Jim Fitzpatrick (athlete)

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Jim Fitzpatrick (born April 15, 1959) is an author, sports photographer, and former athlete in the sport of Roller Derby. Fitzpatrick, born and raised in San Francisco, California, skated for the San Francisco Bay Bombers, of the International Roller Skating League (IRSL) Roller Derby, the 1977–1987 revival of the sport. Following a number of shoulder separation injuries, he became a league referee.

In 1980 he skated in an altered version of Roller Derby which combined Roller Derby rules with those of Roller Ball called Roller Superball. This series was held in Luna Park Arena in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In 1987, he performed Roller Derby stunt skating in an MTV-aired music video for the song "Love Is Not a Game" by McAuley Schenker Group.

He returned to skating in 1993, competing on Team USA in the Roller Game World Cup, held in Tokyo, Japan. Roller Game (created in Japan), inspired by Roller Derby, was a male only, full contact, legit sport in which the athletes wore hockey pads and rules were strictly enforced. If one fought, they were ejected from the game. Other rule changes helped simplify the game. Only one team was on offense at a time and only one jammer (potential scorer) was used. Sets were used instead of the traditional periods. The best three out of five sets determined the winner of the game.

Fitzpatrick wrote and compiled the photo-rich coffee table book Roller Derby Classics… and more!, published by Trafford Publishing, a self-publishing and print on demand publishing company, in 2005 (ISBN 1-4120-6678-6). Noted derby queen Ann Calvello wrote the foreword of the book.

Fitzpatrick is married and has two children, and still resides in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is currently the ARDL (American Roller Derby League) and ARSD (American Roller Skating Derby) trainer and the General Manager of the San Francisco Bay Bombers. On October 13, 2007 the Bombers won the ARSD Championships at Kezar Pavilion and Jim was voted 2007 General Manager of the Year.

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