Roller Derby, 1950
Entitled: "There goes Toughie!" During women's roller derby match, one woman edges another other into the rail. Few sports have captured the American imagination quite like the Transcontinental Roller Derby. While drawing upon earlier popular roller skating marathons, the roller derby proved to be an exciting novelty. In addition to its uniqueness within the marathon fad, the fledgling sport further provided Americans with one of their first opportunities to witness women compete in a sport under the same rules of play as men. The roller derby evolved from an endurance race among several teams to one in which two teams of five players earned points by successfully circling the track and passing a member of the rival team at the end of the pack. With a certain roughness now permitted, skaters began pushing and shoving with gusto; though largely exaggerated, physical activity and violence became hallmarks of the derby. Professional roller derby quickly became popular; in 1940 more than 5 million spectators watched in about 50 US cities. In the ensuing decades, however, it predominantly became a form of sports entertainment where the theatrical elements overshadowed the athleticism. Photographed for the New York World-Telegram and the Sun by Al Aumuller, May 8, 1950.
Size: 2978px × 4800px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -woman, -women, 20th, 8, 1950, 8th, al, america, american, americana, aumuller, bw, century, competitive, days, derby, female, good, historic, historical, history, league, match, nostalgia, nostalgic, ole, photo, photograph, professional, retro, roller, skates, skating, sport, sports, states, transcontinental, united, usa, woman, women
