These Vintage Photos Prove That Roller Derby Has Always Been Cool

Growing in Popularity

During this time, roller skates were mass produced, and skating in rinks became a popular activity for people throughout Europe, Australia, and the Americas. It was around this time that specialized skates for figure skating and speed skating began to appear.

Skating Competition

The sport's growing popularity led to the formation of organized endurance races. In 1884, Victor W. Clough skated 100 miles over the course of ten hours through Geneseo, Illinois. The next year, 36 skaters competed for $500 in prize money in a six-day-long skating competition at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Next Page →

Advertisement

The More You Know

  • Little brown bats sleep more than any other mammal on earth.
  • Dentistry is the oldest profession in the world.
  • Following the release of Rocky IV, a joke was making rounds in Hollywood. Since Rocky had run out of opponents, he would have to fight an alien if a fifth movie was made. Jim and John Thomas took the joke seriously and wrote a screenplay based on it, which later became the movie "Predator".
  • The average golf ball has 336 dimples.
Next Page →

Post originally appeared on Upbeat News.