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10 Facts About Roller Derby
Anybody else remember Joan Weston?
When I was a kid, it seemed like roller derby was a bigger thing it is now. I’d occasionally see it on TV, but now it seems like there is a league in Texas and that’s about it. Apparently, the boost the Raquel Welch movie from the 70s, The Kansas City Bomber didn’t give the sport a sustained boost.
One of my favorite singers/songwriters, Jim Croce dis a song about roller derby. It was called, I Fell in Love with a Roller Derby Queen. And was the case with so many of Croce’s songs, the lyrics were fantastic. Here’s a sample:
She were 5 foot 6, two-fifteen
A bleach blonde bomber with a streak of mean
She knew how to knuckle and she knew how to scuffle and fight
And the roller derby program said
That she was built like a ‘fridgerator with a head
Her fans called her Tuffy, but all her buddies called her Spike
Man, they don’t write songs like that anymore. Now, on to some roller derby facts.
1: In 1940 more than five million people watched roller derby in 50 American cities.
Then over a period time, roller derby evolved into more a sports entertainment venue…
