I'm lifting my hand to
wave hello …
BLAM! He decks me with a bell-ringer to the shoulders … puts me down on the track … stomps his
foot on my back … and pins me like a moth. I grab his leg for the jerk take-down. But when I pull at it,
it's like trying to move a dock piling.
There's only one thing to do … Play possum.
Tim laughs and decides not to kill me. Instead he pulls me to my feet. We're shaking hands when
the flacks in charge sweep in with stern faces and jowl-jiggling recriminations. As they wheel me off to
the parking lot, they tell me over-and-over how disappointed they are in my and how I abused their trust
by breaking rules. Which seems a little odd coming from people who represent a sport where that kind
of behavior is the norm.
The good stuff -- the watchably delicious crap sports whether it's pro wrestling, stock car racing, or
monster trucks -- depends on 3 things. (1) Their anarchy; (2) their ability to help us forget our everyday
problems; and (3) most of all, their success at playing out our fantasy of being able to stomp a row of
Chevy's into scrap iron, kick that fat-ass boss in the nuts, or disco-bump some bullshit little jammer on
skates into the cheap seats.
And so it was with me. For that brief spell of blood lust clinging to Tim's ankles like a rabid terrier,
I lost sense of my limitations, became oblivious to my fears, and learned that I could take the hit.
Maybe that's the very nature of RollerJam. The hypnotic oval, the liberating speed, the flat-out
insanity of it all.
Nah … it's the girls!
34
[StealthSkater note: When Roller Derby was at its height in popularity, Hollywood took notice
and produced a 1972 film ("Kansas City Bomber") starring Raquel Welch.]
www.imdb.com/title/tt0068795/
http://www.amazon.com/Kansas-City-Bomber-Raquel-Welch/dp/B0007TKNJW
35
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_Bomber
The film is an inside look at the world of co-ed Roller Derby, then a popular league sport.
The story focuses on K.C. Carr (Welch) who has just left her former team in Kansas City, Missouri
to start her life as a single mother over again in Portland, Oregon with a team called the Portland
Loggers. Loggers' owner Burt Henry (McCarthy) is clearly interested in her and K.C. and Burt date.
36
But Burt has a rather ruthless side to him. He trades away K.C.'s best friend on the team. And when
he sees that star male skater "Horrible" Hank Hopkins is interested in her, he manipulates the audience
into booing Hopkins, causing him to go crazy and lose his job.
Henry's endgame is to set up a match race between K.C. and her teammate and rival Jackie Burdette
(Kallianiotes) with K.C. deliberately losing so that she can join Henry at a new team he's setting up in
Chicago.
But K.C. doesn't trust Henry anymore (or his promises to let her bring her daughter along) and wins
the match race.
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E0CEFDE113DEF34BC4B53DFBE668389669EDE
I can see the appeal the roller games had for a movie project like "Kansas City Bomber." Fast,
loud, tough and violent, they provide an instant morality play with ready-made good guys, bad guys,
comic interludes and with all the incorruptibility of Saturday-night wrestling. They also provide a
certain sado-masochistic kick.
At least, that seems the case for this movie in which gorgeous K.C. Carr, the Bomber herself, gets
publicly beaten to a pulp, apparently at 5-minute intervals, by competitors on the skating track and yet
never stops coming back for more.
Raquel Welch plays K.C., a basically nice girl in the business less for blood than for money. She
has 2 problems. The blandishments of wily roller games promoter Burt Henry and the resentment of
aging roller games star Jackie Burdette, whose fading light K.C. is expected to replace.
There are other problems as well such as will K.C. ever be accepted as just part of the team (the
Portland, Oregon Loggers) despite her unpopular eminence and her superior décolletage. But the first
two are the important ones and they suggest the quite stunning simpleness of what "Kansas City
Bomber" is all about.
Jerrold Freedman has directed "Kansas City Bomber" with an eye to hard-hitting action and gutsy
detail. But I don't think his eye is really sharp enough or fast enough or even wide enough open. His
roller-games scenes seem authentic but rather unexciting. And his major stylistic contribution is to
indulge a penchant for zooming his camera back, leaving characters trapped behind windows in
pretentious and often ludicrous dramatic isolation.
At one point he has K.C. get out of a cab, tell the driver to wait, and then waltz off with Burt Henry
and never return to pay the fare. So far as I am concerned, that meter is still ticking.
According to the M-G-M press material, Barry Sandler wrote "Kansas City Bomber" especially for
Raquel Welch as his master's thesis at U.C.L.A. Whether or not he got his degree, he has created for
Miss Welch a part for which she is absolutely adequate, allowing her both to show deep emotion and to
roller skate. But no such laurels for Kevin McCarthy who plays Burt Henry like a man braving out a
suspicion that he has butter on his chin.
But the film's one incredible performance comes from Helena Kailianiotes as Jackie Burdette.
Slouching sullenly in doorways, staring moodily into space, cadging booze from a bottle hidden in a
skating boot, she goes to the dogs with an inappropriate passion rich enough to suggest an over-the-hill
Sarah Bernhardt being traded off to the minors by the Comédie Française.
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http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/context-and-variation/2012/02/23/roller-derby-iamscience/
Roller-Derby athletes hip-check science stereotypes
by Kate Clancy
Scientific American / February 23, 2012
Kevin Zelnio’s #iamscience movement has launched a number of blogger origin stories, a tumblr,
even a Kickstarter project that has met its first funding goal (don’t stop donating yet though).
My colleagues and I wanted to find a way to contribute our voices and show that there are many
types of science, and many types of scientists. These colleagues smash gender stereotypes every day.
So what’s one more stereotype to add to our target hit zone?
13 kickass rollers who also happen to be kickass University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign scientists, all of
whom skate for the Twin City Derby Girls.
Top row, left to right: Therafist (clinical psychologist); Anthrobrawlogist (biological anthropologist);
Snarker Posey (legal information scientist); Doc Dementer (educational psychologist); Oh No
Bobo (veterinarian); Killy Love-less (social scientist); MRSA (microbiologist).
Bottom row, left to right: Jo Holley (evolutionary ecologist); Gaya Jenda (family scientist); Mrs. T
(educational psychologist); F1 (developmental psychologist); Punchwrap Supreme (reproductive
toxicologist); Polly Nator (evolutionary biologist).
38
Are we Science? You better believe we are Science! If you don’t …
… We will come for you!
(13 scientists who could seriously mess you up)
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Video Clips From The Banked-Track Era
In the 1950s, Roller Derby games were filmed. Video Tape would not be invented until the 1960s.
And even then, it was so expensive that the next week's matches that were televised would be recorded
over the previous week's. It wasn't until the 1970s when videotape became less costly that many of the
matches were preserved. Consequently many of the gifted athletes of the 1950-60s cannot be seen
during their primes.
The following video clips were found by doing a search for "Roller Derby videos". They are on
YouTube. If you <click> on one and your computer does not have the software to show it (probably
Adobe Flash Player), you most likely will be prompted to download-and-install the (free) software.
(email me if you need help)
There are those in modern day that believe that the old Roller Derby was "fake" along the lines of
professional wrestling. Indeed, there were moments when participants did try to "sell it". But as these
clips will show, there was nothing "fake" about the hard falls on the track and over-the-rail caused by
vicious elbows and body blocks. Nowadays, many of those blocks (e.g., jump blocks, knee blocks, kick
blocks, behind-the-back forearms, elbows to the base of the skull, etc.) are illegal.
As you will see, many of the fights are not "rehearsed" and are "shot from the hip". Probably what
saved many skaters from more serious injuries was that it is hard to concentrate all your power into a fist
while balancing on wheels. Action causes Reaction (Newton's laws of motion). If you had that much
punching power just in your arms and didn't need to anchor your feet prior to throwing the punch, you
would be a professional boxer!
But that is not to say that nearly all the skaters at one time or another suffered their share of broken
noses/teeth/ribs/jaws from these impromptu fights. Charlie O'Connell broke his arms so many times
blocking and fighting that he frequently had to wear braces made of metal rods. (He finally was forced
to retire when doctors told him that they could not mend his arms anymore.) Joanie Weston lost so
many teeth in her brawls that they would frequently come out when yelling at the referees.
<click> the YouTube <url> to view the video on your PC.
Remember to Turn your speakers 'ON' !
*** email kram@stealthskater.com to obtain a free separate disc of all these video clips ***
1967
1973
At the L.A. Sports Arena, Aussie Peter Kelly tightropes
the rail against the New York Bombers sending 10,000
fans into a frenzy.
Charlie O'Connell knockouts and jams
The sensational Bombers take on the Red Devils
wrecking crew (all the league hooligans gathered on one
team). All-out pandemonium before, during, and after
every jam.
Classic Roller Derby action featuring the San Francisco
Bay Bombers with Margie Lazslo, Dolores Tucker etc.
against the New York Chiefs with Sandy Dunn, Carolyn
Moreland, Judy McGuire, etc.
How to Stride" instruction
Bay City Bombers are more popular than ever
40
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=dfDVBJ-NiKo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xigA
O5M3iE8&feature=player_detailpage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LImy
LqOd9FY&feature=player_detailpage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=OV9J_2--iGQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&list=UU9VCfcsAy6
RXn3J3zs2cZaA&v=V_ONUmA1rvg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UU
9VCfcsAy6RXn3J3zs2cZaA&v=AAub
OsyDUnc&feature=player_detailpage
Rookie on the Bay City Bombers after 7 months skating
on the Flat Track derby
1973
-85
1977
-80
1973
1973
1973
The "Golden Girl" Joan Weston in some of her greatest
moments
The highest-paid skater in Roller Derby (Charlie
O'Connell)
Classic SF Bay Bomber Cliff Butler in his greatest jams
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIb8aWye44&feature=player_detailpage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX4q
j9idf94&feature=plcp
Bomber jammers Chris Rowe & Jim Cook score with
seconds remaining in the jam, assist to their coach
Charlie O'Connell in this Championship Game.
Delores Tucker of the Bay Bombers lays in a few wellthrown punches on the "Golden Girl" Joan Weston.
NY Chiefs Coach Bill Groll slugs it out with the Jolters
Cal Stephens and Jerry Cattell.
Bay City Bombers Joan Weston interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=fNNtwQUeGoY
From the documentary "High Heels on Wheels". Want to
get paid in a full time career as a roller girl?
1986
1978
1977
1973
1980
1973
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=Oxxagqb_8s&list=UU9VCfcsAy6RXn3
J3zs2cZaA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=vXjwEsmHlVk
Classic Roller Derby action featuring the San Francisco
Bay Bombers with Margie Laszlo, Dolores Tucker etc.
against the Midwest Pioneers with Joan Weston, Francine
Cochu, Sherry Erich, etc.
Classic Roller Derby action featuring the San Francisco
Bay Bombers with Charlie O'Connell, Pete Boyd, Tony
Roman, etc. against the Midwest Pioneers with Ronnie
Robinson, Bob Hein, Nick Scopas, etc.
The Bay Bombers underdogs Barbara Baker and 90-lb
Jackie Garello clean house on Southern Stars Diane
Syverson, Ann Calvello, and Gina McVey.
Ronnie Rains passes Detroit Devils jammer EG Miller
and proceeds to score for his T-Bird team while Miller
spends the whole jam trying to stand up.
Texas Outlaws Baby Rocko splashes and flattens T-Birds
jammer Gwen "Skinny Minny" Miller.
Charlie O'Connell and Bob Woodberry tangle again in a
Championship Round game which emptied both benches.
The "Road Runner" Jim Terrigno gets a quadruple whip
against a LA T-Bird pullaway. The result is crash and
burn, wipeout!
A November 17, 1973 interview of Charlie O'Connell
after the 1st half of the Bay Bombers vs NY Chiefs at
MSG. I believe this is the last know Seltzer Footage on
Tape before Roller Derby ended in December of 1973
Classic Roller Derby action featuring the San Francisco
Bay Bombers with Charlie O'Connell, Pete Boyd, Tony
Roman etc. against the New York Chiefs with Bill Groll,
Bob Woodberry, Mike Gammon etc.
Roller Derby star from the movie "JAM" talks about her
professional injuries in Roller Derby.
All-Girls Roller Derby Bout San Francisco Bay City
Bombers
Joan (or "Joanie") Weston (January 20, 1935 - May 10,
41
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=dgieqerySek
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=k1Wi2XNMEjs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=1E2U9X5VWp0&
list=UU9VCfcsAy6RXn3J3zs2cZaA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&list=UU9VCfcsAy6
RXn3J3zs2cZaA&v=bCsly6g04UQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=w9jMzmcmd_Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=Com45NO4uww
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=KtIt392lGw8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=JU1zyPKAjXo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMX
vRryqiDI&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Mhs
l6Jj3PI&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=Fcizz7xT4G8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggjk
LifPBNc&feature=player_detailpage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdcD
h5TnNc4&feature=player_detailpage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&list=UU9VCfcsAy6
RXn3J3zs2cZaA&v=1gxlyckDuyE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=IGVoh8KE1Pc&li
st=UU9VCfcsAy6RXn3J3zs2cZaA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
1997), known as the "Golden Girl" of the Roller Derby.
In 1954, Weston joined the original Roller Derby headed
by promoter Leo Seltzer, becoming a favorite member of
the Los Angeles Braves. Her fame increased markedly
when in 1965 she was appointed captain of the San
Francisco Bay Bombers. She appeared on 19 consecutive
"all-star teams" in that sport and was the highest-paid
female athlete in the 1960s and 1970s.
Charlie O'Connell Goes Nutz!
1978
1977
1977
The daredevil of Roller Games, Harold Jackson, in all his
glory.
Ann Calvello battles Joan Weston with Weston winning
the fight but getting thrown out of the game because she
had slugged the referee.
S.F. Bay Bombers versus New York Chiefs. The Chiefs
arrive like a thunderbolt and do as much damage as a
tornado. Unbelievable jams, incredibly hard hits. You
won't believe your eyes. And the ageless and incredible
Gerry Murray leads the Chiefs women!
The San Francisco Bay Area Bombers verses the Red
Devils. Bay Bomber Pete Boyd sure has his hands full
with Jo-Jo Stafford and Bob Woodberry of the Red
Devils. Charlie O'Connell jumps in there and Woodberry
goes wild as the crowd shouts "Out!" Once Bob
Woodberry hits Margie Laszlo all breaks out in an all-out
brawl. Margie Laszlo comes back with a great job as
pivot while Ann Calvello still insights havoc as
Woodberry still assaults Margie Laszlo.
New York Chiefs host S.F. Bay Bombers. 1st half of
high-octane action-packed game. Fans scream for blood
of former Chief hero "Charlie-O". Show no mercy
action. No quarter asked, no quarter given!
Tony Roman on the jam somersaulting and landing on
his head and still scoring points for the Bay Bombers,
followed up by a Pete Boyd/Charlie O'Connell brawl
against Cal Stephens and Jerry Cattell.
Jan Vallow interview
Classic Roller Derby action featuring the San Francisco
Bay Bombers with Margie Laszlo, Dolores Tucker, Carol
Meyers etc. against the Midwest Pioneers with Joan
Weston, Darlene Forbes etc.
Classic Roller Derby action featuring the San Francisco
Bay Bombers with Margie Lazslo, Dolores Tucker etc.
against the New York Chiefs with Sandy Dunn, Carolyn
Moreland, Judy McGuire, etc.
Texas Outlaws Baby Rocko has enough of referee Don
Lastra and socks him one knocking him down
San Francisco Bay City Bombers in San Francisco where
skaters take out a grudge - catfight
is Roller Derby "real"?
Charlie O'Connell goes toe-to-toe against Jerry Cattell in
what is considered his greatest fight ever on tape
The International Roller Skating League featured at
Madison Square Gardens with the World Champion San
42
endscreen&NR=1&v=YI9I5e4QZo4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=OZf4skldxyM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=tbc7GAN35EU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=aWVEIGiA-mQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Smz
WnuKQgE&feature=player_detailpage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=IZyTp2NroCQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKH
3lluHVsU&feature=player_detailpage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=w0CF-bdiSsE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UU
9VCfcsAy6RXn3J3zs2cZaA&v=OZzwrW_GPk&feature=player_detailpage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=TubGlj5KiKU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=OV9J_2--iGQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=Y7Cm4vg6WlQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=ED5uLz7r29A&li
st=UU9VCfcsAy6RXn3J3zs2cZaA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=5eIYOVrBu98&li
st=UU9VCfcsAy6RXn3J3zs2cZaA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=kF8u40ys0MA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=SOTDnEPEkTk
1985
1973
1978
1974
Francisco Bay Area Bombers vs. The New York Eastern
Express.
Everything goes out of control after Southern Stars coach
Bill Hill fouls Bay Bombers coach Bill Groll.
Bombers coach Charlie O'Connell has had enough of
Pioneers Nick Scopas antics so he grabs a chair and the
chase is on …
Ann Cavello interview
The International Roller Skating League presents the
Silver Cup Tournament Roller Derby Action.
Charlie O'Connell throwing elbows into Jo-Jo Stafford
and laying him out.
Excerpt from the "Roller Derby" film that captured the
best reviews of the year including Best Picture (New
York Times).
Classic Roller Derby action featuring the San Francisco
Bay Bombers with Joan Weston, Ann Calvello, Annis
Jensen, Dolores Tucker etc. against the Canadian Braves
with Diane Syverson, Sherry Jackson, Gwen "Skinny
Minnie" Miller, etc.
Charlie O'Connell on the jam and then a brawl that left
the Pioneer Men's team destroyed. All courtesy of Tony
Roman who started it by going after Ronnie Robinson
A rare clip of the greatest female skater of all time, Joan
Weston, at home with husband Nick Scopas, Darlene
Forbes, and Cathie Read. Joan also reflects on her career
with no regrets.
Bay Bombers Real Girl Fight / Music Video
Laura Weintraub interview with the Bay City Bombers
Real Men (U.S. Armed Forces) / Real Roller Derby
Girl Fights and Interviews
This skating match was between the National Skating
Derby Canadian Braves and the San Francisco Bay
Bombers. Actually I would call it "Roller Games meets
the Roller Derby".
Flat Track Roller Derby Training
2009
From the Roller Derby Reunion 02/28/2009 in San Jose.
This is a collection of historical Roller Derby photos
from the 1960, 1970, and 1980 series.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=NG0o1UWglXg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=Z4Scvu0xL_A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?li
st=UU9VCfcsAy6RXn3J3zs2cZa
A&v=ZldtjC_Vpw&feature=player_detailpag
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=rr8mZXd_WYY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HS
V5oAnRWY&feature=player_detailpage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inYF
G-oW6R0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=-1HBzWM5kho
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=mj7vRy-4ukY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzubr
lPonxo&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=a8N1Qh7p4Z4&li
st=UU9VCfcsAy6RXn3J3zs2cZaA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=crv15zlgdaU&list
=UU9VCfcsAy6RXn3J3zs2cZaA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&list=UU9VCfcsAy6
RXn3J3zs2cZaA&v=1W3-JdQAU_A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=l0Nhj8LxNU0&lis
t=UU9VCfcsAy6RXn3J3zs2cZaA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=
player_detailpage&v=oZ2r73SxXRo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UU
9VCfcsAy6RXn3J3zs2cZaA&v=uBYX
8pmHLn0&feature=player_detailpage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoV
Q5laxz3I&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyeV
AtVHQ2o
*** email kram@stealthskater.com to obtain a free separate disc of all these video clips ***
43
This entire essay is downloadable from the http://www.stealthskater.com/Humor.htm page
as a MS-Word file (.doc format) http://www.stealthskater.com/Documents/RollerDerby.doc
or an Adobe file (.pdf format) http://www.stealthskater.com/Documents/RollerDerby.pdf .
It is also on a CD-backup. Every so often, digital "snapshots" are taken of the entire
stealthskater.com site and burned to CD. Duplicates are usually made and frequently donated
free-of-charge to researchers, fans, and libraries around the World. If you want one, tell
K.R.A.M. (Killer.Rebel.Alien.Machine) what format (.doc or .pdf) you prefer and supply a postal
address. Email => kram@stealthskater.com (backup addy is at stealthskaters@yahoo.com).
The original site was devoted to exploring "Fringe" folklore (such as UFOs, the Philadelphia Experiment, psychic
spying, stargates and time-travel, alt-medical healings, and reported high-tech military) to see if any truths were there
Add-ons to the basic site over the years included the "Doc Savage" collection (all 190 books!) and highlights from
STAR*SHOTS Studio (model-photography and demo music-recording)
44
if on the Internet, Press <BACK> on your browser to return to
the previous page (or go to www.stealthskater.com)
else if accessing these files from the CD in a MS-Word session, simply <CLOSE> this
file's window-session; the previous window-session should still remain 'active'
45