The 1953-1954 Season

The 1953-1954 season, for whatever it is, would happen.

 

Despite the fact that the Roller Derby operation was now in Los Angeles, there would continue to be a presence.

 

In November 1953, there would be a long series between the Westerners and the Red Devils at the Chicago Coliseum.

 

In the spring of 1954, the Chiefs would skate a couple of series against both the Red Devils and the Westerners.  People are asking me what happened with the Jolters, the defending champions.  Though there could be some information someplace, it appears that the team didn't skate much until the upcoming Eastern Championship in May 1954.

 

In the meantime, out on the West Coast, the Los Angeles Braves would skate a couple of series, against the newly formed Hollywood Ravens, a road team and the Red Devils.  Also, another West Coast team would soon be formed.  They would be called the California Bombers.  The team would open their season in late October/early November 1954 up in the San Francisco Bay Area.  More on that in the next post.

 

Back to the East Coast, there would be an Eastern Championship (not a World Series) that would take place in May 1954.  The Chiefs, Jolters, Red Devils and Westerners were the four teams.  Thanks to the book, Five Strides On The Bank, this event was mentioned.

 

The round robin tournament would end with a championship game on May 15th.  All the games were held at the 9th Regiment Armory on 14th Avenue in lower Manhattan (photo pictured above).  This would be the only time in Roller Derby history that a post season game would happen.

 

With the information provided (very little), each team skated six games total.  Likely, each of the games but the championship were doubleheaders each night.  Thus, I believe the tournament ran from May 10-15 (?).

 

Anyway, in the Championship Game, the Chiefs would win the Eastern Championship, 40-34 over the Westerners.  According to Roller Derby historians, this has never been called a World Series.  However, it would be the third time that the Chiefs had the better of things against the Westerners in post season.

 

According to sources, league attendance grew this particular season to 196,383, about 40,000 more than the previous season.  Obviously, Roller Derby was still popular in the Midwest and East.

 

There were little in the way of awards as well.  Gypsy Stone and Babe Detato were the Women's/Men's Rookies Of The Year.

 

Also, the Playoff MVPs were Gerry Murray (Chiefs) and Ken Monte (Red Devils).

 

From 1955-1958, there would be no regular league season although there would be Roller Derby throughout the United States.  Per historians, since the New York Chiefs were the last team to win a championship series of any kind, they would be the league champions during this period.