Contact Sport

Runyon told Seltzer to maximize physical contact between players by permitting contestants to elbow, "whip," and slam one another into the outer rail of the track, as well as telling players to exaggerate hits and falls for the sake of the spectacle. Seltzer, who wanted to keep the sport honest, didn't like the idea, but he agreed to the experiment.

A Deadly Accident

Fans of the sport loved the shift to a more violent and theatrical Derby. Sadly, two years later, disaster struck. A terrible bus accident killed 21 members of a touring group of Roller Derby skaters near Salem, Illinois. Only a few survived the incident. The tragedy nearly put Seltzer out of business.