History of roller derby three decades. Among these races was an 8.5-mile roller marathon organized in 1908 by a group of Chicago rink owners, a 24-hour endurance championship held in Milwaukee in 1913, and a 24-hour banked track race held at Madison Square Garden in 1914. "The New York Times" noted that the crowd at Madison Square Garden enjoyed the sudden sprints and spills during the event's preliminary races. The term "derby", meaning a race or multi-race event, appeared in the press as early as 1922, when the "Chicago Tribune" announced and reported on the results of two "roller derby" events held that year.
History of roller derby was reduced to one team skating mainly for the entertainment of soldiers. After the war's end in 1945, Seltzer successfully resumed growing the sport, although a 1946 attempt to bring it to New York's Polo Grounds failed due to twelve straight days of rain. At 8:30 P.M. on November 29, 1948, Roller Derby debuted on New York television, beginning a 13-week run on the CBS-TV network, broadcasting at a time well before television was in widespread use. The first televised matches were between teams representing New York and Brooklyn, and took place at the 69th Regiment Armory four nights a Inline skates They were briefly described in the April 1950 issue of "Popular Mechanics" and again in the April 1954 issue of "Popular Science" in the section called "New Ideas from the Inventors." Inline skates appear in the 1962 Russian film Koroleva benzokolonki (Gas Station Queen) at 9m23s. In Canada in 1972, Mountain Dew attempted to sell Mettoy's product the "Skeeler", an inline skate that was developed for Russian hockey players and speed skaters. The first commercially available inline skate for this form of Rollerskating is in 1987 by Rollerblade. In 1996, Jason Lewis completed the first solo crossing of the USA Leo Seltzer sport utilizing roller skating participants. Bicycle races and dance marathons were very popular at the time, and in previous decades there had been successful 24-hour and multi-day roller skating races, at least one of which was called a "roller derby" in the press. Seltzer began jotting ideas onto the tablecloth, incorporating these popular entertainment forms with a roller skating theme. The name Roller Derby was trademarked on July 14, 1935 (No. 336652), and on August 13, 1935, twenty thousand spectators filled the Chicago Coliseum to see 'Colonel' Leo Seltzer's Transcontinental Roller Derby, a mythical marathon race from one end of Roller skating skating promises to be as popular as it was twenty years ago." Reported on October 11, 1904, the statement announced the opening events of a new Decatur, Illinois roller rink. In 1906, with the opening of another Chicago rink, the "Inter Ocean" newspaper complained that "after twenty years of exemption from the affliction the desire to roll is again taking possession of American adults...the mania has struck Chicago!" Nearly forty years later, Charlie Tyler would write, "This current roller skating 'craze' is nothing new." Tyler wrote for Chicago's "Herald-American" in September 1941 and described the opening of Chicago's Madison Gardens Roller soccer Roller soccer Roller soccer, roller foot or roller football is a version of association football played on roller skates. The sport was created in the Midlands district of the United Kingdom in 1882 and the first documented match was a game between local rivals Derby and Burton on 30 January of that year. Video footage first appeared at Forest Gate Roller Rink in 1934 in London, United Kingdom, where two teams of female players were filmed for an item on Pathe News. Over a decade later "Billboard" reported in 1949 that it had been revived in Detroit, having disappeared for History of roller derby History of roller derby The history of roller derby traces the evolution of roller skating races into a unique sport which underwent several boom-and-bust cycles throughout the 20th century. Although it was a form of sports entertainment for much of its existence, a grassroots, early 21st century revival spearheaded by women has restored an emphasis on athleticism. The growing popularity of roller skating in the United States led to the formation of organized endurance races as early as 1884, when skater Victor W. Clough skated 100 miles over the course of nearly ten hours in Geneseo, Illinois. In 1885, a Roller Derby Hall of Fame Roller Derby Hall of Fame The Roller Derby Hall of Fame, also known as the National Roller Derby Hall of Fame, was founded in 1952, by the editors of the "Roller Derby News" paper. Johnny Rosasco and Josephine "Ma" Bogash were the first two skaters to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame was initially displayed at Madison Square Garden, where the home offices of the sport were located. Skaters could only be inducted after their retirement. However, four skaters were inducted and then returned to skating: Ann Calvello, Annis Jensen, Ken Monte and Charlie O'Connell. Kentucky Derby was originated by WHAS and was also carried by WGN in Chicago. On May 7, 1949, the first television coverage of the Kentucky Derby took place, produced by WAVE-TV, the NBC affiliate in Louisville. This coverage was aired live in the Louisville market and sent to NBC as a kinescope newsreel recording for national broadcast. On May 3, 1952, the first national television coverage of the Kentucky Derby took place, aired from then-CBS affiliate WHAS-TV. In 1954, the purse exceeded $100,000 for the first time. In 1968, Dancer's Image became the first (and to this day the only) horse to Roller Derby Hall of Fame fame are: Since re-opening in 2004, the following additional members have been inducted: Roller Derby Hall of Fame The Roller Derby Hall of Fame, also known as the National Roller Derby Hall of Fame, was founded in 1952, by the editors of the "Roller Derby News" paper. Johnny Rosasco and Josephine "Ma" Bogash were the first two skaters to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame was initially displayed at Madison Square Garden, where the home offices of the sport were located. Skaters could only be inducted after their retirement. However, four skaters were inducted and Leo Seltzer Derby skaters and support personnel were killed. The number 1 was never worn again in Roller Derby, as a tribute to Joe Kleats and the other skaters who died in the crash. In December 1937, sportswriter Damon Runyon saw the game in Coral Gables Florida, became enthralled, and with Leo Seltzer created a more structured game with more contact between the skaters and a new version of Roller Derby was created. Seltzer's game and traveling troupe of skaters evolved and continued to have moderate growth, but it was not until November 29, 1948, when Roller Derby, broadcast on television from Roller skating was most popular first between 1935 and the early 1960s and then in the 1970s, when polyurethane wheels were created and disco music oriented roller rinks were the rage and then again in the 1990s when in-line outdoor roller skating, thanks to the improvement made to inline roller skates in 1981 by Scott Olson, took hold. Roller skating has had a checkered past over its nearly-three century history. Given its ebb and flow of popularity over the past century, writers labeled each generation's attraction a "craze!" The caption in a 1904 Decatur newspaper read, "Old Craze Comes Back," adding, "Roller Natalie Dunn Miklowitz, published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in 1979. Natalie Dunn Natalie Dunn, also known as Natalie Dunn Fries, (born 1956) was the first American woman to win the world championship in figure roller-skating, which she did in 1976. She won her first event at age seven, and won the national women's single at age sixteen. She was inducted into the Bob Elias Kern County Sports Hall of Fame in February 1978. In 1979, the Supersisters trading card set was produced and distributed; one of the cards featured Dunn's name and picture. There is at least one book about her, "Natalie Leo Seltzer Leo Seltzer lived to see his game once again break attendance records all over the country and become the darling of the mainstream press under Jerry's guardianship. However, the original Roller Derby skated its last game on December 8, 1973, when Jerry closed the family business. Leo was married to Rose Weinstein Seltzer from 1926 to 1942 when she died from breast cancer. Their two children were Gloria (born May 23, 1929) and Jerry. From April 19, 1942 to December 11, 1944, Seltzer was married to Lois Reynolds Atkins. Atkins had been employed by Seltzer as the manager of his Jerry Seltzer Jerry Seltzer Jerry Seltzer (born June 3, 1932) was the second and final owner of the original Roller Derby league. The league and the sport of roller derby were created in 1935 in Chicago by Leo Seltzer, Jerry's father. Jerry assumed ownership of the league in 1959 and ran it until its demise in 1973. At one time the league was broadcast on 120 television stations in the United States and Canada, and filled Madison Square Garden, the Oakland Coliseum (34,000, 1971) and Chicago White Sox Park (50,114, Sept 15, 1972). In 1959, Seltzer moved the operation to the San RollerJam EA's Steve Sims, around the halftime of the Nevada Hot Dice Vs. New York Enforcers game on March 21, 2000, during Rollerjams 3rd season RollerJam RollerJam is an American television series featuring roller derby that aired on The Nashville Network (TNN, now Spike) from 1999 to 2001. It was the first attempt to bring roller derby to TV since RollerGames. "RollerJam" was derived from the original roller derby, but newer skaters used inline skates to modernize the sport (several skaters, mostly older ones, used the traditional quad skates). The program was taped at Universal Studios Stage 21 in Orlando, Florida, History of roller derby the other team, is the basic premise of roller derby to this day. On March 24, 1937, 21 members of a touring group of Roller Derby skaters and support personnel were killed when their chartered bus blew a tire while going 40 mph down a hill on U.S. Route 50, collided with a bridge abutment, rolled onto its side and burst into flames, trapping passengers inside. The accident occurred near Salem, Illinois, as the bus was en route from St. Louis to Cincinnati for another performance. Only a few of the 23 passengers escaped the burning wreckage, and two of History of roller derby before a cumulative crowd of 55,000 over a five-day period. Early stars of Roller Derby after its debut on TV included Ken Monte, Bert Wall, and the temperamental Midge "Toughie" Brasuhn. Skater salaries were about $200 to $260 a week, established by a players' association. Meanwhile, from 1946 through 1948, flat-track roller derby (of the skating marathon variety) was enjoyed as an intramural sport at the University of British Columbia in Canada. For the 1949–1950 season, Seltzer opened franchise teams and formed the National Roller Derby League (NRDL). The NRDL consisted of six teams: the New York Chiefs, the Brooklyn Roller derby roller-skating marathons of the 1930s, Leo Seltzer and Damon Runyon are credited with evolving the sport to its competitive form. Professional roller derby quickly became popular; in 1940, more than 5 million spectators watched in about 50 American cities. In the ensuing decades, however, it predominantly became a form of sports entertainment, where theatrical elements overshadowed athleticism. Gratuitous showmanship largely ended with the sport's grassroots revival in the first decade of the 21st century. Although roller derby retains some sports entertainment qualities such as player pseudonyms and colorful uniforms, it has abandoned scripted bouts with predetermined winners. Modern roller derby Roller Derby (brand) the United States. Roller Derby was founded in 1936 by Oscar Seltzer, the brother of Roller Derby pioneer Leo Seltzer, as a manufacturer of boots for roller and ice skates. Initially, the company had a single plant in Litchfield, Illinois. The company opened an additional assembly plant in California in 1953, followed by offices, warehouses, and a distribution center in Atglen, Pennsylvania in 1971. The company eventually moved manufacturing operations overseas, first to Taiwan, then to mainland China. Its U.S. manufacturing facilities were converted to offices, warehouses and distribution centers. The company is still based in Litchfield, Illinois. Roller Derby History of roller derby them died later from their injuries, bringing the total fatalities to 19 or 20 (sources vary). The ghastly tragedy nearly put Seltzer out of business, but replacement skaters were signed and Roller Derby survived. As a tribute to those killed in the tragedy, the number "1" was permanently retired for all Roller Derby teams. In Los Angeles, Roller Derby was broadcast on the radio as early as 1939. Transcontinental Roller Derby rapidly grew in popularity as a spectator sport. Matches were held in fifty cities in 1940, for more than five million spectators, some of whom formed fan clubs and History of roller derby Games' wrestling/circus-like approach doomed that organization; many Roller Derby skaters quit and fans deserted the arenas. Cultural historian Paul Fussell, perhaps editorializing, attributed the collapse of the sport to the declining economic class of its fan base in its final years; fans were ultimately unable to support the sponsors that had been keeping the sport on television. Several attempts were made to revive the sport in the late 1970s through the 1990s. The only reasonably successful of these was the International Roller Skating League (IRSL), operational from April 24, 1977 to December 12, 1987. IRSL games were held mostly in Chris Mitchell (author) Chris Mitchell (author) Chris Mitchell is an American author, and journalist. His articles have appeared in "Gravity", "Box" and "Lifelounge". He was a panel speaker at Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. He was one of the original members of Team Rollerblade and one of the inventors of Aggressive Inline Skating. He worked with ESPN to establish the rules for competitive inline skating in the X Games. In 1993, he founded Box Magazine, the first aggressive inline skate magazine. In 1997, Box was bought by Sports And Fitness Publishing, and Chris was retained as the Publisher. In 1999, Petersen Publishing Ann Calvello Ann Calvello Ann Theresa Calvello (August 1, 1929 – March 14, 2006) was an American athlete and notable personality in the sport of roller derby. Ann Calvello graduated from Presentation High School in San Francisco in June 1947. Calvello competed in roller derby in seven decades, the 1940s through the 2000s. She broke into the sport in 1948 originally skating for a league called International Roller Speedway. Skating with the original Roller Derby, beginning in 1948, she would be named women's 'Captain' of her team within six months. Calvello, who often sported dyed hair and color-coordinated uniforms, was known for The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved "The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved" is a seminal sports article written by Hunter S. Thompson on the 1970 Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Kentucky, first appearing in an issue of "Scanlan's Monthly" in June of that year. Though not known at the time, the article marked the first appearance of gonzo journalism, the style that Thompson came to epitomize through the 1970s. The genesis of the article has been described by Thompson as akin to "falling down an elevator shaft and landing in a pool of mermaids." Faced with a deadline and History of roller derby began skating under their real names during their 2009 season. History of roller derby The history of roller derby traces the evolution of roller skating races into a unique sport which underwent several boom-and-bust cycles throughout the 20th century. Although it was a form of sports entertainment for much of its existence, a grassroots, early 21st century revival spearheaded by women has restored an emphasis on athleticism. The growing popularity of roller skating in the United States led to the formation of organized endurance races as early as 1884, when skater Victor W. Clough skated 100 miles over the course Golden Age of Roller Skating Golden Age of Roller Skating The Golden Age of Roller Skating represents a period when roller skating became the number one participatory sport in America or from 1937 through 1959. An estimated 5,000 rink were in operation and 18,000,000 Americans roller skated by the end of the 1940s. The years of World War II propelled it to the top sport by the end of the 1940s as civilians, war industry workers and military service personnel, both in the states and oversea, sought out rinks to relieve the stress of war. The wheels were wooden, roller skating was hep, everyone went Roller Games Roller Games Roller Games was the name of a sports entertainment spectacle created in the early 1960s in Los Angeles, California as a rival to the Jerry Seltzer-owned Roller Derby league, which had enjoyed a monopoly on the sport of roller derby — and its name — since its inception in 1935. Roller Games provided a mostly televised, increasingly theatrical version of the sport. Roller Games and its flagship team, the Los Angeles Thunderbirds (T-Birds) has endured several boom and bust cycles, including a roller derby attendance record in 1972, a major reorganization in 1975, appearances on ESPN in 1986, Spirit of the Times and offering efficient track management techniques. Under Wilkes, the "Spirit" began covering football more extensively than any previous publication. Football coverage in the "Spirit" quickly outstripped the same in the paper's main rivals, the "New York Clipper" and the "National Police Gazette". The paper covered college games first; in 1882, football got its own section. This coverage expanded again in 1892. Under Curtis, who was a devotee of speed skating, developments in local and international speed-skating were covered and Curtis compiled lists of skating records. A prominent contributing writer in the 1870s was cowboy, frontier scout, and stage star Texas History of roller derby newsletters like "Roller Derby News" (later renamed "RolleRage"). Teams began to represent and compete in other U.S. cities, although some teams were actually the same traveling group that would just change names depending on where they were playing, and all were part of the Seltzer-owned Roller Derby league. The league's own estimates of audiences for 1941 were comparable, with four million Midwestern spectators in 20 cities being claimed. The entry of the United States into World War II at the end of 1941 interrupted the sport's ascent; many skaters enlisted in the armed forces, crowds dwindled, and the fledgling league Leo Seltzer equal interests. Atkins claimed, in a 1950 lawsuit disputing her income taxes, that Seltzer, seeking to evade taxes, only allowed her into the new partnership after she agreed, in writing, to deposit her earnings into a joint bank account the two of them shared for payment of living expenses. She filed for divorce two months after the partnership was formed, and the divorce was granted that December. Leo Seltzer died January 30, 1978. In 2005, during the 70th anniversary celebration of the first Transcontinental Roller Derby, Seltzer posthumously became the first inductee into the Executive Wing of the National Roller Roller derby for a week. During the late 1950s and 1960s, the sport was broadcast on several networks, but attendance declined. Jerry Seltzer (Leo's son), the "Roller Derby" "commissioner", hoped to use television to expand the live spectator base. He adapted the sport for television by developing scripted story lines and rules designed to improve television appeal, but derby's popularity declined. 1989 saw the debut of "RollerGames," an even more theatrical variant of roller derby for national audiences. It used a figure-8 track and rules adapted for this track. Bill Griffiths, Sr. served as commissioner while his son, Bill Griffiths, Jr., managed Speed Sport published exclusively on the magazine's website for a year before being purchased by its current owners in 2012, with an accompanying monthly magazine, which became known as Speed Sport. The newspaper was first published by East Paterson Herald Publishing Co. on August 16, 1934 as the "National Auto Racing News". Future editor Chris Economaki sold some of the first copies at Ho-Ho-Kus Speedway. He started writing a column in 1936. It held the first national auto racing convention in New York in 1940. It became known as the "National Speed Sport News" in 1943 when the publisher William Kay formed Jerry Seltzer the contemporary grassroots movement of roller derby, including the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), Modern Athletic Derby Endeavor (MADE) and USA Roller Sports (USARS), he thinks roller derby can now be an Olympic sport. He is known as "The Commissioner" by some participants in modern roller derby. Seltzer blogs about his involvement in Roller Derby and the role his father played. Jerry Seltzer Jerry Seltzer (born June 3, 1932) was the second and final owner of the original Roller Derby league. The league and the sport of roller derby were created in 1935 in Chicago by Leo Seltzer, Jerry's History of roller derby retains the right to air those matches. American Skating Derby, promoting the game as Rollerjam!, formed in 1987 and played a spring season with two teams, the San Francisco Slammers and the Los Angeles Turbos. The name American Skating Derby was the same as the early 1960s New York-based league, but was unrelated. Composed of inactive Roller Derby and IRSL skaters, the 1987 ASD was formed primarily as a means to keep the game alive, and the two teams (with the Slammers being essentially replaced by the Bay City Bombers) skated around Northern California communities for high school charities. For Barrier Daily Truth little other than local news and general Labour news. In 1902 a women's section was added to the paper, and sporting news and racing results were also included in the paper. This had the effect of doubling the paper's circulation in about nine months. The paper changed its name to the "Barrier Daily Truth" in 1908 and Volume 1, number 1 under the new title was published on 2 November 1908. The masthead on that first issue reads: Barrier Daily Truth with which is incorporated the Barrier Truth, established 1898. At this time the paper also changed from a weekly Leo Seltzer Leo Seltzer Leo A. Seltzer (April 5, 1903 – January 30, 1978) is generally credited as the creator of the sport of roller derby, and was the founder and head of the original Roller Derby league from 1935 until his son Jerry Seltzer took over the business in 1958. Seltzer was born in Helena, Montana on April 5, 1903. Seltzer attended Lincoln High School in Portland, Oregon where he was a member of the school's basketball team. He competed in the amateur and semi-pro basketball circuits in Portland after high school. As a young adult, Seltzer was in the motion History of roller derby in the area. To his surprise, Jerry Seltzer received three hundred letters asking for Roller Derby to come to Portland, so he obliged and the Derby made an appearance before 9,000 fans. Realizing he had stumbled onto a promotional formula, he began syndicating videotapes of games to more independent TV stations, and followed up broadcasts with personal appearances of the Derby in each city. In 1961, forty stations carried Derby. Several years later, UHF TV stations, mostly independent and desperate to compete with older, network-dominated VHF counterparts, snatched up broadcasting rights for their areas. Although TV exposure was an important Joan Weston Joan Weston Joan Weston or Joanie Weston (January 20, 1935 – May 10, 1997), known as the "Blonde Bomber", "Blonde Amazon", "Golden Girl", and "Roller Derby Queen", was a U.S. athlete and was the most famous personality in the original Roller Derby. Weston was born in Huntington Beach, California, in 1935, and grew up in nearby Downey. 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 History of roller derby six-day "go-as-you-please" competition was staged at Madison Square Garden in New York City, with 36 skaters competing for $500 in prize money. Two deaths resulted from the six-day race: both the winner, William Donovan, and skater Joseph Cohen died shortly after the race was completed. Though the inquest that resulted from Cohen's death led to a recommendation for a law prohibiting roller skating activities exceeding four hours in length, a second six-day race was announced in May 1885. The popularity of roller skate racing, including endurance events, continued in the early 20th century. Races routinely featured amateur skaters as well Roller derby to increase skater contact. By 1939, after experimenting with different team and scoring arrangements, Seltzer's created a touring company of four pairs of teams (always billed as the local "home" team versus either New York or Chicago), with two five-person teams on the track at once, scoring points when its members lapped opponents. On November 29, 1948, before television viewership was widespread, "Roller Derby" debuted on New York television. The broadcasts increased spectator turnout for live matches. For the 1949–1950 season, Seltzer formed the National Roller Derby League (NRDL), comprising six teams. NRDL season playoffs sold out Madison Square Garden Leo Seltzer Derby Hall of Fame in Chicago. His son Jerry, still living, was inducted at the same celebration. Leo Seltzer had always wanted roller derby to be a legitimate sport and to be in the Olympics. His son Jerry said that with the recent grassroots movement of roller derby, including the advent of WFTDA, he thinks roller derby can now be an Olympic sport. Leo Seltzer Leo A. Seltzer (April 5, 1903 – January 30, 1978) is generally credited as the creator of the sport of roller derby, and was the founder and head of the original Roller Derby league from Ripley's Believe It or Not! a global company with an annual attendance of more than 12 million guests. Ripley Entertainment's publishing and broadcast divisions oversee numerous projects, including the syndicated TV series, the newspaper cartoon panel, books, posters, and games. Ripley first called his cartoon feature, originally involving sports feats, "Champs and Chumps", and it premiered on December 19, 1918, in "The New York Globe". Ripley began adding items unrelated to sports, and in October 1919, he changed the title to "Believe It or Not". When the "Globe" folded in 1923, Ripley moved to the "New York Evening Post". In 1924, the panel began being Natalie Dunn Natalie Dunn Natalie Dunn, also known as Natalie Dunn Fries, (born 1956) was the first American woman to win the world championship in figure roller-skating, which she did in 1976. She won her first event at age seven, and won the national women's single at age sixteen. She was inducted into the Bob Elias Kern County Sports Hall of Fame in February 1978. In 1979, the Supersisters trading card set was produced and distributed; one of the cards featured Dunn's name and picture. There is at least one book about her, "Natalie Dunn: World Roller Skating Champion" by Gloria D. Golden Age of Roller Skating were sold off for better investment opportunities. Golden Age of Roller Skating The Golden Age of Roller Skating represents a period when roller skating became the number one participatory sport in America or from 1937 through 1959. An estimated 5,000 rink were in operation and 18,000,000 Americans roller skated by the end of the 1940s. The years of World War II propelled it to the top sport by the end of the 1940s as civilians, war industry workers and military service personnel, both in the states and oversea, sought out rinks to relieve the stress of war. The wheels were RollerJam RollerJam RollerJam is an American television series featuring roller derby that aired on The Nashville Network (TNN, now Spike) from 1999 to 2001. It was the first attempt to bring roller derby to TV since RollerGames. "RollerJam" was derived from the original roller derby, but newer skaters used inline skates to modernize the sport (several skaters, mostly older ones, used the traditional quad skates). The program was taped at Universal Studios Stage 21 in Orlando, Florida, known as "RollerJam Arena" and now the Impact Wrestling Zone, for the first and second seasons (1999 and 2000) and the former "American Gladiators" History of roller derby the next decade, with sometimes as few as one game annually, the ASD attempted to keep the traditional game going. "RollerGames", created in 1989 by two television producers, David Sams and Michael Miller, and Roller Games owner Bill Griffiths, Sr., was a U.S. television show that presented a theatrical version of the sport of roller derby for a national audience. It featured a steeply banked figure-eight track, an alligator pit, and a number of skaters who had been in the Roller Games league, as well as younger participants. The six teams were the T-Birds, Violators, Bad Attitude, Rockers, Hot Flash, Roller skates the benefits they list include: Roller skates Roller skates are shoes, or bindings that fit onto shoes, that are worn to enable the wearer to roll along on wheels. The first roller skate was effectively an ice skate with wheels replacing the blade. Later the "quad" style of roller skate became more popular consisting of four wheels arranged in the same configuration as a typical car. While the first reported use of roller skates was on a London stage in 1743, the first patented roller skate was introduced in 1760 by Belgian inventor John Joseph Merlin. His roller skate wasn't Roller Derby Skateboard Roller Derby Skateboard The first mass-produced skateboard was Roller Derby Skate Company’s “Skate Board” (without the “#10”). Roller Derby made this skateboard in their La Mirada, CA factory, and it was available nationwide at Roller Derby arenas in 1959, and then in Thrifty Drugstores and Sears, Roebuck and Co. as the "Roller Derby Skate Board" in 1960. It was very similar to the first commercially available skateboard; the red, flat, straight-sided, steel-wheeled "Bun Board" which had been made and sold in Hermosa Beach by Alf Jensen since 1957. In 1964 Roller Derby added 3 surfboard-shaped rubber-wheeled models similar to Makaha Skateboarder (magazine) US—during the first skateboarding boom. In August 1965 the title was changed to "Skateboarder" and the magazine began to be published bimonthly. After an initial release of only four issues between 1964 and December 1965, the publication ceased until the first major skateboard revival of the early 1970s. In his first editorial, John Severson wrote: Today's skateboarders are founders in this sport—they're pioneers—they are the first. There is no history in Skateboarding—its being made now—by you. The sport is being molded and we believe that doing the right thing now will lead to a bright future for the sport. Already, History of roller derby cash prizes. The contests were emceed by celebrities like Frankie Laine and Red Skelton, and grossed $6 million in three years. Seltzer held his first commercial walkathon in 1931 in Denver, Colorado, then held 22 more, grossing $2 million before retiring, citing that the events had become "vulgar." In 1933, Seltzer moved his family to Chicago, Illinois and began booking events at the Chicago Coliseum. In 1935, the novelty of walkathons had worn off, but a roller skating fad arose again. According to folklore, Seltzer read an article in "Literary Digest" magazine that said ninety-three percent of Americans roller skated Roller skates Roller skates Roller skates are shoes, or bindings that fit onto shoes, that are worn to enable the wearer to roll along on wheels. The first roller skate was effectively an ice skate with wheels replacing the blade. Later the "quad" style of roller skate became more popular consisting of four wheels arranged in the same configuration as a typical car. While the first reported use of roller skates was on a London stage in 1743, the first patented roller skate was introduced in 1760 by Belgian inventor John Joseph Merlin. His roller skate wasn't much more than an ice Roller skating Rink's thirty-fifth season on the eve of World War II. Tyler was referring to the first roller skate craze at the turn of the twentieth century, when ball bearings revolutionized roller technology and roller skaters staged spectacle events and speed-skating marathons. Clamp-on skates were mass-produced for those with great aspirations. Tyler's reporting attempted to temper the rebirth of enthusiasm for the new roller styles that had become popular, including roller derby and dancing on rollers, suggesting that we had seen this before. Today, the acceptance for roller skating is not unlike a waning moon but the sport persists. Roller skating Leo Seltzer New York City's 69th Regiment Armory, captivated the nation. Roller Derby was finally the smash hit Leo Seltzer had always envisioned, although within a few years, the sport was overexposed on TV, the brand new medium that had catapulted it to prominence. With dwindling attendance, Roller Derby left America to tour Europe in 1953, but returned the following year. Seltzer moved the headquarters to the West Coast, a few years before major league baseball would make the same move. Leo never lost his vision that the game would once again be embraced by the country, but by 1958, it was Inline skates athlete training on solid ground for Olympic long track speed skating events. "Life" magazine published a photo of American skater Eric Heiden, training for the 1980 Olympics, using such skates on a Wisconsin road. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Rollerblade, Inc., a company founded by Scott and Brennan Olson in Minneapolis, Minnesota, widely promoted inline skating through the registered trademark "Rollerblade". John Joseph Merlin experimented with single- to many-rowed devices worn on feet in 1760. Inline skates, skates designed to work like ice skates during periods of warm weather, were invented by Louis Legrange of France in 1849. Crain's Chicago Business from the failed paper. The first newsstand issue of "Crain’s Chicago Business" appeared on Monday, June 5, 1978, a 46-page edition with an exclusive lead story on how the Marshall Field & Co. department store chain was planning further suburban expansion. To promote the new paper, Rance handed out free issues to commuters at Union Station during the morning rush hour. “While I was passing out copies, a newsstand vendor in the station came up to me,” Rance recalled. “He said, ‘I sure hope you don’t have much of your own money tied up in this, because it’s not going Aggressive inline skating with certain frame/flat(rocker) combinations on certain obstacles. An anti-rocker setup would be used at the skaters discretion, based on the terrain they planned to skate, and way they wish to skate it. One disadvantage of an anti-rocker setup is the speed that is lost, as four load bearing wheels are removed, and the weight distributed to each of the remaining is increased. Skate videos began in 1994 with the release of "The Hoax: An In-Line Crime". K2 Sports, Salomon and Rollerblade were early proponents of the sport and released their own videos. Senate, arguably the first inline-only company, released a Leo Seltzer the country to the other which incorporated both male and female participants on a banked track. Seltzer's decision to use women was a double-edged sword for the sport, since it guaranteed a large female audience at a sporting event, but the presence of women athletes made the mainstream press view Roller Derby as a sideshow, not a legitimate sport. The premier race in Chicago was a tremendous success, but subsequent engagements throughout the country were not as successful, and Seltzer's entire enterprise almost ended with a tragic bus crash in 1937 when nineteen members of a touring group of Roller New York Clipper New York Clipper The New York Clipper, also known as The Clipper, was a weekly entertainment newspaper published in New York City from 1853 to 1924. It covered many topics, including circuses, dance, music, the outdoors, sports, and theatre. It had a circulation of about 25,000. The publishers also produced the yearly "New York Clipper Annual". In 1924, "The Clipper" was absorbed into the entertainment journal "Variety". Frank Queen began publishing the "New York Clipper" in 1853, making it the first American paper devoted entirely to entertainment; the paper eventually shortened its name to "The Clipper". The paper was one The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved in the June 1970 edition of "Scanlan's Monthly". It was later reprinted in Tom Wolfe's anthology "The New Journalism" (1973) and also in one of Thompson's own books, "The Great Shark Hunt" of 1979, a book collecting several of his earlier works. The article was not widely read at the time, but Thompson did garner attention from other journalists for its unusual style. In 1970, Bill Cardoso, editor of "The Boston Globe" Sunday Magazine, wrote to Thompson, whom he had met on a bus full of journalists covering the 1968 New Hampshire primary. Cardoso praised the piece as a breakthrough: Philadelphia Journal about. About a month after the "Journal" ceased publishing, "the Philadelphia Bulletin" also ceased publication, leaving the city with only one newspaper owner and two titles—The "Philadelphia Inquirer" and the "Philadelphia Daily News". Philadelphia Journal The Philadelphia Journal was a tabloid newspaper published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from December 5, 1977 until December 15, 1981. The paper, described by the Associated Press, as "a tabloid that focused on sports, entertainment and crime," was the first venture into the United States market for the parent corporation, Quebecor, a Canadian publishing house. Jacques Beauchamp was the initial editor and said that the paper History of roller derby afforded little lateral mobility thus hampering the skaters ability to block effectively. In 2000, Daniel Eduardo "Devil Dan" Policarpo, then an Austin, Texas musician, recruited women to skate in what he envisioned would be a raucous, rockabilly, circus-like roller derby spectacle. After an organizational meeting and a disputed fundraiser, Policarpo and the women parted ways. The women then self-organized as Bad Girl Good Woman Productions (BGGW) in 2001, creating a new generation of roller derby, open to women only. Founders formed four teams, and staged their first public match in Austin in mid-2002. Shortly after, the league split over business Barre Montpelier Times Argus policy of "Barre first and the rest of the world after." The first edition came out on March 16, 1897 and cost one cent. Langley's son remembered playing on the floor while Mrs. Langley set type in their Barre home. In 1917 Langley encouraged his employees to become partners, and upon his death in 1938 six men became shareholders, including Alex Walker. Walker bought out his partners in 1958, and purchased the Montpelier Argus on August 29, 1959. The first Barre-Montpelier Times Argus was published on August 30, 1959. The Montpelier Argus was struggling financially when it was purchased, working Rocky Mountain Rollergirls Rocky Mountain Rollergirls Rocky Mountain Rollergirls, or RMRG, is a women's flat-track roller derby league based in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 2004, Rocky Mountain is a founding member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), and has qualified for WFTDA Playoffs every year, including winning the WFTDA Championships in 2010. Rocky Mountain formed as the first contemporary roller derby league in Denver in 2004, and by July 2005 held their first local game, between the Red Ridin' Hoods and the Sugar Kill Gang. Later that year, the nascent organization split and a number of former members launched the rival History of roller derby U.S. District Court, ruling against Seltzer when he sued a competitor in 1938, found that the marathon roller race concept had long been in the public domain, so Seltzer couldn't claim copyright violation. Following the first event's success, Seltzer took the Transcontinental Roller Derby on the road, holding similar races throughout the U.S. with a portable track that reportedly cost $20,000. Daily crowds averaged 10,000 in number, with spectators paying 10 to 25 cents admission. These races were billed as covering "4,000 miles" even though the simulated route was still about 3,000, covering the distance from San Diego to New Nation Magazine v. United States Department of Defense culture. It is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States and calls itself "The Flagship of the Left." Press pools were first implemented in the Russo-Japanese war in 1904, and first in the United States in the Panama Invasion in 1989. According to Matthew J. Jacobs' essay "Assessing the Constitutionality of Press Restrictions in the Persian Gulf War," the press often voiced three complaints: 1) Because of the small number of spots in the Gulf War press pools, not all publications' crew members had access to the pools and small, offbeat publications had no access whatsoever. 2) Carolina Rollergirls name "Celia Fate", began soliciting potential skaters with recruiting sessions in early 2004. Initial practices featured some women who had skated as adults, but many had not been on wheels since middle school and practices were loosely organized, at first consisting of mostly drills and laps. CRG held its first exhibition bout on September 19, 2004 at Raleigh's Skate Ranch, featuring two ad-hoc teams, the Crimson Crushers against the Black Widows, and a second exhibition followed on November 21, 2004. The first two permanent home teams, the Debutante Brawlers and Trauma Queens, took part in CRG's first official bout on History of roller derby Salt Lake City to New York. Appearances at the Pan Pacific Auditorium in Los Angeles, California attracted celebrities such as W.C. Fields, Mickey Rooney, Eddie Cantor, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Cary Grant and Eleanor Powell. Occasionally, massive collisions and crashes occurred as skaters tried to lap those who were ahead of them. In 1936, 1937, or 1938 (sources vary), after seeing a match in Miami and realizing this was an exciting element of the sport, sportswriter Damon Runyon encouraged Seltzer to tweak the game to maximize physical contact between the skaters, including elbowing, "whipping", and slamming Ty Page to purchase a new $3,000 high-speed camera to catch him on film to publish in the August and September 1977 issues. He appeared on the cover of many national and international magazines and was frequently featured in skateboarding magazines and journals as well as "Newsweek" and "Sports Illustrated". In addition, his line of skateboards was revolutionary in performance. The Ty Page Professional Skateboards were designed by Ty himself to be different from all other boards. The boards and Ty Page Black Gold wheels were heavily promoted by Blammo Gum and California Free Formers in every major newspaper in the country. New York Clipper as it is had a fit iv the ager. They feed him on broiled pavin stones, an whin he takes dhrink, feth he laves the river so dhry that all the ships ran aground. The divil a wurd iv a lie I'm telling ye. The "Clipper" was the paper of record for the circus business from its founding until about 1902 when the "Billboard" overtook it in coverage. For most of its life the paper carried a circus section and contained both classified and display advertising for circuses. It remains the single best news source for the circus in the RollerJam arena in the show's final season. The first few weeks of the show's second season, which ran from August to October 1999, were taped at the MGM Grand Las Vegas. "RollerJam" was the brainchild of Knoxville, Tennessee-based television impresarios Ross K. Bagwell, Sr. and Stephen Land. Land, a fan of roller derby in boyhood, was inspired to bring the sport back to television by an obituary for roller derby legend Joan Weston that he had read in the "New York Times" in May 1997, and shared his idea with Bagwell, his mentor, who gave him a positive response. Between January Providence Roller Derby year before creating teams and public bouting. Kingan soon left Providence to pursue a doctorate at Harvard University, and shortly thereafter helped found the Boston Derby Dames. The leagues first two teams were the Providence Mob Squad and the Sakonnet River Roller Rats, comprising skaters aged 19 to 29, and the league's first exhibition bout was May 1, 2005, at the outdoor Bank of America Skating Center. The weather report predicted sun by the afternoon, but when the teams showed up the rink was completely flooded, and head referee Billy the Kid began squeegeeing water off the track until rink Roller derby skaters wore traditional quad skates). Jerry Seltzer was commissioner for this version. Roller derby began its modern revival in Austin, Texas in the early 2000s as an all-female, woman-organized amateur sport. By August 2006, there were over 135 similar leagues. Leagues outside the U.S. also began forming in 2006, and international competition soon followed. There are over 2,000 amateur leagues worldwide in countries including Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Brazil, New Zealand, Germany, Belgium, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Israel, Singapore, Dubai, and Egypt. In many international leagues, gear and equipment must be imported. Roller derby's contemporary resurgence has been Universal Press Syndicate Andrews reading the "Yale Daily News". While clipping a column by a priest, he was distracted by Garry Trudeau's "Bull Tales" comic strip on the facing page. When Trudeau's "Doonesbury" debuted as a daily strip in two dozen newspapers on October 26, 1970, it was the first strip from Universal Press Syndicate, and a Sunday strip was launched March 21, 1971. Circulation of "Doonesbury" eventually expanded to more than 1,400 newspapers internationally. Strips like "Ziggy" (launched 1971), "Kelly & Duke", (launched 1972), "Tank McNamara" (launched 1974), "Cathy" (launched 1976), and "For Better or For Worse" (launched 1979) soon followed, and Roller disco Roller disco A roller disco is a discothèque or skating rink where all the dancers wear roller skates of some kind (traditional quad or inline). The music played is modern and easily danceable, historically disco but in modern times including almost any form of dance, pop or rock music. The concept originated as a fad in the 1970s when the disco craze was at its height, peaking around 1980 and inspiring several roller-disco magazines. In 1984 the fad arrived in the United Kingdom and many roller discos popped up all over the country , the craze has largely discontinued, although Gloria Nord a school for stage kids in Hollywood. Nord's aspiration to become a Broadway singer, dancer and actress changed when motion picture theater owner, Sid Grauman, opened the Hollywood Roller Bowl. Within three weeks' after the bowl opened, Nord was giving exhibitions in roller skating. By age 18, the 5 foot, 2 inch (157 cm), 115 pound (52 kg) Nord was discovered by Edward W. Smith—Publisher and Editor of Skating Review Magazine—and was touring the United States and appearing in roller-skating movies. In 1942, boxing promoter Harold Steinman saw Nord perform and borrowed $10,000 to create the "Skating Vanities," a touring History of roller derby plans: The Texas Rollergirls embraced flat-track play, while the BGGW league took the name TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls and went on to skate banked-track roller derby. The revival then began in earnest, with over 50 similar all-female leagues in existence by late 2005, more than 80 by February 2006, and more than 135 by mid-August 2006. The sport's sudden growth in 2006 is attributed to its exposure via the "Rollergirls" reality television show, which depicted portions of the lives of real skaters from the TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls. The show began broadcasting in January 2006, but was not picked-up for a second Skateboarding Pier Avenue Junior High School in Hermosa Beach, California. Some of these same teams of skateboarders were also featured on a television show called "Surf's Up" in 1964, hosted by Stan Richards, that helped promote skateboarding as something new and fun to do. As the popularity of skateboarding began expanding, the first skateboarding magazine, "The Quarterly Skateboarder" was published in 1964. John Severson, who published the magazine, wrote in his first editorial: The magazine only lasted four issues, but resumed publication as "Skateboarder" in 1975. The first broadcast of an actual skateboarding competition was the 1965 National Skateboarding Championships, which Leo Seltzer time for son Jerry to take over day-to-day operation of the family business. Jerry Seltzer (born June 3, 1932), once again took the sport to great heights by syndicating Roller Derby telecasts, featuring the San Francisco Bay Bombers, which were shown on a network of 120 TV stations across the country. Roller Derby broadcasts beat all competition in most markets. Derby's national tour became so successful that by 1969, the Bay Bombers were broken up into a San Francisco and Oakland team. These two units filled arenas across the country from 1969 through 1971, when a third unit was added. Frederick C. Klein items, and in 1977, Klein was named the first-ever sports columnist for the Journal, a role he held into 2001. From 2001 to 2003, Klein was a columnist with Sports Business Journal. Klein's first book, Education of a Horseplayer, was published in 1968. It was followed in 1974 by News & The Market, written with fellow Journal writer John Prestbo, which focused on the impact of news on share prices. Later books by Klein included two compilations of his "On Sports" columns, the first being On Sports in 1988 and Sunflower Seeds and Seoul Food in 1992. He has also Texas Rollergirls Eduardo "Devil Dan" Policarpo, an Austin-based musician, to start a modern roller derby-themed enterprise. BGGW formed as the first all-female roller derby organization. The first public exhibition was held at Playland Skate Center in Austin on June 23, 2002, in front of 350 fans, with a follow-up event held in August before double the number of people. The final event of 2002 sold out at 1200 tickets, and hundreds of people had to be turned away. A March 2003 doubleheader at the Austin Music Hall during South by Southwest featured the band Nashville Pussy for entertainment. By April, approximately 80% Roller skates become an Olympic event. Other roller skating sports include jam skating and roller derby. Roller skating popularity exploded during the disco era but tapered off in the 80s and 90s. The Roller Skating Rink Operators Association was developed in the U.S in 1937. It is currently named the Roller Skating Association. The association promotes roller skating and offers classes to the public, aiming to educate the population about roller skating. The current president is Bobby Pender. The Roller Skating Association headquarters is located in Indianapolis. The Roller Skating Association's web page offers some health benefits of roller skating. Some of Bill Corum In July 1925, he left the Times for the "New York Evening Journal" to cover the New York Giants. By 1926, Corum became the Journal's lead columnist. His first column appeared July 28, 1926. Over the next 32 years, he filed nearly 10,000 columns with the "Evening Journal" and, following the merger of Hearst's morning and afternoon papers, the "New York Journal-American", becoming one of the nation's most recognizable sports columnists and radio personalities. On radio, Corum called the Kentucky Derby with Clem McCarthy, and the World Series with Red Barber among others. Starting with the first Joe Louis-Billy Conn New York Daily News New York Daily News The New York Daily News, officially titled Daily News, is an American newspaper based in New York City. , it was the ninth-most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States. It was founded in 1919, and was the first U.S. daily printed in tabloid format. It reached its peak circulation in 1947, at 2.4 million copies a day. The "Daily News" was founded by Joseph Medill Patterson in 1919, as the Illustrated Daily News. (It was not connected to an earlier "New York Daily News", which was founded in 1855, flourished under Benjamin Wood, and RollerJam New York Enforcers. A game based on the show was developed by BLAM! and published by Electronic Arts for the playstation The Rollerjam game made an appearance as an IGN preview. according to Neoseekers, the RollerJam video game was set for a release in the 2nd quarter of 2002, but contrary to IGN release date, as the game was supposed to be released on 2001. But no other trace of information came through about the game being released or canceled without a confirmation. The video game itself became featured in Rollerjam as a feud, where the game was announced by Victoria Skating Rink Cup series score immediately. This is considered the first ice hockey broadcast by wire. The Rink was built for the Victoria Skating Club and skating was its primary use at first. The Rink was prominent in the development of the sports of figure skating and speed skating. Figure skating, known as "fancy skating" began in the 1860s and the Rink held championships starting in the 1870s. A combination of racing and fancy skating championships was held in February 1888 was announced internationally in the February 1, 1888 "New York Times." The races were "220 yards, quarter mile, half mile, mile, NWA Rollergirls As of July, 2009 NWA Roller Derby were accepted by the I.R.S. as a 501(c)3 charitable organization. The league has been featured in reports on KNWA-TV, and the "Arkansas Democrat-Gazette". By late 2010, NWA was one of three flat-track derby leagues in Arkansas. The early beginnings of NWA Roller Derby consisted of the league maintaining two home teams, the Twisted Sisters and the Hardwood Harlots. Their first bout, Fright Night Fight, on October 18, 2006 premiered their skating to the general public. Over the course of 2007 NWA Rollerderby held home bouts between the two teams for the general public Ellie Harrison (artist) Library in 2012. Harrison first became involved in the sport of Women's Flat Track Roller Derby at the start of 2012, when she began training with Glasgow Roller Derby under the skater name CH£AP SKATE 79. This coincided with her time as artist in residence at Glasgow Women's Library as part of the "21 Revolutions" project, celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the library. On 14 June 2012 the NMRD was launched, by establishing the library the official home of the UK's first permanent archive of materials and ephemeral relating to this all-female, full-contact sport. In 2011, Harrison was shortlisted for Betty J. Ligon to become the only woman on the staff of the International News Service in Dallas. Between 1944 and 1947, she worked at the "Amarillo Globe News". Ligon married Andrew Ligon, Sr. in 1947. Also in 1947, Ligon earned her pilot's license. Ligon flew in the last Powder Puff Derby in 1977 as a passenger. She was also a member of the local chapter of the Ninety-Nines. In 1969, the "El Paso Herald-Post" hired her and in the next year, she became the entertainment editor. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, she was responsible for covering most of the art St. Louis Sun on September 25 with Ingersoll as editor in chief. The paper was the first American metropolitan daily since "The Washington Times" was published in 1982. For the first three months of 1990, the newspaper claimed sales averaging over 100,000 a day. The "Sun" earned much local notoriety for a full-tabloid-page headline which read "He Bit Hers, She Sued His", which had to do with a lawsuit by a woman against a man who bit her buttocks forcefully while the two of them were at a bar. Growth of the "Sun"'s circulation nonetheless fell short of the company's expectations in the Akron Roller Derby Akron Roller Derby Akron Roller Derby is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Akron, Ohio. Two separate Akron-based leagues, NEO Roller Derby and Rubber City Rollergirls, merged in November 2016 to become Akron Roller Derby. The league consists of two teams which compete against teams from other leagues, and is a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). Akron's original roller derby league was founded in June 2006 by Mary Elliott. The Rubber City Demolition Dolls were featured in the "Akron Beacon Journal" on May 27, 2007. Shortly after, Elliott bowed out but the original Grand Raggidy Roller Derby Grand Raggidy Roller Derby Grand Raggidy Roller Derby is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Founded in 2005, the league is a founding member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). The league was founded as "Grand Raggidy Roller Girls" by Tricia "The Vindicator" Woolfenden and Katy "Shutter Speed" Batdorff in 2005. The first public game for Grand Raggidy was held in April 2006 with over 2,000 fans in attendance at the DeltaPlex Arena. Since as far back as 2009, Grand Raggidy has held its home games at Rivertown Sports, with exceptions in History of roller derby component of Roller Derby's revitalization, Seltzer didn't want to repeat the experience of mainstream professional sports organizations that had become dependent on TV; he used the medium only for exposure and publicity for the live matches, not a source of revenue for player salaries. Jerry Seltzer also changed some of the rules. For the first time, skaters were required to wear helmets, and, at the behest of KTVU television announcer Walt Harris, he made the game more TV-friendly by making jammers' helmets easier to spot. A more theatrical imitation called Roller Games was started in 1961 in Los Angeles featuring Roller hockey (quad) Roller Polo league was operating with 14 teams Organized roller skating sports developed as the popularity of roller skates increased in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Roller hockey teams were playing throughout Europe as early as 1901. Roller Hockey was played by the famous silent film stars, Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin, in the early 1900s. The first World Championships in roller hockey were held in 1936 in Stuttgart, Germany. Rink Hockey as it was called in Europe was not organized by the RSROA in the United States until 1959 and name roller hockey The sport debuted at Toughie Brasuhn Toughie Brasuhn Marjorie Clair Louise Theresa Brasuhn Monte, known as Midge "Toughie" Brasuhn (January 27, 1923 – 9 August 1971) was a roller derby skater. Born in St Louis, Missouri, to a German-American family, Brasuhn acquired the nickname "Midge" as a child, by virtue of her height - only 4'11". She joined the roller derby in 1941, in Minneapolis, and soon married Ken Monte, a fellow skater. Brasuhn rose to fame in the late 1940s, with a billboard campaign showing her with green dye on her face, asking the question "Who Is Toughie?" She regularly competed against Gerry Murray, sometimes Toughie Brasuhn Toughie Brasuhn Marjorie Clair Louise Theresa Brasuhn Monte, known as Midge "Toughie" Brasuhn (January 27, 1923 – 9 August 1971) was a roller derby skater. Born in St Louis, Missouri, to a German-American family, Brasuhn acquired the nickname "Midge" as a child, by virtue of her height - only 4'11". She joined the roller derby in 1941, in Minneapolis, and soon married Ken Monte, a fellow skater. Brasuhn rose to fame in the late 1940s, with a billboard campaign showing her with green dye on her face, asking the question "Who Is Toughie?" She regularly competed against Gerry Murray, sometimes Middlesbrough Roller Derby Middlesbrough Roller Derby Middlesbrough Roller Derby is a women's flat track roller derby league and not-for-profit organisation based in Middlesbrough, England. Founded as "Middlesbrough Milk Rollers" in September 2007, Middlesbrough is a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). In September 2007 and inspired by the London Rollergirls, the league was founded as the first derby league in the North East by Natalie "Germaine Leer" Boxall and Karen "Bon Sleaze" Slater. The Middlesbrough Milk Rollers hosted the Northern EXPOsure on 19 September 2009 which featured 4 leagues from the UK competing. As well as taking part in boot Las Vegas Review-Journal told he could no longer write anything about Adelson, a frequent focus of his reporting up till then. Within six months, all three of the reporters who broke the story of Adelson's ownership had left the paper. The "Review-Journal" is responsible for several other niche publications: The "Review-Journal" also operates several Nevada newspapers: The "Las Vegas Review-Journal" launched its website as LVRJ.com on Jan. 15, 1997. By the end of the year, it was recognized as one of the top online papers in the U.S. by the Internet Job Source. The Review-Journal also operated LasVegas.com as a general information site. Women's Flat Track Derby Association bout). In September 2007, the WFTDA was admitted to USA Roller Sports (USARS) as a Class V member — a national amateur roller skating organization — and a WFTDA delegate joined the USARS Board of Directors. In June 2008, the WFTDA Rules Committee created a Question and Answer forum to "provide definitive and final answers about the Women's Flat Track Derby Association Standard Rules, and in July, the WFTDA started its referee certification program. The official WFTDA magazine "fiveonfive" began publication in September 2008. In November, it was announced that for 2009, WFTDA member leagues would be divided into four History of roller derby underway to broadcast IRSL matchups on USA Network, the IRSL was unable to survive without television support. Lipshultz shut down the league after its last game at Madison Square Garden on December 12, 1987. Around that time, Lipschultz and skaters were negotiating over how to keep it going. Lipschultz wanted to make it more like professional wrestling in an attempt to win over a fickle TV audience, but the players had different ideas. No agreement was reached, and potential sponsors lost interest. The 1985 IRSL matches have been shown twice on ESPN Classic's sports comedy show "Cheap Seats", as ESPN Tribune Media investment interest until 1995. Patterson established the company's second newspaper, the "New York News" in 1919. Tribune's ownership of the New York City tabloid was considered "interlocking" due to an agreement between McCormick and Patterson. The paper launched a European edition during World War I. To compete with the "Saturday Evening Post" and "Collier's" in 1924, the Tribune Company launched a weekly national magazine, "Liberty", run by a subsidiary, McCormick-Patterson. The company entered broadcasting in 1924 by leasing WDAP, one of Chicago's first radio stations. Tribune later changed the station's call letters to WGN, reflecting the "Tribune"s nickname, "World's Greatest