Bay Area Roller Derby Featured in New Book

Aug. 14, 2012 - PRLog -- New to Arcadia Publishing’s popular Images of America series is Bay Area Roller Derby by local authors Jerry Seltzer and Keith Coppage. This pictorial history boasts more than 200 vintage images and provides readers with a unique opportunity to reconnect with the history that shaped their community.

Roller Derby found a home in the San Francisco Bay Area following its Depression-era Chicago origins. An early television sensation, it faded to a modest existence in Los Angeles during the 1950s. Creator Leo Seltzer turned the game over to his son Jerry, who repositioned the traveling Bay Bombers from their home terrain of San Francisco to Fresno and everywhere in-between.

He shined television camera lights on skaters who became the zenith in Roller Derby including Charlie O’Connell, Annis Jensen, Joanie Weston and more. Syndicated television games seen by millions yielded sellout crowds in every major arena in the country. However, economic and cultural changes closed Roller Derby in 1973.

Passionate fans clung tenaciously to its memory. In the 21st century, the game made an astonishing return not only in Northern California but also worldwide.

Highlights of Bay Area Roller Derby include:
•   Beyond the Marathon
•   Big Red and the One and Only
•   Mister Roller Derby
•   The Golden Girl
•   Thrills and Spills
•   Beyond the Bombers

Available at area bookstores, independent retailers, and online retailers, or through Arcadia Publishing at (888)-313-2665 or online.

Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States.  Our mission is to make history accessible and meaningful through the publication of books on the heritage of America’s people and places.  Have we done a book on your town? Visit arcadiapublishing.com.