“Psst! Check it out, but don't stare: I think our office manager is sporting a black eye.”
Did the executive assistant in your office just walk past with a limp? You probably weren’t hallucinating. She might have been “skating in a bout” last night.
Yes, roller derby, the sport with a checkered past, likened to professional wrestling, is back with a vengeance – along with some unlikely fans and participants.
Call it a resurgence, an arrival or even a “Mainstream Renaissance.” Just don’t call it lip service. Thanks to the success of the A&E television series Rollergirls and Juno actress Ellen Page’s turn as a derby queen in the film Whip It, roller derby has resurfaced as viable pop culture commodity, and a new generation of cleverly-nicknamed skaters are catapulting the sport back to the future.
Leading the Midwest offensive are Cleveland’s Burning River Roller Girls, who celebrate their new season this Saturday, March 13 at their new home, the Wolstein Center at Cleveland State University.
That’s right, folks. Cue the flashpots: Roller derby has officially graduated to the arena circuit.
They’re Gonna Party Like it’s 1969…
“Most people still carry the stigma that roller derby is like it was in the 1950s, either really fake like professional wrestling, or brutal towards women,” says Burning River Roller Girl rookie Carol Harnett (aka June Cleavage). Even she cops to having what she calls “Laverne flashbacks” after attending a bout for the first time a few years ago.
“But I learned quickly when I joined a [recreation center] league that derby is much more involved than it looks to the average fan,” says Harnett. “It’s a great emotional release to strap on the skates. Derby is not what you might think. It’s great physical stress relief, and it’s all about sportsmanship, camaraderie and team spirit.”
Stepping up to a big league in a big venue doesn't trigger butterflies for Harnett. “I don’t tend to get nervous in public,” she adds with a laugh. “But I suspect that when the vets out there start yelling ‘Hit somebody!’ then it might become a little nerve-racking.”
Harnett assists unemployed Clevelanders as a career manager at a local employment agency by day. Only a couple of her co-workers know that she’s a member of the BRRG’s “Hard Knockers” skate squad by night. “I work in a building where no one knows,” Harnett chuckles. “Bet they might be surprised!”
We’re looking for women who are over 21 and have health insurance
“You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby…”
Though the official “roll off into obscurity” date varies by historian, most date roller derby’s death knell by the popularity of Virginia Slims cigarettes, and the ceremonial unfurling of Farrah Fawcett posters by pre-pubescent boys in 1976. At that point, the sport christened by Chicago native Leo “Bromo” Seltzer in 1911 had enjoyed nearly 20 years of peak popularity, albeit with some bumps along the way.
Seltzer’s “Transcontinental Roller Derby” featured both men’s and women’s teams that rotated periods during a bout, but by the 1950s, roller derby was a sport dominated by women, with leagues stretching across America. It peaked in popularity with 1972's Kansas City Bomber, which starred sexpot Racquel Welch, and 1975 sci-fi flick, Rollerball.
By the time roller derby was featured on the TV sitcom Laverne & Shirley, roller derby was seen as a gauche, chauvinist exhibition for lowbrows, as outmoded as Laverne’s poodle skirt.
With Ronald Reagan’s presidency in 1981, Americans had moved on to new obsessions like Journey, Tron, Rubik’s Cube and Pac-Man. But like all of those pop culture obsessions, roller derby has made a modern comeback, too. The menagerie of 50s kitsch, 70s sensationalism and the rockabilly-goth, pin-up swagger of the Suicide Girls has struck a chord with fans, breathing new life into the world of “jammers,” “blockers” and “pivots.”
Today, there are dozens of new leagues and hundreds of teams competing through the Women’s Flat-Track Derby Association, which the BRRG is a part of. The WFTDA’s marketing motto reads: “Real. Strong. Athletic. Revolutionary.” Anyone who has seen a BRRG bout would agree with such descriptors. Story continued on page two...
