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Arcadia Roller Rink in
Chicago. When she married, Atkins turned over management of the rink to a relative named Phil Hayes, but she continued to draw income from a concession business she operated there. One month after their marriage, Seltzer turned over operation of the rink to Atkins and a partner, Fred Morelli. In late 1943, Seltzer asked Atkins to transfer her half of the partnership to him, but she refused. In January 1944, Seltzer colluded with Hayes to overdraw the Atkins-Morelli partnership's account. The partnership was then replaced by one in which Atkins, Morelli, Seltzer and Sol Morelli had equal interests. Atkins claimed, in a 1950 lawsuit disputing her income taxes, that Seltzer, seeking to evade taxes, only allowed her into the new partnership after she agreed, in writing, to deposit her earnings into a joint bank account the two of them shared for payment of living expenses. She filed for divorce two months after the partnership was formed, and the divorce was granted that December.
137:, not a legitimate sport. 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. 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.
154:
the country, but by 1958, it was time for son Jerry to take over day-to-day operation of the family business. Jerry
Seltzer (born June 3, 1932), once again took the sport to great heights by syndicating Roller Derby telecasts, featuring the San Francisco Bay Bombers, which were shown on a network of 120 TV stations across the country. Roller Derby broadcasts beat all competition in most markets.
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not until
November 29, 1948, when Roller Derby, broadcast on television from New York City's 69th Regiment Armory, captivated the nation. Roller Derby was finally the smash hit Leo Seltzer had always envisioned, although within a few years, the sport was overexposed on TV, the brand new medium that had catapulted it to prominence.
168:
Leo was married to Rose
Weinstein Seltzer from 1926 to 1942 when she died from breast cancer. Their two children were Gloria (born May 23, 1929) and Jerry. From April 19, 1942 to December 11, 1944, Seltzer was married to Lois Reynolds Atkins. Atkins had been employed by Seltzer as the manager of his
153:
With dwindling attendance, Roller Derby left
America to tour Europe in 1953, but returned the following year. Seltzer moved the headquarters to the West Coast, a few years before major league baseball would make the same move. Leo never lost his vision that the game would once again be embraced by
144:
saw the game in Coral Gables
Florida, became enthralled, and with 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
473:"Roland Cloni of Akron, world’s champion roller skater, who yesterday tried out the track in the Broadway armory, where the national roller skating derby will be held this week, asserted new world’s records can be established for flat tracks. The derby will open tomorrow and run until Saturday."
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Seltzer began jotting ideas onto the tablecloth, incorporating these popular entertainment forms with a roller skating theme. The name Roller Derby was trademarked on July 14, 1935 (No. 336652), and on August 13, 1935, twenty thousand spectators filled the
Chicago Coliseum to see 'Colonel' Leo
164:
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.
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at one time or another during their lives. Discussing the article with some of the regulars at
Ricketts, a restaurant in Chicago's Near North Side, Seltzer was challenged to come up with a sport utilizing roller skating participants.
79:"s, which at that time was another name for dance marathons, since most dancers ended up merely shuffling around for the duration of the contests, which could run as long as 40 days. His first commercial walkathon was held in
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Bicycle races and dance marathons were very popular at the time, and in previous decades there had been successful 24-hour and multi-day roller skating races, at least one of which was called a "roller derby" in the press.
132:
Seltzer's decision to use women was a double-edged sword for the sport, since it guaranteed a large female audience at a sporting event, but the presence of women athletes made the mainstream press view Roller Derby as a
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Leo
Seltzer died January 31, 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
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As a young adult, Seltzer was in the motion picture distributing field with the Universal film company. This eventually led him to own a chain of struggling movie theaters in
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were broken up into a San Francisco and Oakland team. These two units filled arenas across the country from 1969 through 1971, when a third unit was added.
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among out-of-work contestants and spectators, Seltzer sought ways to capitalize on the trend. In 1931, he helped organize and promote "
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as of November 2013 there are 1513 amateur leagues in 41 countries.....These leagues are Leo's heritage.
189:. His son Jerry said that with the recent grassroots movement of roller derby, including the advent of
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Lois Reynolds Atkins, Petitioner, v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Respondent. Docket No. 22555.
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Rasmussen, Cecilia (1999-02-21), "L.A. Then and Now: The Man Who Got Roller Derby Rolling Along",
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team. He competed in the amateur and semi-pro basketball circuits in Portland after high school.
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235:, but according to his son Jerry in 2010, nobody ever actually called his father by that name.
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30:, and was the founder and head of the original Roller Derby league from 1935 until his son
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Gregory, L. H. (May 23, 1971). "Greg's gossip; Roller derby setup a sports innovation".
26:(April 5, 1903 – January 30, 1978) is generally credited as the creator of the sport of
91:. He grossed $ 2 million before retiring, citing that the events had become "vulgar."
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Leo Seltzer had always wanted roller derby to be a legitimate sport and to be in the
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540:"19 killed as skate troupe crashes: rams bridge and burns in Southern Illinois",
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Seltzer moved his family to Chicago in 1933, and began booking events into the
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558:. 15 T.C. 128; 1950 U.S. Tax Ct. Lexis 112. August 17, 1950, Promulgated.
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in Chicago. His son Jerry, was inducted at the same celebration.
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In 1929, after observing the popularity of cash prize-awarding
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Derby's national tour became so successful that by 1969, the
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83:, with twenty-two more to follow, including events at the
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magazine that said ninety-three percent of Americans
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Jewish American sports executives and administrators
311:. Portland, Oregon. February 20, 1921. p. 23.
98:, a fortress-like structure at 15th & Wabash.
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607:: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
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590:. Archived from the original on August 20, 2007
106:Sometime in early 1935, Leo read an article in
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649:Lincoln High School (Portland, Oregon) alumni
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568:"Roller Derby Founder Leo A. Seltzer Dies".
574:Leo A. Seltzer, 73, died Tuesday in Encino.
483:"Ed Krahn and Launey share roller firsts",
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498:"Von Hof first in ten mile roller derby",
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519:United States Trademark and Patent Office
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268:"Roller Skating: The Derby Rises Again"
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193:, he thinks roller derby can now be an
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588:"Letter of Support from Jerry Seltzer"
225:The nickname "Bromo," in reference to
57:where he was a member of the school's
422:"Skaters whirling around big track",
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149:Roller Derby's fluctuating popularity
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572:. February 1, 1978. p. I-24.
513:Seltzer, Leo A. (April 27, 1937).
437:"Roller skating on banked track",
180:National Roller Derby Hall of Fame
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634:Sportspeople from Helena, Montana
34:took over the business in 1958.
16:For the American filmmaker, see
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296:. Portland, Oregon. p. 87.
140:In December 1937, sportswriter
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252:, Sep 21, 1936, archived from
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521:. registration number 0345466
274:, Mar 7, 1969, archived from
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127:Transcontinental Roller Derby
102:Transcontinental Roller Derby
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467:"Roller derby on tomorrow",
401:, 1936-09-21, archived from
351:, 1936-02-03, archived from
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659:20th-century American Jews
372:Moore, Mark (2008-05-26).
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307:"Stars of B'nai B'rith".
502:, p. 21, 1922-12-01
487:, p. 13, 1922-04-29
471:, p. 20, 1922-04-24
556:United States Tax Court
544:, p. 2, 1937-03-25
452:"24-hour roller race",
207:History of roller derby
173:Death, honors, and hope
18:Leo Seltzer (filmmaker)
542:Chicago Daily Tribune
500:Chicago Daily Tribune
485:Chicago Daily Tribune
469:Chicago Daily Tribune
278:on December 14, 2008.
256:on December 15, 2008.
229:antacid, appeared in
405:on December 15, 2008
309:The Sunday Oregonian
42:Seltzer was born in
246:"Sport: Variations"
51:Lincoln High School
87:amusement park in
46:on April 5, 1903.
664:Jews from Montana
570:Los Angeles Times
355:on March 14, 2009
329:Los Angeles Times
49:Seltzer attended
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629:Roller derby
592:. Retrieved
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523:. Retrieved
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407:, retrieved
403:the original
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395:"Variations"
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378:. Retrieved
374:"Lotus Isle"
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357:, retrieved
353:the original
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644:1978 deaths
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525:February 2,
159:Bay Bombers
623:Categories
594:2010-01-29
409:2008-07-13
380:2008-06-16
359:2008-07-13
213:References
125:Seltzer's
85:Lotus Isle
59:basketball
38:Early life
77:walkathon
603:cite web
201:See also
187:Olympics
135:sideshow
66:Oregon
191:WFTDA
609:link
527:2018
399:Time
349:Time
272:Time
250:Time
232:Time
53:in
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601:{{
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