The 1964 Season

Winterland, a venue used for Roller Derby and Roller Games.   

 

As mentioned near the end of the 1963 Season post, there would be at least two new leagues that would be formed for the 1964, and maybe longer season.

 

The American Road Races was a league formed by George Copeland for the 1964-1965 season.  Copeland, in the Roller Derby HOF, primarily skated for the Braves in his career in Roller Derby. The ARR had five teams formed for the 1964-1965 season and, I believe, the league was around to at least, 1968.

 

The other new league was called Roller Rama.  This blogger has been told that the league was formed in late 1963.  Former World Wrestling Champion, Buddy Rogers, was one of the investors for the company.  The league skated their games primarily in New Jersey.  The locations were in Cherry Hill and Trenton.  There were at least four teams in the league.  There were quite a few games during the summer of 1964 in the area.

 

Back to the International Roller Derby League, the Western season started early and ended very late. The Chicago Westerners (or Midwesterners as they were called late in 1963) would be replaced with the Midwest "Chicago" Pioneers.  The Western Season would begin in early March and would go on all the way until November.  More on this later in the post.

 

The league had six teams that season.  The Bombers, smarting from losing in the 1963 IRDL Championship Game, would rebound and win the league title.  The remaining four teams that would make the playoffs would be the New York Chiefs, California Cardenales and the Honolulu Hawaiians. The Midwest Pioneers and the Los Angeles Braves both barely missed the playoffs that year.

 

A couple of noticable things that were interesting in 1964.  During the spring, it appeared on several Sunday occasions, Roller Derby would have an afternoon and evening set of games.  The afternoon game would be held at the home of the Oakland Raiders, Frank Youell Field in Oakland.  The evening games would be on television at San Francisco's Kezar Pavillion.

 

The other thing of notice was the Roller Derby Championship Playoffs.  There was nothing unusual about them.  It was what happened after the playoffs ended.

 

The Playoffs took place at the Cow Palace once again on September 26-27, 1964.  The Bombers would rebound from the defeat one year ago and defeat the New York Chiefs in the Championship Game.

 

The Bombers and the IRDL All Stars went on a long one month road trip after the playoffs, mostly in the South and the Midwest.  That wasn't unusual for Roller Derby and road tours.

 

Then, in November, the Bombers came back to the Bay Area.  There would be a continuance of Bomber-IRDL All Star Games at Kezar Pavillion.

 

What was interesting was on the same nights of the Bomber-IRDL All Star Games, Roller Games (National Skating Derby) began having a series of games between the Texas Outlaws and the California All Stars.  There would also be a couple of All Star Games involving the Detroit Devils.  The skating matchups were being held at Winterland, just a few miles northeast of Kezar Pavillion.  This went on until late November.

 

In December, there would be a couple of stunning developments.  Annis Jensen, the long time Bay Bombers women's captain, would become a part of a new Roller Games team known as the San Francisco Shamrocks!  She would not be alone,  Former Roller Derby stars Cal Valentine, Bobby Seever, Joe Foster, Joe Chaump, Judy Arnold, Gerri Abbatello and Ann Calvello were among the skaters.  

 

In early January 1965, the Shamrocks would begin skating in the Bay Area.  The question now is would both teams survive?  We will have an answer when the 1965 Season is posted.

 

The IRDL and Jerry Seltzer would respond by opening their home Western Season in late January. 

 

Meanwhile, in the National Skating Derby (Roller Games), it appeared that the season was going solidly.  As mentioned above, league co-owner, Bill Griffiths had plans on putting a franchise in San Francisco.  He was also planning to put a team in Hawaii, another IRDL area.  More on this in future posts.

 

The T-Birds had a successful 1964 run.  In the mid season President's Cup, they defeated the Texas Outlaws, four games to three.  The clinching game was a 67-60 triumph.

 

In the Roller Games World Series, the T-Birds would prevail, five games to two over the New York Bombers.  The Bombers were led by Charlie "Spec" Saunders and Loretta Behrens.

 

It will be interesting to see following what happened in 1964.  There are a lot of questions that will be answered in 1965.  How will Roller Games survive in the San Francisco Bay Area?  With skaters switching leagues, how will that affect Roller Derby and Roller Games?  And who will be the Bay Bombers next women's captain?

 

All of this when the 1965 Season is posted soon!