In mid-2004 a pair of women went to Austin for a much needed "girls only" vacation. The idea in mind was to do some off-road biking and soak up a little live music. One day over beers at a bar they met an edgy Austin girl, a waitress who had an interesting style, chock full of attitude.
These visitors, Elizabeth "Juanna Rumbel" Gomez and Kelly "Sister Sledgehammer" Simmons were impressed and maybe a little puzzled. At first Gomez asked their server, what kind of tattoo she had. The "tattoo" wasn't actually that, but array of bruises that the young woman, a roller derby skater, shook off as just part of the game and life. For a moment Elizabeth and Kelly had a new idol.
"I thought, whatever she was up to," says Gomez, "I wanted a part of it".
After the trip, the two returned to Chicago and starting inquiring about roller derby via email and talked to women from existing leagues in other cities far away. Pretty quickly Simmons and Gomez found there was little to go on. Chicago had barely one shop that sold four-wheel skates, much less a derby league in Chicago or its suburbs. But from their correspondence with other women across the country they got some encouragement and advice.
"The nearest league was 500 miles away. But one of the women in another derby league said we should go and start our own league," said Gomez.
Her next step, with a little word of mouth and help from friends was to publicize a roller derby recruitment party to be held at a local bar. The girls put up posters throughout Chicago with many going up in Bucktown, Logan Square and other hip areas where a natural interest might be found.
The recruitment bash inadvertently ended up more like a launch party. Over 100 enthusiastic women showed up with conversations stirring immediately. And so, in September of 2004 they formed Chicago's first all-female flat track derby league--the Windy City Rollers.
Two clubs, black and blue... unofficial colors of roller derby.
WCR kicked off its inaugural season at The Congress Theater on Milwaukee Avenue, in Logan Square, but found that they couldn't fit a full size regulation track. As a result they moved and started holding bouts in Cicero, IL at the south suburb's 1500 seat Cicero indoor stadium, building a a gradual following.
Roller derby was originally founded here in Chicago, during the Depression in 1933 when a man named Leo Seltzer organized marathon-style competitions where both men and women would test their skating abilities. Some legends say the Seltzer and a friend penciled out the game itself --rules, positions, scoring methods and all-- over drinks at a pub, scrawled on a series of bar napkins and a pad.
It's not surprising that this depression-era sports invention would spawn a history of faction and rivalry the way, perhaps, that Bugs Malone and Al Capone spawned a rivalry between their gangs. Some women who wanted to do roller derby thought that with WCR running its bouts in Cicero, a club should be started Chicago that would skate in Chicago only.
So a different group of women on the North Side got together to form The Chicago Outfit in the fall of 2007, and began to skate their first bouts at the aptly named Windy City Field House, a limited-seat sports rec complex on Logan Blvd and Western.
By 2007, after almost three years in Cicero, The Windy City Rollers, who always practiced just west of downtown, more than outgrew their south side space. Later they worked out a deal with the UIC Pavilion and since the summer of 2008 the sports arena has been the home of the Windy City Rollers.
From the beginning WCR had established their league as a set of four teams that would compete against each other, while certain members tried out for their travel teams, The All-Stars and the Second Wind. The four league teams --The Fury, Manic Attackers, Hell's Belles and the Double Crossers-- averaged a roster size of about 12 women in 2005, with five on the track at all times. Within a few years the size of the league grew and the Windy City Rollers put together a farm team called the Haymarket Rioters, and set up a draft system whereby the big four would select new recruits. By 2010 each of the four teams had 19 to 20 skaters, many of whom participated on one of the two All-Star teams competing cross country with the other major clubs.
The Outfit has a different set up, with an "A" roster, called The Syndicate and "B" teams called the Shade Brigade and The Shakedown all with bouts primarily against other cities. As a newer club in the sport, The Outfit is cutting its teeth hard, hosting five home bouts and going on the road 11 times to face other clubs away in Columbus, Baltimore, Milwaukee and a host of cities around the Midwest.
In 2010, Chicago hosted the national championships.
Meanwhile, WCR, a larger and older organization, competes against bigger clubs like the Texas Rollergirls, Rocky Mountain, the Oly Rollers of Olympia, WA and national champions Gotham. WFTDA, the governing body, breaks the USA up into four regions. WCR is the only club to ever win the North Central region, meaning that they have dominated since inception.
After the national championships in 2010 were hosted by WCR, Chicago's roller derby clubs geared up again for the North Centrals, which have become ever more competitive. Again WCR eased to the final four and ultimate victory while The Outfit proudly grappled 5th place, their best-ever finish.
2011's national championship, in Denver, saw WCR claim a first round bye only to to succumb to Kansas City in the second round. Going into this new season the Windy City All-Stars stand at number 10 in the rankings while The Outfit are in the hunt at #22. As of 2012 there are over 150 roller derby leagues and clubs in North America.
Currently, The Outfit skates from April to November while The Windy City Rollers skate year round at the Pavilion and on the road. Both clubs are non-profits and donate proceeds of their bouts and events to local charities.
To this day, the two clubs have never met up in a match.
2012 Roller derby kicks off at UIC Pavilion, as the Windy City Rollers hold their first pre-season cup tournment. Proceeds benefits charity in Chicago. Get tickets online here.
Filed under: entertainment, Sports
Tags: Cicero, Congress Theater, roller derby, The Outfit, Uproar, WFTDA, Windy City Rollers
Just a quick note. The sentence which states "[a]fter hosting the national championships in 2010, Chicago's roller derby clubs geared up again for the North Centrals," implies that the Outfit played some role in hosting the 2010 championships. They did not. Uproar on the Lakeshore was entirely a production of the Windy City Rollers and WFTDA.
Noted. Thanks for reading.
relax. no one except someone trying to hate on the outfit would look at it that way.
Another note on the second half of that same paragraph - "Again WCR eased to the final four and ultimate victory while The Outfit proudly grappled 5th place, their best-ever finish." "their best-ever finish" implies The Outfit had been at Regionals in a prior year. This was, in fact, their FIRST-ever finish in North Central Regionals, after becoming a member of WFTDA the prior year.
the outfit was proud to FINALLY have the chance to get to a regional tourney after being put on hold for something the outfit has deserved from the start in 2007. Everyone knows wcr has held down the number one spot in the region since gotham went to the eastern region. As far as this being the outfits FIRST ever finish in the nc region i'd say it was one hell of a finish. The outfits on the come up FAST. see you at NC regionals for 2012. SO "derbylove" do me a favor and show some un bias derby love then.
Or wear a derbyloveglove.
after reading this post from derby love again i realize you were not hating in fact you were indeed spreading un bias derby love. my bad. no big deal.
Hey author, you seem to have left out another derby league that made its mark, and contributed skaters to both WCR and the Outfit. Oversight or shoddy research?
A Chi-town Sirens mention was left out. Didn't they start around the same time as Windy City? Their 2007 disbandment was important to the history of both Chicago leagues. WCR got a hefty supply of new skaters, including some players that contributed to their run at a championship in 2008. A handful of the former Sirens skaters wanted to start fresh, and helped create The Outfit.
Precisely. The ChiTown Sirens actually started a few years after WCR, and ran for 3 seasons. Hey Andy, how bout a mention- this isn't ancient history. The vast majority of the women who launched the DIY owned/operated Sirens are still active in Derby, as Stuff2do noted, either with WCR or the Outfit.
Based on what I was told the Sirens basically folded and became the Outfit, sorta like how The English Beat became General Public, just switching names and locales.
Didn't know they skated for 3 seasons, so thanks for the info.