In 1935 ,the father of Roller Derby, Leo Saltzer held his first race in Chicago at the Coliseum. Saltzer’s roller skating marathons spread quickly from Chicago. Road crews were hired to dismantle and move tracks. Roller Derbies set shop in auditoriums and traveled like circuses. The marathons evolved into a race between two teams with five members. Every team appointed a ‘jammer’ who aimed to lap the opposing team members. Women competed on the same terms as men. Ticket could be had for as little as a dime a piece. Promoters boasted that the derby was the roughest sport in the world. In 1939 the first broadcast of Roller Derby was heard on the radio in Los Angeles. WTCN, WCCO and KSTP all broadcast local Roller Derby live from the Minneapolis Auditorium. By the early 1940′s teams were competing in at least 50 American cities. In 1941 The Minneapolis Star reported that there were an average of 8,000 spectators daily over a period of 14 days or to be exacts, 131,000 paid admissions. The paper also noted that Roller Derby was a sport that isn’t a sport since it was a having been copyrighted in that fashion so that no other promoters could stage roller derbies. In November of 1948, the first televised matches were between teams representing New York and Brooklyn. Roller Derby went on to enjoy a a 13-week run on the newly formed CBS Television network.
Later in the year, Life Magazine called Roller Derby a teeth jarring contest with enough with enough spills and body contact to gratify even an ice hockey fan. In 1949 Leo Seltzer opened franchise teams and formed the National Roller Derby League. The following year, the CBS contract expired and broadcasting was taken over by ABC. Games were televised live throughout the United States. In 1951 the National Roller Derby League was grossed 2.5 million dollars. Leo’s son, Jerry Seltzer took over the operation of Roller Derby in the late 50s and kept it going until 1973 when high overhead and a host of other factors forced him to give up on the league.
