1959 Roller Derby World Series

 

 

The 1959 Western Roller Derby regular season was the first one on the West Coast that involved a World Series that would finish the year.  As mentioned in the previous post, the Bay Bombers would open the season against the Hollywood Ravens.  They would also face the Brooklyn Red Devils, Los Angeles Braves, New York Chiefs, an All Star team of NRDL skaters, and the Chicago Westerners.  All four teams had winning percentages above .500.

Thanks to some Roller Derby historians on social media, as well as official Roller Derby Yearbooks of the past, the Bay Bombers, in their first regular season, would win the NRDL Pennant.

 

I failed to mention this in the previous post.  However, here were the teams' coaches for the 1958-1959 season:

 

Hal Janowitz (Ravens and Westerners)

Charlie O'Connell (Bombers)

Bill Laurino (Red Devils and Bombers.  Laurino would take over for O'Connell before the 1959-1960 season.)

Gene Gammon (Chiefs)

Russ Massro (Braves)

Billy Bogash (Braves)

Bob Venter (Red Devils)

Jim Ciota (Red Devils)

    

When the dust settled, the Bombers opened the 1959 Roller Derby World Series against the New York Chiefs in the second semi final game.  The Los Angeles Braves, as the home team, would face the Chicago Westerners in the first game.  Both games were held at the Cow Palace in Daly City for the first of many years.  

 

The Cow Palace was home for the Grand National Rodeo, Pro Wrestling, Indoor Track And Field and Political Conventions over the years.  It was known as the Madison Square Garden of the West Coast.

Before 8267 fans on Thursday, September 3rd, the Westerners defeated the Braves, 25-24 and the Bombers edged the Chiefs, 29-27.

 

In the first semi final game, Bobbi Mateer of the Braves led the women with seven points while Hal Janowitz led the Westerners with nine points.

 

In the second game, Annis Jensen of the Bombers led the women with seven points while Charlie O'Connell of the Bombers led the men with eight points.  O'Connell's three points on the final jam in regulation was the difference in the game.  Thank you to the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner for the information.

The following night, Friday, September 4th, a record Roller Derby crowd in California of 11,431 (at the time) saw the Chicago Westerners win their first, and only NRDL/IRDL Championship, 29-24 over the Bay Bombers.  The Los Angeles Braves defeated the New York Chiefs, 30-24 in the Consolation (Third Place) Game.

 

Reading the press clippings (San Francisco Chronicle) from Friday night, in the Third Place Game, George Copeland of the Braves, led all scorers with 12 points.  For the two game series, Copeland led all scorers with 20 points!

 

In the Championship Game, it only mentioned that the Bombers were without women's star, Ann Calvello, who was suspended by the team before the series for being out of condition.

 

It appeared from watching videos that the Westerners, led by coach, Hal Janowitz, were more experienced than the Bomber squad.  The Bombers never led in the game.  When the Bombers closed the gap several times, the Westerners would respond with points of their own.

 

Though he was the only Westerner skater voted onto the All Star team, the Westerners were a team.  They showed it in their two victories.

 

Charlie O'Connell was, not yet, the force that the fans in the Bay Area would see.  He was on several jams during the two game playoffs at the Cow Palace.  

 

O'Connell, along with Bert Wall (Braves) and Gerry Murray (Chiefs) were named Men's/Women's Regular Season MVPs.

The 11,000+ fans in attendance were very loud and boisterous.  However, they left the Cow Palace disappointed.  There would be other days and nights when the mood would be much different.

Annis Jensen, the Bombers women's captain, was named Playoff MVP while George Copeland of the Braves was the Playoff MVP for the men.  

 

Jan Vallow of the Bombers and Mike Gammon of the Chiefs were the women's/men's Rookie Of The Year.

 

Hal Janowitz of the Westerners was named Roller Derby King and Gerry Murray of the Chiefs was named Roller Derby Queen.

 

Janowitz would be the first male skater to win this award.  He led all male scorers during the 1958-1959 season and edged out Sam Skobel of the Chiefs.

Murray, in winning her award, was the leading female scorer during the season in edging out Loretta Behrens of the Westerners.

 

Finally, the Women's All Star Team consisted of Ann Calvello (Bombers), Gerry Murray (Chiefs), Bobbi Mateer (Braves), Jean Porter (Ravens) and Joan Weston (Westerners, Braves and Red Devils).

 

The Men's All Star Team consisted of Charlie O'Connell (Bombers), Hal Janowitz (Westerners), Bert Wall (Braves), Bill Laurino (Bombers and Red Devils), Red Smartt (Braves) and Jim Ciota (Red Devils).

 

Would the 1960 season be a repeat of the 1959 season?  The season would actually start in the fall of 1959.  Eventually, it and Jerry Seltzer, would have one team as the "home" team for the next few years.  More on this in the next post.