I would like to introduce myself.  I am a long time fan of the Roller Derby and Roller Games.  I was never a skater, however, I did want to become one.

I was a crazy little kid.  I would clamp on my roller skates, the kind that required a key to tighten them to your shoes and go skate outside on the dirt road.  The picture on the right shows me in my usual attire: brown jeans, plaid shirt, orange luminous socks, and soft soled moccasins.  That's right, I was clamping my skates onto soft soled moccasins.

I grew up when television was in its infancy.  I remember watching Roller Derby and Wrestling on our old Philco b/w television.  I watched many of the great Roller Derby skaters.  My favorites were Mary Youpelle, Bobbie Mateer, Annis "Big Red" Jensen, Bert Wall, and Russ Massro.  I was hooked.

In the early 1960's I discovered not only was the Roller Derby on a local TV station, but I could watch the Roller Games coming out of Los Angeles.  I found myself watching the Thunderbirds.  I don't remember which team they were playing, but I remember watching Judy Sowinski, Honey Sanchez, Ruberta Mitchell, Red Smartt, George Copeland, and, substituting for an injured Terri Lynch, Gerry Murray.

Watching KTLA at that time was an experience...it was broadcast in Los Angeles and I was in Southern San Diego County.  There was no cable at that time.  I never knew what type of reception I might get. Sometimes there was no sound, other times the picture was fuzzy, a lot of times there was no sound coupled with a fuzzy picture.  Needless to say I was very happy when cable TV was introduced.  However, I did learn to recognize individual skaters by their skating style.

The first game I attended was at the Olympic Auditorium.  I don't remember the date, other than it was prior to 1966.  I do remember that the T-Birds were playing the Chicago Hawks with Jess Adams, Liz Hernandez, and Sid Harnesk.  I didn't drive at the time, so I saved my money until I could afford tickets and transportation to the game.  I took my mother along.  We took the city bus to the Greyhound station in San Diego, the Greyhound bus to Los Angeles, then a taxi to the Olympic.

I remember my mother's shock at seeing the skaters in color.  It was the first time we had seen a game in "living" color, TV back then was black and white.  I was hooked.  Whenever I could save up enough money, we would go to another game.

Over the years I attended many games in person.  I was very happy when the Roller Games came to San Diego, first at the community concourse and later at the San Diego Sports Arena.  Once I got my driver's license, I went to games not only locally, but at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles Sports Arena, the Forum, Anaheim Arena, and San Bernadino Fairgrounds.

I especially enjoyed one game at the Anaheim Arena because a friend of mine was skating in the Jet League game.

I also joined a fan club...the T-J Fan club honoring Terri Lynch and Judy Sowinski.  Later after Judy left the T-Birds, the J was switched to Julie Patrick.  There was a beach party where both Terri and Judy were in attendance.  I remember a game of football with Judy's team against Terri's.  I didn't play, only watched, but I was sitting next to a guest, Sally Vega.

I lost interest in the Roller Games after all of my favorite skaters were no longer around: Terri had retired, Liz Hernandez had retired because of a back injury, Judy Sowinski and Sally Vega had disappeared (I now know they were skating on the Warriors).  Other skaters had retired or gone to other teams.  Instead of a trainer in the infield, there was a cosmetologist.  Instead of injured skaters being treated, there was someone to fix a broken nail or brush hair.  It was no longer MY Roller Games.

I rediscovered the Roller Derby/Games in 1999 when my mother was sick and in the hospital.  First I found the (now defunct) AOL group, then a yahoo group.  I got involved in the yahoo group because they needed someone to help with the growing photos area.  They were running out of space so I put all the pictures in a photo album place that disappeared.  Luckily I had all the pictures saved on my PC, so I moved everything to the toooquiet.net web site.   Now everything is on this web site, a unique domain set up solely for information on the Banked Track sport.

I have been very lucky.  Because of this web site, I met Loretta "Little Iodine" Behrens.  She invited me to attend the annual Has-Beens reunion.  I attended both in 2007 & 2008.  I have had the opportunity to meet many of the skaters I admired so much.

I dedicate this web site to the many skaters who gave me hours of enjoyment.