What are the team names anyway? Is it Co-Ed?

See ya at the game!

Tim - That’s our old name, not sure where they got that. It’s a Co-Ed game.

Happy Holidays to all of you in the OSDA and PJSD leagues!

It was an unusual experience for me to stand face to face with many of my Roller Game heroes from my childhood.
As I met and interviewed Judy Arnold, Buddy Atkinson, Jr., Little Richard Brown, Judy Sowinski and other former Warriors, the David Block of 1973, ’74, ’75 and ’76, awoke from his dormant state. It is so hard to put into words how I felt this past weekend at the Warrior reunion, but I’ll try.

Meeting the Warriors not only reminded me of how I was a huge fan, but also of how miserable I was before I learned about them.

From ’73 to ’76, I had a one-track mind: Roller Games! The Philadelphia Warriors! Those were the only things that mattered.

Roller Games saved my life! Prior to discovering Roller Games in 1973, I had been beaten up a lot, not just because I couldn’t see well, but because my self esteem was so low that it didn’t occur to me to fight back. I didn’t know how to be a person. For the longest time I had no friends. I didn’t know what the word ‘retarded’ meant, but assumed I must have been that because a lot of kids told me I was. Before I discovered Roller Games, I was so scared to go outside after school, so I’d listen to a scary record, which dealt with tales from the Bible. God sounded like a bully. In a scary British accent, God yelled at Adam and Eve, then he destroyed the world. He punished people for wanting to build a tower, he told Abraham to kill his son; then he denied Moses entrance to the Promised Land because he hesitated about talking to a rock. I was scared of that voice on the record, but Roller Games freed me from it.

When I learned about Roller Games, I wanted to be part of their world and abandon mine forever. I’d get out my tape recorder and tape half time interviews of Judy Arnold yelling at people. I taped her telling John Hall, ‘You heard what I told you before John Hall; there’s one spot on you and if I hit it, you’ll be down on your knees.’ I must have listened to that 5000 times, and so did my poor family! Most of those tapes have disappeared. Thank God I have a few left. My family hated Roller Games, especially those interviews I’d subject them to, week after week. Why wasn’t I listening to dreadful music like kids my age, they’d want to know. I didn’t care that people found me boring. I was misanthropic! I wanted to be in the world or Roller Games, not the real one.

Roller Games enabled me to stand up to bullies. After watching Roller Games, I let my nails grow long so that I could eye gauge people. So what that that was dirty fighting! Many people stopped picking on me. People stopped telling me I was retarded. At least they stopped saying that to my face. Whenever they did, I went for their eyes, and it felt great!

Thanks to Roller Games, I finally had the nerve to curse God out in Hebrew School. One day in class I thought about how miserable I was before I discovered Roller Games. I remembered how I thought so low of myself when I had listened to God’s British accent. Feeling good that I had Roller Games in my life, I stood up after I heard one of the ten commandments read, ‘thou shall have no other God before me’, and cursed God out for not only being a bully but for being vein. I asked why couldn’t there be other Gods? Why was he given center stage? I said some things about him I won’t repeat in this letter. So what that I was suspended for two months! My family was livid, but that didn’t matter to me either. I had roller games and that was the only thing that mattered.

In January 1975, when Channel 48 cut Roller Games from twice a week to once a week, I went around with a petition demanding that people sign it to restore the show to twice a week again. People signed, partly because of my nerve. I also told other people that if they didn’t sign it, I’d sign their names for them and I did. I didn’t care what was honest or dishonest. I was fighting for my world.

When Roller Games went off the air in 1976, I wanted to kill myself. I didn’t care that I had a Bar Mitzvah to look forward to the next year. Roller Games was gone! After a year of utter misery, I took up running as a hobby. Running helped me say goodbye to Roller Games. I outgrew Roller Games. However, the David Block of ’73 to ’76 never stayed dead and buried.

When I saw the skaters this past weekend, I was so nervous. I wanted them to like me. I might have tried too hard. I gave some of the former Roller Game stars articles I had written about the sport. Although I’ve been a published journalist for 18 years, I still felt as though I had something to prove. I wanted the people I interviewed to know that I was for real. I was trying to buy their respect by handing them the New York Times article I wrote about Roller Derby, along with the other Roller Derby pieces I wrote for different publications. I didn’t do this to impress them. It was for them to know that I was a reporter. I wanted them to accept me. I’m still trying to accept myself. I’ve written articles on countless topics. Feel free to check out my web-site at http://www.blindfilmmaker.com.

I wish I had been part of the world of Roller Games. When I woke up Monday morning after the reunion was over, I was so miserable. I was back in the real world and hated it. I felt as I had when Roller Games went off the air in 1976. It will take more than jogging a few slow miles and writing countless articles before I can once again return to reality.

My only advise is that the pack is still moving too fast, from time to time, but there are signs of improvement also.

I’ll see you all at the game!

But to the point, Imagine my surprise and delight to find there was Roller Derby action
just a couple of miles from my house. The names of those you inducted into the hall of fame opened memories I can never match.

When I was 15 and living in New Jersey, I joined the Roller Derby Training school in New York. I had fallen in love with the game a few months before when I attended my first in-person game. To give you an idea how long ago this was, my first coach was Buddy Atkinson SENIOR not Junior, or the third! Eventually I was selected by Gerry Murray (my idol) to skate on the Junior Chiefs. We skated before the same audience as the pros, warming them up for the main attraction. This was at the Ninth Regiment Armory circa 1956.

I know so well the names you mentioned, from the first time I went, I attended every game at the armory, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I’d love to know when the skaters will be at the Williamsburg road rink, for an opportunity to come and reminisce. I’m positive I can scare up some photos from that era. My association with the Derby ended around 1960 or 61 when they up and left New York. Those of us in the school and on the Jr teams really felt abandoned when no provision was made for us to go on, but we did try, some of us switching, for what we thought was the short haul, to flat track. I met my future (and now ex) husband at a track in Brooklyn where he was a speed skater. He did con me, shortly after we got married into entering the NY State Championships for the relay. Unbeknownst to me, he also entered me into the Senior Lady category. I managed to get out alive with a second place medal, but believe me I was no flat track skater, my whole experience had been the banked track. So, long story short, if there’s anyone that would like to chat with someone who’s been there, done that, please reply to maurso2@verizon.net I’d love to hear from you.

PS I still have my skates. I was just in the attic the other night looking at them. Must have been intuition cause I had no idea till now what was going on just up the road.

Maureen

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Thanks!
OSDA RULES!

Daddy $tarbukk$ - Team Announcer - T-Town Derby Grrls

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