Roller Derby: A History!

     Here at Azuma, we don't just support healthy living, being active, and laundry - we also support all things local! Roller Derby was brought back to life by a group of ladies in Austin. I personally, have a newfound obsession with Roller Derby and want to get involved, so I felt the need to post about it today! Here goes :) 

     Roller Derby history beings in the 1880s, though the official term "roller derby" wasn't used until 1922, when the Chicago Tribune used the term to describe flat-track roller skating races held at Chicago's Broadway Armory. "Roller Derby" became trademarked by Leo Seltzer, the man credited with revolutionizing roller derby and securing its place as a legitimate sport.

     Although roller skating and roller skating races were taking place well before Leo Seltzer came onto the scene, he took a sport with fledgling popularity and turned it into a nationwide phenomenon. In 1935 Seltzer, the owner of several Oregon cinemas, was tired of losing business to dance marathons, which were quite popular at the time. Reading an article that stated that 93% of Americans had tried roller skating, he created the Transcontinental Roller Derby, which featured teams racing the equivalent of the distance from New York to California, or 3,000 miles-all over a flat track. Roller derby history demonstrates that each team had to have at least on member on the track at all times. Following the success of his first race, Seltzer took the troupe on the road and eventually selected teams that would compete in Chicago, Miami, Louisville and Detroit.

     It was at one of these races in roller derby history, in Miami, that sportswriter Damon Runyon saw the marketing potential in the large collisions and other physical contact that occurred as teams tried to pass each other. He approached Seltzer and suggested he change the rules of the game to maximize the physical contact between the skaters, which included elbowing, "whipping" and slamming each other into the track's outer rail. Though Seltzer resisted the idea at first, he decided to experiment with the changes and found that the fans loved them.

     Seltzer trademarked the name Roller Derby and took his troupe on the road. After a brief lull in popularity during World War II when many competitors joined the Armed Forces and the fans had other things on their mind, Roller Derby received a huge boost when it began being broadcast on CBS. Roller Derby saw many highs and lows over the next 30 years, but by the mid-1970s, it had collapsed. Roller Derby history then underwent several professional, on-and-off TV revivals which were spearheaded by veteran skaters, including a 10-year International Roller Skating League (IRSL), and a few short-lived, TV-only spectacles.

     Today Roller Derby has been revived by a group of women who have returned the sport to its original athletic roots. In 2001 Bad Girl Good Woman Productions (BGGW) was formed and creates the first all-girl roller derby game of the new generation. Founders form four teams and, a year later, stage their first bout during the summer of 2002 in Austin, Texas. Shortly after, the league later suffers a split over business plans. In 2002 The Texas Rollergirls are formed from members of the first BGGW teams. The BGGW league (also known as the Lonestar Rollergirls or Texas Roller Derby) go on to skate banked-track roller derby, while the new Texas Rollergirls embrace the flat-track format. It is now an international sport that provides equal amounts of entertainment and athleticism to its viewers. Until next time, keep it clean! :)