Roller Derby Hall Of Fame Inductees
All the skaters honored on this page skated part or all of their careers in Roller Games. Most as members of the Los Angeles Thunderbirds. They are all official members of the National Roller Derby Hall Of Fame. Special thanks to Phil Berrier for providing these skater tributes. And thank you to Gary Powers and everyone at the RDHOF for honoring these and other great skaters.
More than 30 individuals from the T-Birds have been inducted including three non-skaters; owners Bill Griffiths & Jerry Hill and announcer Dick Lane. Other legendary roller derby teams that have large numbers of inductees include the Bay Bombers, Midwest Pioneers, and New York Chiefs.
Only two homegrown Roller Games skaters made it into the hallowed Hall of Fame: Ronnie Rains and Larry Lewis. The others started their careers in Roller Derby and then came over to Roller Games.
Most of the skaters featured here spent the majority of their careers in Roller Games but a few, such as Joan Weston, Charlie O’Connell, Tony Roman and Ronnie Robinson, spent less than 2 years with the Thunderbirds after Roller Derby folded.
It is not easy to qualify for the Hall of Fame. Some notable Thunderbirds who have not yet been inducted include Danny Reilly, Gwen Miller, Harold Jackson, Sally Vega, Greg Robertson and Sam Washington, to name just a few.
The Roller Derby Hall of Fame was founded in 1952, by the editors of the Roller Derby Newspaper. Currently, the Hall of Fame is located in Palm Spring and operated by Gary Powers.
