Roller Games

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Roller Games was the name of a sports entertainment spectacle created in 1961 in Los Angeles, California as a rival to the Jerry Seltzer-owned Roller Derby league, which had enjoyed a monopoly on the sport of roller derby — and its name — since its inception in 1935. National Skating Derby, Inc., the company behind Roller Games, was founded by former Roller Derby skaters and was owned by Bill Griffiths, Sr. and Jerry Hill. It provided a televised, theatrical version of the sport until failing for a short time in 1975. Soon after John Hall and Ralphie Valladeres managed to field a team and now focused on the Los Angeles Thunderbirds, the league prospered through the early 1980s with Ronnie Rains and Ralphie Valladeres becoming minor celebrities in Los Angeles selling out the Olympic Auditorium on Saturday nights and showing games on Channel 52.[1]

Attendance plummeted when Rains left the organization.

Griffiths and two television producers revived the operation in a more glamorous form in 1989, as the short-lived television show RollerGames. The league was revived as Roller Games International from 1990 to 1993, and again under Griffiths' son in 2000.

Contents

[edit] Additional history

Roller Games actually consisted of several separate leagues, including the (U.S.) National Roller Derby (NRD) which was renamed to National Roller League (NRL) and consisted of the Northern Hawks, Detroit Devils, New York Bombers, Texas Outlaws, Philadelphia Warriors, and Brooklyn Red Devils. Roller Games also encompassed the Canadian National Roller League (CNRL) and Japanese National Roller League (JNRL).

Roller Games were mainly broadcast on Los Angeles television affiliate KTLA with Dick Lane (TV announcer) calling the play-by-play. He was famous for saying "Whoaaaa, Nelly" (predating Keith Jackson) when fights broke out between the players. Years later, it was revived on Channel 52, a small UHF station out of Corona, CA. Roller Games were also broadcast in Philadelphia on WKBS Channel 48 with Elmer Anderson as the Warriors' announcer.

In order to compete with Roller Games' international flair, Seltzer's Roller Derby also formed its own International Roller Derby League (IRDL), which included Roller Derby's most famous teams, the Bay Bombers, Midwest Pioneers, and Jolters, among others.[2][3]

In 1973, Seltzer shut down Roller Derby and sold the promotional rights to Griffiths, who immediately disbanded Roller Derby's IRDL and his own NRL, but recruited some of IRDL's star skaters to skate in an NRL successor league, the International Skating Conference (ISC), which was to focus on the Los Angeles Thunderbirds.[4][5]

However, as time progressed, the circus-like approach doomed all of Roller Games, and fans deserted the arenas. After continuing the television program in a handful of U.S. television markets, and a short-lived revival on the ESPN cable television network in 1986, Griffiths eventually closed down Roller Games, but retained the rights to the name and occasionally organized one-off matches between teams of former Roller Games skaters in the years that followed.

[edit] RollerGames

Main article: RollerGames

In 1989, two television producers David Sams and Mike Miller, worked with Griffiths to produce RollerGames, a U.S. television show that presented an even more theatrical variant of the sport for a national audience. It featured a steeply banked figure-eight track, an alligator pit, and a number of skaters who had been in the Roller Games league, as well as younger participants. It was broadcast for one season (1989–1990) before its distributor, Quintex Media, went bankrupt, but not due to the RollerGames effort. Ratings for the series were actully quite high, even beating the popular American Gladiators.

[edit] Roller Games International

Following the cancellation of RollerGames, Griffiths organized three Roller Games International events (untelevised):

All three matches were T-Birds vs. RGI All-Stars.[6]

Griffiths' son, Bill Griffiths Jr., relaunched Roller Games International (RGI) in 2000.[7]

[edit] Current activity

As of Dec. 2004, the Bob Sedillo owned Roller Games International (RGI) league still operates a single team, the Los Angeles Thunderbirds (T-Birds). A match between the ARDL's San Francisco Bay Bombers and RGI's Los Angeles Thunderbirds (T-Birds) took place on July 29, 2006 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco. The Bay Bombers defeated the T-Birds 81-79.[8]

The T-Birds home is currently at the Pomona Fairplex. Several games were skated there in 2007. So far, several games have been played in 2008. Word has it that RollerGames may also be returning to TV, according to the RollerGames.com website.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Liquid-Blue.com
  2. ^ Rollersport - History - Page 2
  3. ^ http://www.rollerderbypreservationassociation.com/modules.php?name=Leagues&op=ShowLeagueAll&id=175&id_cat=32&categories=ROLLERGAMES
  4. ^ Rollersport - History - Page 4
  5. ^ http://www.rollerderbypreservationassociation.com/modules.php?name=Leagues&op=ShowLeagueAll&id=179&id_cat=32&categories=ROLLERGAMES
  6. ^ Post by "williamwsl1" on bankedtracknews, February 24, 2000.
  7. ^ http://www.rollerderbypreservationassociation.com/autohtml.php?filename=Banked_Track_News_Archives/issue09.htm
  8. ^ Los Angeles Thunderbirds

[edit] External links