On RollerDerbyNotes.com, Vintage Roller Derby specifically refers to the historical period of roller derby from the invention of the game in 1935 by Leo Seltzer, through his eventual exit from the business in 1959. During this era, Seltzer was the owner and promoter of Roller Derby, and the man that devised the Transcontential Roller Derby race held in Chicago, the genesis of the game. However, it was not until late 1930s, after a few years of development, until the game became what we would best recognize today as roller derby.

During the early days of the “vintage” era of the game, teams would simply be male-female pairs, often sponsored, to competing in an endurance race to gain the most distance over their opponents. As the game rapidly developed into the team sport that more or less resembles the modern game, the co-ed quality of the game persisted as men and women were placed on teams together (though they didn’t play against each other directly). The gender equality aspect of roller derby, seeded in the game from the very beginning, is one of the many things that helps makes it unique in sports