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Chicago Rink Rats: The Roller Capital in Its Heyday
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 epicenter: 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.
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Chicago Rink Rats: The Roller Capital in Its Heyday
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 epicenter: 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.
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Chicago Rink Rats: The Roller Capital in Its Heyday

Chicago Rink Rats: The Roller Capital in Its Heyday

Chicago Rink Rats: The Roller Capital in Its Heyday
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Chicago Rink Rats: The Roller Capital in Its Heyday

Chicago Rink Rats: The Roller Capital in Its Heyday

Overview

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 epicenter: 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781625859686
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date: 11/13/2017
Series: Sports
Pages: 240
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Born on the West Side of Chicago, Tom Russo grew up in the western suburbs of Northlake, Elmhurst and Melrose Park, where he learned to skate with his two sisters, waiting each winter for the creek to freeze over. Over the years, he ice-skated and roller-skated on both quads and in-line skates. Today, as he travels, Russo seeks out local rinks to skate and feel the skate culture of those rinks and the communities they host. His skates of choice are quads!

  His freelance writing topics range from hobby to professional, as well from recreation to the technical. Tom currently lives in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and enjoys yearlong cycling and roller skating. He has made a career of volunteer work and serves on the City of Myrtle Beach Bicycle & Pedestrian Committee.

Table of Contents

Foreword Darius "D-Breez" Stroud 9

Preface 11

Acknowledgements 13

Part I The Golden Age of Roller Skating 17

The First Decade 17

That Which Is Golden May Not Glitter 25

Chicago Roller Capital 31

Part II Rinks of the Golden Age, 1937-1959 41

Chicago Rinks 46

Flagship Rinks 76

Part III Chicago Rink Rats 93

From Sidewalk to Rink, 1938- 1941 95

Skating the War Years, 1941-1945 102

Mobilizing for Competition, 1946-1959 134

Part IV They Kept the Home Fires Burning 147

Mobilization 149

Demobilization 162

Part V The Organizations of Roller Skating 169

The Formative Years 170

Merger Overtures 174

Skate So Others Can Walk: A National Project 176

Part VI How It Ends 179

Roller Skating and Pop Culture 181

Roller Rhythms 183

Conclusion 189

Appendix A Map of Chicago Roller Rinks, 1937-1959 193

Appendix B Chicago Roller Rinks: Skate Floor Dimensions 195

Appendix C A Roller Rink Poem 197

Notes 199

Selected Bibliography 223

Index 227

About the Author 237

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