The 1952-1953 Season

The 1952-1953 season would have many changes to say the least.

 

To begin with, in August 1952, Roller Derby left network television.  WPIX Channel 11, an independent station in the greater New York area would be televising on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons.  There were plans to go nationwide, particularly to the West Coast.  It never really materialized.

Also, thanks to a publication known as the Roller Derby News, Roller Derby would have its own Hall Of Fame for the first time.  Ma Bogash and John Rosasco would become the first two members of the HOF.  Before the season ended, there would be two men and two women who would be added to the original two skaters.  More on this at the end of this post.

 

Going into the season, there would eventually be coaching changes.  Beginning with the New York Chiefs, the team was either led by Gene Gammon or Fred Cohen.  Because of an injury during the season, Spec Saunders would take over the helm.

 

In New Jersey, there would be a change of ownership.  This led to the hiring of Carl Payne, their original coach when they became a franchise.  Payne would replace Roy Langley who finished the previous season for the team.

 

In Brooklyn, Bill Reynolds is the coach, but there would be issues between him and star skater, Red Smartt.  Reynolds fires him but the team doesn't really improve.  Hall Of Famers, Ken Monte and Midge "Toughie" Brasuhn are, unfortunately, involved in an auto accident and are both injured.  It took place in March, less than two months before season's end. 

 

In Chicago, Elmer Anderson would be replaced by Russ Massro.  Massro was probably the most innovative coach in his time.  He felt a good defense was a good offense.  The Westerners played in a lot of high scoring games and had the personnel for it.  They had perennial high scorers such as Bert Wall and Bobbie Mateer, the husband/wife tandem of the team.

It would be announced that the Roller Derby World Series would take place in Teaneck, New Jersey at the Teaneck Armory (see photo at the top of the post).  It would be a five day tournament between May 6-10.  It would be the only time that the Roller Derby World Series would be held at the venue.  Also, it would be the earliest and final time that under the NRDL, there would be a World Series (by name).  The following May 1954, it would be called an Eastern Championship.  More on that in the next post.

 

The Jersey Jolters were strong during the season and would eventually win the league pennant.  There was no word on this, but the Roller Derby World Series would once again be a round robin format.  Because of a lack of results in the local newspapers, this blogger does not have as much info as normal.

 

However, in the Championship Game, the Jolters defeated the Chiefs, 35-32 to win their second championship.  The contest drew a crowd of 6854 at the Teaneck Armory.  From what I read, this was a sellout and possible standing room only crowd.  The arena holds just over 5200 for many sports over the years.

 

Because of the Korean War, no less than 12 skaters were drafted and were not in the league this season.  This put a little added pressure on finding more skaters on a four team league.  Surely, Leo Seltzer was getting frustrated. 

 

Also, with Roller Derby going to an independent television station, not having Madison Square Garden for the World Series and what Leo was seeing with Roller Derby going to the West Coast during the non - Eastern season, a decision was eventually made.

 

Roller Derby would move its location from New York to Los Angeles in July 1953.  Leo Seltzer felt because of the reasons above, it would be better.  He was frustrated and felt there needed to make a change.

 

A new team would be created in 1953 known as the Los Angeles Braves.  They would skate in the Los Angeles area and would debut skating at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.  They would also be the first international team when Roller Derby launched a European tour, also in 1953.

 

This didn't mean that Leo Seltzer was through with Roller Derby in the Midwest and the East.  There would still be Roller Derby in both regions.  The 1952-1953 season drew 159,000 (estimated).  He felt that he owed it to the fans.

 

Regarding the league awards, Joan Kazmerski (Westerners) was the Women's Rookie Of The Year while Charlie O'Connell (Chiefs) was the winner for the men.

 

Delores Doss (Westerners) was named Roller Derby Queen.  No award was given out for Roller Derby King.

 

Mary Lou Palermo (Chiefs) and a tie between George Vogt (Red Devils) and Carole Seifert (Red Devils) were the Women's/Men's MVPs on the season.

 

Palermo (Chiefs) and Sid Harnesk (Westerners) were the league's top scorers for the Women/Men.  Harnesk would be an amazing scoring machine during the season.  There was one game where he scored 36 points in a game.  Back then, it was a league record!

The voting was definitely interesting because only one team, the Jolters, did not win any individual awards.  However, they won the Roller Derby Championship and were deserving.

 

Finally, as promised, there would be four new members of the Roller Derby Hall Of Fame.  They would be Peggy O'Neill, Ivy King, Wes Aronson and Billy Bogash.  In future posts, I will share information on the early day HOF members that were voted in by the Roller Derby News.