Chicago Rink Rats: The Roller Capital in Its Heyday

by Thomas P. Russo, Darius "D-Breez" Stroud (Foreword)

By 1950, roller skating had emerged as the number-one participatory sport in America. Ironically, the war years launched the Golden Age of Roller Skating. Soldiers serving overseas pleaded for skates along with their usual requests for cigarettes and letters from home. Stateside, skating uplifted morale and kept war factory workers exercising. By the end of the decade, five thousand rinks operated across the country. Its Chicago! And no one was left behind! The Blink Bats, a group of Braille Center skaters, held their own at the huge Broadway Armory rink. Meanwhile, the Swank drew South Side crowds to its knee-action floor and stocked jukebox. Eighteen celebrated rinks are now gone, but rinks that remain honor the traditions of the sport's glory years. Author Tom Russo scoured newspaper archives and interviewed skaters of the roller capital's heyday to reveal the enduring legacy of Chicago's rink rats.

Genres: History

240 pages, Paperback

First published November 13, 2017

About the author

Author also publishes as Thomas P. Russo

Award winning author, educator and trainer

Reviews

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was a youngster in America’s Heartland, my middle school invested in dozens of pairs of attachable roller skates. These were the ones with rubber wheels (which were a great improvement over the previous generation wooden wheels). Everyone had the opportunity to finish lunch quickly and strap on their skates and spend the rest of lunch period skating in the gymnasium. Lots of fun.
But, according to this book, this was after the first big wave of “roller enthusiasm.”

This all began during The Great Depression where money was short and distractions were welcome. As the USA got into World War II, it became even more popular.

"It was natural that roller skating was promoted as a wholesome sport, unsurpassed in cleanliness and interest and approved by the physical fitness division of OCD in support of the war effort."

"Ads cited the moral value of roller skating. The Oaks Rink in Portland promoted skating as the best method in the world for helping war workers condition their bodies, toughen muscles, eliminate excess fat, stimulate a zest for work and produce relaxation and sleep."

After the war, it still maintained its popularity. "… it was believed that skate manufacturers would build better skates with quieter actions, suitable for use by the general public. Optimism was expressed for air-conditioning systems that would vastly improve as materials became available and correct deficiencies in current systems. Hopes were high that A/C systems would improve the sanitation and comfort aspects of roller skate rink environments to operate in the summer, especially in the South! Wish lists also included silent plastic floors, skates that would grip without the need for powdered floors and material that would fill in the cracks and gouges so anticipated with wood floors."

Some historians and sociologists attributed its decline to the rise of Rock ‘n Roll. However there was a related “roller sport” that seemed to thrive in this era (even with the proliferation of televisions sets…and maybe because of that.) It was first know as “the Transcontinental Roller Derby, introduced in 1935. Then, in 1948, roller derby merged with television, and suddenly the thrill and danger drew tens of thousands of spectators rinkside, with TV crowds also getting caught up in roller derby fever."

This book follows both these pathways while making the case for Chicago being the center of much of the action if not innovation. The photographs are well-selected and there is enough here for almost any person interested either in “roller sports” or in this smidgen of history.

[Kelly Akemann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Growing up in roller rinks in the Chicago suburbs, I found that I could relate to some of this. It truly makes me miss the good old days of skating my weekends away outside and in the rinks