The 1971-1972 Seasons

The 1971-1972 Western and Eastern seasons were seasons that should have been bundled into one.

 

The reason doing this was the following.  The International Roller Derby League decided to expand to have an Eastern season follow the Western season in 1971.  There would be teams in Chicago (Pioneers), Cincinnati (Jolters) and New York (Chiefs).

 

The San Francisco Bay Bombers were heavily affected by this move.  Popular players such as Charlie O'Connell, Joan Weston, Gil Orozco, Tony Roman, Carol Meyer and more, would move on to other teams.  

 

O'Connell would be the GM and coach of the New York Chiefs.  It was the Chiefs first appearance in the New York area since the mid-1960s when they left the IRDL.

Weston, Orozco, Roman and Meyer ended up with the Chicago (Midwest) Pioneers.  Cliff Butler ended up becoming the head coach of the Ohio Jolters.

 

Also, there was the situation where the Bombers would be sold to a Texas group and play in Texas during the 1972 Western season.  That meant that there would be a discussion who would be the home team in the Bay Area.

 

The 1971-1972 winter season was won by the New York Chiefs when they defeated the Ohio Jolters at Madison Square Garden.  It was a composite two game series with one game being at the old Cincinnati Gardens and one at MSG.  Because the winning margin for the Chiefs was larger than the Jolters' victory in Cincinnati, the Chiefs won the championship.

 

When the Western season began, the New York Chiefs, in essence, took over for the San Francisco Bay Bombers and would actually be the home team for about a month.  They would be known as the Bay Area Chiefs.

The Chiefs drew okay in the Bay Area but the excitement wasn't there as far as the fans were concerned.  They were definitely a good team but as far as fans felt, they were not the Bay Bombers.  Interestingly, when the Chicago Pioneers came in for a series at Kezar Pavilion, it appeared that there were actually more Pioneer fans than Chiefs fans.  That was because Joan Weston was placed on the Pioneer team the previous fall.

 

Reports had it that the Texas ownership group were unable to secure dates in cities for the Bomber team.  It ended up by late May that the Bombers would come back to the San Francisco Bay Area and the Chiefs would go back to being the New York Chiefs.

 

Kezar Pavilion was sold out for a doubleheader the last weekend in May.  The Bombers were back as was Charlie O'Connell, Tony Roman, Carol Meyer and Gil Orozco.  The Bombers lost to the Jolters that day while the Pioneers defeated the Red Devils.  It didn't matter that the Bombers lost as far as the fans were concerned.  They were back.

 

The New York Chiefs were in the Bombers hair all season long whether it was a series or games in general.  In the Western IRDL playoffs in late September, the Chiefs would become the first IRDL team to win an Eastern and Western season title in the same year.  They defeated the Bombers, 44-37 at the Cow Palace.