The 1967 roller skating season was another interesting one in both the IRDL and the NSD.
Beginning with Roller Derby, the Western season would open in late March. There would once again be inter league play. The Bombers saw the Detroit Devils, Hawaiian Warriors, New York Bombers and the Texas Outlaws in 1967. There was also one appearance from the Los Angeles TBirds early in the campaign.
One of the biggest differences this season would be the start time of games at Kezar. Up until 1967, the games would start at 8:30pm. In 1967, the time of the games were moved up to 7pm. Also, each Sunday night, KTVU Channel 2, would come on at 9:30pm for a 90 minute telecast. The telecast would actually be delayed. This blogger doesn't remember this at all. The question poses whether or not this was a decision on Jerry Seltzer's alone or with KTVU or possibly the City Of San Francisco. There had been some trouble with games a Kezar in 1966 and there was a forfeited game early in 1967. If I can find any more info on this, I will update this post!
The Bombers would face the IRDL teams such as the Pioneers, Cardinals and Chiefs as well.
In June, the Bombers would be in the IRDL Championship Playoffs as they would defeat the New York Chiefs in the finals of the Founder's Cup tournament. Both the semi final and final rounds would be held at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. The reason this happened was because the Cow Palace had Professional Wrestling scheduled on the night of the finals.
It definitely appeared to be more match races in 1967 than ever before. It wasn't just the coaches either. Jammers vs. Jammers started being a common thing. Also, fans started seeing the beginning of the Anything Goes Match Race which was a little more than blocking allowed.
Towards September, an interesting thing happened.
The New York Chiefs played a somewhat short series against the Bombers that ended in early September. About a week later, a new team called the Canadian Nationals skated and beat the Pioneers in a doubleheader game at the Cow Palace.
They would face the Bombers in the following series, only to lose, eight games to four. At the time, this fan didn't know it but a long time franchise, one that was the founding franchise in the NRDL was to be disbanded. That happened to be the New York Chiefs.
No one knows exactly the story but it appeared that several members of the Chiefs weren't thrilled with what was going on in the International Roller Derby League. Sadly, the New York Chiefs would not return to the IRDL until the 1971-1972 Winter Season. More on that in a later post.
According to Roller Derby Reporter, it appeared that the Canadian Nationals may possibly not be the replacement team to the Chiefs. The team wasn't bad but one was asking a group that was formed in a short team to be like the Bombers, Pioneers or Chiefs. It didn't happen.
What did happen was sometime before the playoffs began in late October, the Detroit Devils of the NSD would be in the playoffs. This happened while a long series between the Bombers and Cardinals were going on.
The Devils skated tough against the Bombers in the semi finals of the IRDL Playoffs, only to lose by three points. Detroit would defeat the Pioneers the next night to finish in third place. A number of Detroit Devils' personnel thanked Jerry Seltzer and the IRDL for giving the team a chance to skate. It turned out that this was the only time in NRDL/IRDL history that this would happen.
On to Roller Games, the Los Angeles T-Birds would sweep the President's Cup and the Roller Games Championship. They would defeat the Texas Outlaws in the Championship Game.
Their season would see the T-Birds take on the Outlaws, New York Bombers, Devils, Warriors and Hawks.
The Hawaiian Warriors would skate a lot more in Hawaii. However, in the fall, the franchise would move to the Philadelphia and nearby areas. While in the area, they would either be called the Philadelphia or Eastern Warriors. The team would be a factor in the National Skating Derby for the next several years.
In November, to my knowledge, late in the month, there would be several All Star Games both in Northern and Southern California between the NSD and IRDL All Stars.
Moving forward, how will the 1968 season in both the NSD and IRDL unfold. Please check out the next post coming at you soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment