NPR- Back in the 1960s, Joan Weston was very likely the highest-paid female athlete in the world. Of course, you probably never heard of her. She was the star of the roller derby.
It wasn't her choice. It's just that she was a fabulous natural athlete, and in those days, there weren't many opportunities for women in professional sport.
One night, somewhere out on the road — because the derby was always somewhere out on the road — Joanie held her little dog in her lap, and she sighed, and this is what she told me, wistfully: "All I want out of the roller derby is to make good money, get out of it in one piece, and years from now, when I say I was in the roller derby, I want people to still know what it is. I want that."
Joanie died back in 1997, much too young, but she'd be happy to know that, incredibly, yes, in 2010, a lot of people do know what the roller derby is. The sport, which was dreamed up in the '30s as a Depression divertissement, regularly has booms and busts, but it just can't be killed.
In the past few years, it's resurfaced again, but this time, as an amateur participant sport –– and almost exclusively for women.
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