The Day the Skating Almost Stopped

It was approximately 11:00 in St. Louis on that March 24, 1937 morning. A group of people that skated for the infant of sports, Roller Derby, climbed into the bus that was to take the group to Cincinnati for a two-week stop. The sport had been invented only a year and a half earlier by Leo Seltzer in Chicago. Its popularity had grown to make it a traveling show. On this morning, the fourteen skaters and nine other Derby personnel piled into the two year old Greyhound bus.

There were plenty of stories on that bus. We can only imagine what was happening. Maybe Erma Caldwell, the 34 year-old mother from Chicago was playing a game with her 4 year-old daughter Carol Ann. Maybe the bus driver, Dick Thomas, only 24, was talking to 19 year-old skater and wife of two weeks, Emily Thomas who was seated right behind him. Maybe Frank Vining and John Britton, both 26, were talking about the concession sales they made in St. Louis and were expecting in Cincinnati. Don Flannery, the 18 year-old skater, may have been discussing the future with his fiancée, skater Ruth Hill. She was 19. Joe Kleats, referred to as the “veteran,” only because he was 36 years-old may have been showing the ropes to Johnny “Schoolboy” Creekmore, the youngest skater listed at 17 but probably was more like 15 or 16. Maybe at 12:49 that morning little Carol Ann spoke with the enthusiasm of a little child pointing out the window at the upcoming bridge. We will never know
exactly what was happening.

We do know that 70 miles east of St. Louis, one and one-quarter miles outside of Salem, Illinois on Highway 50, that bus headed toward Cincinnati suffered a terrible disaster. Approximately 75 feet before reaching the bridge, the bus, which was only going about 40 miles an hour, endured a front right tire blowout. As Dick Thomas wrestled with the steering wheel to try and maintain control, the bus flipped onto its side and skidded along the bridge, eventually hitting a concrete abutment and bursting into flames. It was recalled that the gas tanks were severed and gas was flying everywhere. Dick Thomas tried to make his way out through the broken windshield but could not find his way. Eventually, he climbed out of the side window. He then pulled wife Ruth out who had been just behind him. At the hospital he was quoted, “I pulled another girl out, and then the flames hit me and blinded me. My wife helped me walk down the road. People outside the bus were screaming but it didn’t seem that any of those in the bus were screaming.”

Don Flannery was also a survivor who could speak. “She (Ruth) called me twice. I was feeling around for her. Didn’t see her. Found her and tried to pull her out through the window. She was pinned under baggage and seats. It was so hot I had to crawl out. I walked up the road. Help came and took me here. I did everything I could,” he ended with a sob. “I tried to save Ruth.”

Eighteen people died immediately in the crash. Five were brought to hospitals. Later that night, Emily Thomas, the wife of the bus driver passed away of severe burns. It has been quoted as being said that Ted Mullen, the 25 year-old announcer, also severely burned, whispered to doctors, “Do you think I’ll ever be able to skate?” When the doctor assured him he would, he responded, “Funny. I was never able to skate before.” Ted also died that evening. One month later, John “Schoolboy” Creekmore passed. The doctors valiantly tried with transfusions and the like but Creekmore was too badly injured.

Twenty-three people boarded that bus on the fateful morning of March 24, 1937. Only Don Flannery, who later rejoined the Derby and Dick Thomas, the bus driver, survived. It almost ended the “babe of sport” only a year and a half into its existence, but popularity demanded it continue and the skaters pressed on into what was a nice run.

In memory of the victims, the number “1″ that was worn by Joe Kleats was retired and never worn again in Leo or, later, Jerry Seltzer’s Roller Derby. I wrote that story so that these pioneers of the sport could be remembered and honored.

The full list of those that perished:

Name - Position - Age
Frank Vining - Concessions - 26
John Britton - Concessions - 26
Erma Caldwell - Dietitian - 34
Carol Ann Caldwell - Fan - 4
Joe Kleats - Skater - 36
Jack Israel - Skater - 24
Mary “Millie” Cooper - Skater - 19
Bud Gesser - Skater - 21
Louise Brower - Skater - 21
Tony Marzano - Skater - 21
Ruth Hill - Skater - 19
Nick Kelson - Skater - unknown
Libby Hoover - Skater - 19
Carolyn Barton - Skater - 31
Jerry Hickson - Skater - 27
Dr. Henry Salmon - Doctor - 27
Kay Wilson - Scorekeeper - 25
William Wilson - Concessions - unknown
Ted Mullen - Announcer - 35
Emily Thomas - Skater - 19
John “Schoolboy” Creekmore - 17

Surviving
Don Flannery - Skater - 18
Dick Thomas - Bus Driver - 24