Leo Seltzer

Leo Seltzer had always wanted roller derby to be a legitimate sport and to be in the Olympics.

His son Jerry said that with the recent grassroots movement of roller derby, including the advent of WFTDA, he thinks roller derby can now be an Olympic sport - and this dream is coming true!

Leo Seltzer died January 30, 1978.

In 2005, during the 70th anniversary celebration of the first Transcontinental Roller Derby, Seltzer posthumously became the first inductee into the Executive Wing of the National Roller Derby Hall of Fame in Chicago.

His son Jerry, still living, was inducted at the same celebration.

Thank you for your attention!

Great Success

Leo Seltzer created a more structured game with more contact between the skaters and a new version of Roller Derby was created. Seltzer's game and traveling troupe of skaters evolved and continued to have moderate growth, but it was not until November 29, 1948, when Roller Derby, broadcast on television from New York City's captivated the nation.

The number 1 was never worn again in Roller Derby, as a tribute to Joe Kleats and the other skaters who died in the crash.

Like father like son

Leo never lost his vision that the game would once again be embraced by the country, but by 1958, it was time for son Jerry to take over the family business. Jerry Seltzer took the sport to great heights by syndicating Roller Derby telecasts shown on a network of 120 TV stations across the country. Roller Derby broadcasts beated all competition in most markets.

...it nearly ended...

Leo A. Seltzer was born on April 5, 1903 and went away on January 30, 1978.

He is generally credited as the creator of the sport of roller derby, and was the founder and head of the original Roller Derby league established in the '50s.

The premier race in Chicago was a tremendous success, but subsequent engagements throughout the country were not as successful, and Seltzer's entire enterprise almost ended with a tragic bus crash in 1937 when nineteen members of a touring group of Roller Derby skaters and support personnel were killed.

What is Roller Derby?

Roller derby is a contact sport played by two teams of five members roller skating counter-clockwise around a track. Roller derby is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leagues worldwide, mostly inside the United States.

Leo Seltzer lived to see his game once again break attendance records all over the country and become the darling of the mainstream press under Jerry's guardianship. However, the original Roller Derby skated its last game on December 8, 1973, when Jerry closed the family business.

Derby in the '30s

Derby Today

How it have started?

The name Roller Derby was trademarked for the first time on July 14, 1935.

On this day twenty thousand spectators filled the Chicago Coliseum to see 'Colonel' Leo Seltzer's Transcontinental Roller Derby, a mythical marathon race from one end of the country to the other which incorporated both male and female participants on a banked track.

Leo Seltzer