1961

This blogger decided that the 1961 season would actually be two posts.  The second post will be about the 1961 NRDL season (Roller Derby).  This post is actually about two different leagues not associated with the NRDL.

 

The first league I will share is Roller Games.  It has been said that in 1960, former Roller Derby skater, Herb Roberts did the unthinkable.  He founded the Los Angeles-based National Skating Derby Inc. and the flagship team known as the Los Angeles Thunderbirds.  Word had it that in the late 1950s-early 1960s, there were a few veteran skaters that did not wish to move from the Los Angeles area.  This was when Roller Derby moved its headquarters from Los Angeles to Northern California in 1958.

 

Play would begin in 1961.  Besides the T-Birds, teams included the Texas Outlaws, Detroit Devils, Hollywood Stars, Arizona Raiders, Orange County Bobcats and the Jersey Jets.

 

Over time, Roller Games would be televised, many of the games from the Olympic Auditorium (pictured above).  KTLA TV was the first station to televise games with the legendary Dick Lane at trackside.

 

Herb Roberts, late in 1961, would sell to Bill Griffiths Sr. and Jerry Hill.  Both men would continue to run Roller Games until December 1973.  More on what happened in a future post.

 

Over the years, Roller Games rosters would have former NRDL/IRDL skaters.  Some skaters would go back and forth between the two leagues.  Some skaters would finish their careers with the league that they started in.

 

Other teams that skated in Roller Games included the Hawaiian/Eastern Warriors, Chicago/Northern Hawks, Washington/Baltimore Jets, New York Bombers and Reilly's Renegades. 

 

There was another league, known to sources as an outlaw league, was called the first American Skating Derby.  This league came about by promoters, Joe Morehouse and Mike O'Hara.  ASD debuted with two New York area teams, New York and Brooklyn with ex-Roller Derby skaters.  They would skate in venues such as Long Island Arena in Commack Arena.

 

The league actually split later in 1961 and a new league, the Eastern Skating Derby was formed.  The leagues lasted until the middle portion of 1964.

 

The teams that skated in the ASD/ESD were the New York Blues, New York Empire, New York Clippers, Brooklyn Reds, Brooklyn Bombers, New Jersey Jets, Long Island Comets and Los Angeles Ravens.

 

There would be another American Skating Derby in 1975 (not to be confused with this one).  I will share more about this league at a future date.