Chicago Rink Rats: The Roller Capital in Its Heyday

By 1950, roller skating had emerged as the number-one participatory sport in America. Ironically, the war years launched the Golden Age of Roller Skating. Soldiers serving overseas pleaded for skates along with their usual requests for cigarettes and letters from home. Stateside, skating uplifted morale and kept war factory workers exercising. By the end of the decade, five thousand rinks operated across the country. Its epicenter: Chicago And no one was left behind The Blink Bats, a group of Braille Center skaters, held their own at the huge Broadway Armory rink. Meanwhile, the Swank drew South Side crowds to its knee-action floor and stocked jukebox. Eighteen celebrated rinks are now gone, but rinks that remain honor the traditions of the sport's glory years. Author Tom Russo scoured newspaper archives and interviewed skaters of the roller capital's heyday to reveal the enduring legacy of Chicago's rink rats.

Author: Tom Russo
Publisher: History Press Library Editions
Published: 11/13/2017
Pages: 242
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.09lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.56d
ISBN13: 9781540227539
ISBN10: 1540227537
BISAC Categories:
- History | United States | State & Local | Midwest(IA,IL,IN,KS,MI,MN,MO
- Sports & Recreation | Roller & In-Line Skating
- Photography | Subjects & Themes | Sports

This title is not returnable