In The News
San Fermin in Nueva Orleans
When roller derby girls and New Orleans collide, …
| The Running of the Bulls in New Orleans |
Concussion Risks in Hockey
There’s an interesting article in the USA Today about concussion damage to hockey players. Similar problems are a real risk in roller derby!
The article features Keith Primeau of the Philadelphia Flyers.
CNN: Women’s Roller Derby Dishes Out …
CNN’s Medical Producer Val Willingham recently wrote a piece on roller derby, the workouts, and the injuries. Visit the site for photos, a video and additional side coverage.
(CNN) — Amber Mori drives a forklift in a warehouse in Gaithersburg, Maryland. As a working mom, she’s on the go 24/7. But twice a week, Amber transforms into “Cykosis,” a fishnet-wearing, skatin’ diva, who bumps and jabs her way around a roller rink.
Amber has been skating for more than a year as a member of the “Mason Dixon Roller Vixens” roller derby team. What started out as a lark has now become a passion for her. “I love it; it’s a great way to get out, be invigorated — and the companionship is wonderful,” she says. “And I’ve got legs as strong as pythons.”
Tournament in London
Roller Derby has definitely spread in recent years. So much that there is going to be a tournament in London this year. That would certainly make an interesting over-the-pond summer vacation.
Roll Britannia will take place July 18-19. Check for cheap air fares, and get yourself a European vacation.
“Mr. Roller Derby” Bill Bogash Dies at 92
The Los Angeles Times had the following obituary for an early Roller Derby man, Bill Bogash (penned by Dennis McLellan):
‘Flash’ Bogash started out as a team with his mother, fellow Roller Derby Hall of Fame skater Josephine ‘Ma’ Bogash. He was also a coach and popular player representative for the sport.
March 27, 2009
Bill Bogash, a pioneer Roller Derby star who launched his legendary career on skates as a teenager during the Great Depression when he teamed up with his mother, has died. He was 92.Bogash, a resident of Yucca Valley, died of respiratory failure March 20 at Hi-Desert Medical Center in nearby Joshua Tree, said his wife, Georgia.
“Billy Bogash was truly one of the greatest stars on the banked track,” wrote Gary Powers, executive director and curator of the National Roller Derby Hall of Fame in New York City, on the hall’s website. “He shaped and guided the sport like few other skaters and was instrumental in helping make Roller Derby the sensation it became during the late ’40s and ’50s, when the banked-track sport was the talk of the nation.”
Dubbed “Mr. Roller Derby” by his fellow skaters, Bogash launched his 23-year skating career in 1935 when he was 18.
The impetus came when Bogash and his mother, Josephine, attended the first Transcontinental Roller Derby race at the Chicago Coliseum in August of that year.
Roughly patterned after six-day bicycle races and Depression-era dance marathons and walkathons, the Transcontinental Roller Derby was the brainchild of Leo Seltzer. He was the former owner of a chain of Oregon movie theaters who staged commercial walkathons before tapping into the popularity of roller-skating. “Mr. Roller Derby” Bill Bogash Dies at 92 – continue reading …
