Expansion

 The 14th Regiment Armory in Brooklyn, NY

 

The 1949-1950 Roller Derby regular season would begin less than two weeks after the 1949 Roller Derby World Series.  Probably to a lot of people, that seemed to be very quick.  However, over the history of Roller Derby, the game itself didn't have long of an off season like let's say, Pro Football or Pro Basketball.

 

As mentioned in the previous post, the National Roller Derby League would expand from four to six teams for the 1949-1950 season.  Here are the existing and new teams.  All city teams would have nicknames for the first time.  The nicknames would be official in newspaper stories beginning in 1950.

 

New York -  The 1948-1949 NRDL Champions would be called the New York Chiefs.  The team skated, and would continue skating their games at the 69th Regiment Armory.  Gene Gammon would be the team's coach replacing Billy Bogash who coached them in the inaugural season.  Gerry Murray, Gammon's wife would continue to be the team's women's captain.

 

Brooklyn - The runner-ups in the Championship Game in 1949 would be called the Brooklyn Red Devils.  The team was a "road" team throughout the 1948-1949 season.  However, per sources, they would skate their home games beginning in the 1949-1950 season at the 14th Regiment Armory in Brooklyn.  Russ "Rosie" Baker, who was their first coach, would be "replaced" by Ken Monte.  Their first ever "home" game would be against the newly formed Washington Jets in late September.

 

Chicago - The city that began it all would be called the Chicago Westerners.  Chicago would skate their home games at the Coliseum.  They would also skate as the home team in Columbus, Ohio and Miami, Florida.  They would be coached by Bob Satterfield who replaced Russ Baker during the season.  Baker replaced Wes Aronson after the initial season when Aronson retired after a long career.

 

Bronx-Philadelphia -  This franchise would split the first two years between the Bronx borough in New York City and Philadelphia.  Their skating homes were the 22nd Engineers Armory in the Bronx and the Philadelphia Arena in 1950.  Elmer Anderson would be the coach of the newly nickname known as the Panthers.  He would coach until February 1951.

 

Boston/Jersey  - The first of the two new franchises would be in New Jersey, just across the Hudson River.  The Jolters would not only play in Boston, but also the armories in Newark, Teaneck, Jersey City and Patterson, all in the state of New Jersey.  They would be coached by Carl Payne.

 

Washington/Baltimore - The second of the new franchises would begin play with a road series against the Brooklyn Red Devils.  In early October, they would begin skating their games at the Uline Arena, later renamed the Washington Coliseum.  The arena was located in Northeastern Washington and was used for basketball, hockey and was the first indoor concert for The Beatles in 1964.  Today, the building has been renovated and is actually the REI Flagship Store.  The Jets would be coached by Wild Bill Reynolds.  He would coach the Jets for one season.

 

In the next post, will share about the 1949-1950 season, the Roller Derby World Series and what happened after the season when the first of numerous outlaw leagues would be formed.  Also, there would be post season games on the West Coast once again.  I will share a 19 game series in September 1950 between the Westerners and Panthers from Winterland in San Francisco.