Devoney Looser, Foundation Professor of English Department of English, Arizona State University Tempe, AZ 85287-1401
[email protected] Roller Derby: Past, Present, Future RESEARCH PAPER for ASU’s Global Sport Institute SUMMARY Is roller derby a sport? Okay, sure, but, “Is it a legitimate sport?” No matter how you’re disposed to answer these questions, chances are that you’re asking without a firm grasp of roller derby’s past or present. Knowledge of both is crucial to understanding, or predicting, what derby’s future might look like in Sport 2036. From its official origins in Chicago in 1935, to its rebirth in Austin, TX in 2001, roller derby has been an outlier sport in ways admirable and not. It has long been ahead of the curve on diversity and inclusivity, a little-known fact. Even players and fans who are diehard devotees—who live and breathe by derby—have little knowledge of how the sport began, how it was different, or why knowing all of that might matter. In this paper, which is part of a book-in-progress, I offer a sense of the following: 1) why roller derby’s past and present, especially its unusual origins, its envelope-pushing play and players, and its waxing and waning popularity, matters to its future; 2) how roller derby’s cultural reputation (which grew out of roller skating’s reputation) has had an impact on its status as an American sport; 3) how roller derby’s economic history, from family business to skater-owned-and- operated non-profits, has shaped opportunity and growth; and 4) why the sport’s past, present, and future inclusivity, diversity, and counter-cultural aspects resonate so deeply with those who play and watch.