You guys need to lighten up. Roller Derby to us back east was names and teams we didn't care about in Philadelphia. Roller Games brought fun, color, excitement and acrobatic skating. We were 12, having fun pretending we were on the track with them. We loved Judy Arnold and Buddy Atkinson, jr, and Jim Trotter and Otis Williams and Little Richard and many more. It was fun.
There is nothing like the old roller derby, nothing Grand Poohbah . I was there I remember and you watch games today and it isn't as exciting. The old banked track was what made for exciting games, and the people on the teams that were incredibly loyal to the sport and game. They were stars then, no sex appeal stuff, and costumes, they were athletes going out to skate a game and it was exciting. It will never be the same, not even close. I was at almost every game & they were DEVINE!
Yes the DERBY was great; no so much after the two leagues decided to merge. I'll take the OLD roller derby over this theatrical BS any day of the week.
@OaktownABQ The dude in the ski cap was the Guru, John Drew. From what I remember, he was a skater that was made into a heel infield coach, mostly because he had a line of rap and a big mouth- about all that was needed by that time...
Posters need to realize that this is Roller GAMES, not Roller DERBY. The DERBY was (by far) the better of the two because of the lack of theatrics. I miss Roller DERBY. I do not miss Roller GAMES.
Darlene was about the least graceful person ever to lace up the skates. They tried to make her into a huge star, but she just seemed to flail her way around the track...
Like Pro wrestling....you need to balance that fine line of what fans will perceived as believable....with this..they jumped the shark with silly theatrics..and slowly killed it...what made RD and Pro Wrestling great in the 70's is that although we knew it was " a work" they always made it believable
The derby played like a competition. I was never a fan of cave lol and woodberry because they brought too much over the top to the game. Jan vallow, cal Stephens, Jerry Cantrell and Francine Cochu might had been playing red but could had played white. Just as good as any home team skater.
Think this was the ESPN roller games from the mid 80s- roller games was almost dead at this point. It was mostly infield "managers" interfering constantly and women being pushed because of their looks altho they couldn't skate...
I watched this stuff growing up and doing searches for this with "Sweet" Stephanie and Georgia Hass, etc, as funny as I thought they were back then, was this stuff staged? If so what was a real roller derby back in the day I see people talking about? Were they not flinging people off the banked rink and the constant show downs and yelling by "Mizz" Georgia Hass that became such a trademark of hers?
Yes, all this is rigged and the original roller derby had none of the storylines and interfering manager garbage in their games. There are videos here. search for teams like S.F. Bombers, Pioneers, Jolters and Red Devils.
So, so phony, with all of the horrible theatrics. No wonder the sport died. When the Roller Derby folded, their players had to be absorbed by Roller Games teams. It seemed as though the Derby players were treated as second class citizens by the Games players. Joan Weston was even degraded. She was taken down by a simple, second string skater, a player that would not have even been a factor against her if the Derby had still been alive. Sally Vega even beat Joanie up! Come on! Joanie should have skated circles around her. It may have been staged, but they treated their star, Joanie Weston, like a second string player, who could be taken down by anyone. Such a sad ending to an incredible era. The Derby eventually resurfaced about a decade later, but it was too late to recapture its once immense popularity, when it used to sell out Madison Square Garden (20,000 seats).
While I agree with most of that Joanie was never made a second class skater. She was always a team captain. She lost fights sometimes just like everyone else did.
@@lasktdave There was a time when she, Calvello and Annis Jensen (it was actually painful to watch Jensen skating at that time, because she clearly was well past her prime) were on the Bay Bombers towards the demise of the Derby. Joanie was definitely not the team captain, it was Calvello, But Joanie, being the professional that she was, and without an ego entirely, allowed this to happen. She even gave up her legendary #38 jersey to Jensen and took on #39. Joanie was a real team player.
@@TheVerbalVolley I have that game. To me it looked like the two were equals but I may be wrong. That was a sad game with the interfering manager and Little Leroy and yes Aniss was definitely past her prime as you said. She did almost nothing in the game.
As a modern derby player in 2024 who has a busted tailbone I have to say I'm a wuss compared to these ladies. They were absolutely wild. I know some of it was scripted but man those falls sure do hurt! Those were some really really tough ladies.
![THIS IS DERBY [short documentary]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ODUwoJIyqok/mqdefault.jpg)
I used to watch this growing up in the 80s. I recently found out there's an active league in my city so I plan to go watch!
You guys need to lighten up. Roller Derby to us back east was names and teams we didn't care about in Philadelphia. Roller Games brought fun, color, excitement and acrobatic skating. We were 12, having fun pretending we were on the track with them. We loved Judy Arnold and Buddy Atkinson, jr, and Jim Trotter and Otis Williams and Little Richard and many more. It was fun.
There is nothing like the old roller derby, nothing Grand Poohbah . I was there I remember and you watch games today and it isn't as exciting. The old banked track was what made for exciting games, and the people on the teams that were incredibly loyal to the sport and game. They were stars then, no sex appeal stuff, and costumes, they were athletes going out to skate a game and it was exciting. It will never be the same, not even close. I was at almost every game & they were DEVINE!
That was some great stuff, the good old days.
That was Skinnie Minnie's signature move, I think. She did that move more times than I can remember and each time was just as much fun to watch.
Back when roller derby was action packed and actually rough.
They pushed Darlene to the moon but she just didn't have the skill to be the T-Birds' main star.
because she had "the look" if you get my drift....
They gotta bring this back!
I can't believe I actually found this. I lied about my age to skate. I was 16 when I started and I had the time of my life!
I did you skate on a Roller Derby team?
Yes, I'm in this clip
"Skinny Minnie" Miller ! Yes!
Post shark jump T-Birds here.
My favorite when i was a kid exciting to watch
Yes the DERBY was great; no so much after the two leagues decided to merge. I'll take the OLD roller derby over this theatrical BS any day of the week.
@OaktownABQ The dude in the ski cap was the Guru, John Drew. From what I remember, he was a skater that was made into a heel infield coach, mostly because he had a line of rap and a big mouth- about all that was needed by that time...
Omg thank heavens for Rules
T-Birds were the team that were featured on the NBC show "Real People". Too cool!
Posters need to realize that this is Roller GAMES, not Roller DERBY. The DERBY was (by far) the better of the two because of the lack of theatrics. I miss Roller DERBY. I do not miss Roller GAMES.
I’m a big fan of Sam the man love those days
Wow! Whatta woman
@WatchVenusSpa I totally agree. She looked very clumsy and uncoordinated on roller skates.
Gwen Miller wow Good lance 👍👍👍
@Beatriz51 it has its just not on tv anymore im in a jr derby team right now.
Isso é algum tipo de telecatch?
Great game
Why no short shorts ???
Each time it was on I tried to watch it but never understood it??????????
Darlene was about the least graceful person ever to lace up the skates. They tried to make her into a huge star, but she just seemed to flail her way around the track...
She did get better over time. Many years later, late '90's she skated with a league I was in and she was actually pretty good.
Like Pro wrestling....you need to balance that fine line of what fans will perceived as believable....with this..they jumped the shark with silly theatrics..and slowly killed it...what made RD and Pro Wrestling great in the 70's is that although we knew it was " a work" they always made it believable
The derby played like a competition. I was never a fan of cave lol and woodberry because they brought too much over the top to the game. Jan vallow, cal Stephens, Jerry Cantrell and Francine Cochu might had been playing red but could had played white. Just as good as any home team skater.
Who's the dude in the red ski cap?
Guru Drew; whose also the manager for the Maniacs from Rollergames.
Think this was the ESPN roller games from the mid 80s- roller games was almost dead at this point. It was mostly infield "managers" interfering constantly and women being pushed because of their looks altho they couldn't skate...
Exacting FURY!!!!!
I watched this stuff growing up and doing searches for this with "Sweet" Stephanie and Georgia Hass, etc, as funny as I thought they were back then, was this stuff staged? If so what was a real roller derby back in the day I see people talking about? Were they not flinging people off the banked rink and the constant show downs and yelling by "Mizz" Georgia Hass that became such a trademark of hers?
Yes, all this is rigged and the original roller derby had none of the storylines and interfering manager garbage in their games. There are videos here. search for teams like S.F. Bombers, Pioneers, Jolters and Red Devils.
More roller games garbage.
So, so phony, with all of the horrible theatrics. No wonder the sport died. When the Roller Derby folded, their players had to be absorbed by Roller Games teams. It seemed as though the Derby players were treated as second class citizens by the Games players. Joan Weston was even degraded. She was taken down by a simple, second string skater, a player that would not have even been a factor against her if the Derby had still been alive. Sally Vega even beat Joanie up! Come on! Joanie should have skated circles around her. It may have been staged, but they treated their star, Joanie Weston, like a second string player, who could be taken down by anyone. Such a sad ending to an incredible era. The Derby eventually resurfaced about a decade later, but it was too late to recapture its once immense popularity, when it used to sell out Madison Square Garden (20,000 seats).
While I agree with most of that Joanie was never made a second class skater. She was always a team captain. She lost fights sometimes just like everyone else did.
@@lasktdave There was a time when she, Calvello and Annis Jensen (it was actually painful to watch Jensen skating at that time, because she clearly was well past her prime) were on the Bay Bombers towards the demise of the Derby. Joanie was definitely not the team captain, it was Calvello, But Joanie, being the professional that she was, and without an ego entirely, allowed this to happen. She even gave up her legendary #38 jersey to Jensen and took on #39. Joanie was a real team player.
@@TheVerbalVolley I have that game. To me it looked like the two were equals but I may be wrong. That was a sad game with the interfering manager and Little Leroy and yes Aniss was definitely past her prime as you said. She did almost nothing in the game.
As a modern derby player in 2024 who has a busted tailbone I have to say I'm a wuss compared to these ladies. They were absolutely wild. I know some of it was scripted but man those falls sure do hurt! Those were some really really tough ladies.