Good Times with Family and Friends
Many of my memories growing up in a steel town in Western Pennsylvania are not only of people and places, good times and bad, but of the activities that were a part of my life back then. Beginning as a young child and progressing into my teenage years, roller skating was one activity that brings back many memories of having good times and loads of fun with friends and family.
My first roller skating adventures began as a young child growing up in the close-knit neighborhood of McDonald Heights, a small community in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. Aliquippa is located on the banks of the Ohio River approximately 24 miles west of Pittsburgh. At that time it was a booming steel town, but sadly like so many other steel towns the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation (LTV), the livelihood for most of Aliquippa’s residents, no longer exists.
The Neighborhood
The McDonald Heights neighborhood was mostly comprised of duplex houses occupied by blue-collar families. With two families to a house, there were always plenty of other children to play with. When the weather permitted, one of my favorite pastimes was roller skating on the streets (we didn’t have sidewalks) or on the playground at the McDonald Elementary School, that was less than a block away from my house.
My First Skates
My first skates were metal, size adjustable and clamped on to the soles of your shoes. The clamps were forever needing tightening with a key (that I was forever misplacing). The skates were a little heavy and the ride was a little bumpy, but I didn’t mind, I was having fun playing with my friends and learning new skate tricks. I remember learning how to climb up and down the few steps off my front porch by placing one foot sideways on the first step, then the other sideways on the next step. Once I accomplished that, there was nowhere that I could not or would not attempt to go with my skates on.
My friends and I used to laugh about how our legs and feet buzzed and tingled when we removed our skates after a couple of hours of skating. But we sure didn’t laugh about the skinned knees and elbows that we all had from falling now and then. When I think about it now, we had no helmets or knee & elbow pads back then, so roller skating in those days was truly an unsafe activity. It is a wonder that I was never seriously hurt! I don’t remember any of my friends getting seriously hurt either, but I would guess that some children were seriously injured while roller skating back then.
Graduating to Shoe Skates and the Roller Rink
Once I was a little older, I bid the metal skates a fond farewell and started roller skating at the local roller rink in the New Sheffield area of Aliquippa. Of course, that meant having to take a bus or beg a ride to go skating. But it was worth the effort to be able to skate on totally smooth wooden floors and since it was indoors you were never hindered by the weather. Plus, there was the bonus of the organ music and the fancy lighting effects that helped to create a fun-filled atmosphere. The only limitation was having enough money to go skating as often as I wanted to. It was one of the few reasons that I asked for extra chores to earn some money.
My earliest memories of skating at the roller rink were of how awkward I felt learning how to adjust to wearing shoe skates that had wooden wheels and usually a stopper on the front underside of the wheels. The smooth floors and wooden wheels allowed you to skate and glide much faster than you could on metal skates and at first, I spent a great deal of time on the floor struggling to get back up after a fall.
Skating Backward
As I became more adept at remaining in an upright position, I was in awe of those who could skate backward and decided that skating backward would be my next challenge to master. It took practice and hard work, but I did it! I was so happy and pleased with myself that I could not resist the temptation to show off my new skill to anyone who would pay attention.
The Couples Only Skate
I remember hearing the announcement over the loudspeaker at the roller rink that “the next skate will be couples only” and being so unhappy that it would not be an “all skate” meaning that I had to sit that one out. Sitting there on the bench, a little bored and very antsy to get up and skate again, it seemed like the couple’s skate lasted forever. Some couples were good skaters and entertaining to watch, but others were not so good and a little boring. The more accomplished couples would glide around the floor gracefully as they performed their skate dance routines and I can remember thinking how great it must feel to be able to do that.
Goodbye Rental Skates
When I first started skating at the roller rink, I did not give a thought to having to rent skates, or care that the ones for my size were an ugly brown color rather than the white ones that girls usually wear (black skates were for boys). Nor did I think about the hundreds of sweaty feet that were in those skates before mine. But then I noticed that all the older “cool girls” wore their own white skates with colorful pom-poms and laces to match their outfits or their school colors. I laugh when I think about how I suddenly became obsessed with having my own skates with pom-poms and colored laces so that I could tie the ends of the laces together and sling them over my shoulder when going to and from the skating rink like the “cool kids” did. It took a while for me to get my own skates (with pom-poms and colored laces), but when I did, I felt like I had finally made it to “cool status.”
A Skate Date
Once, while dating my husband, he agreed to take me to the skating rink even though he could not skate. Or so he said! After quite a few trips around the floor with him holding on to me, slip-sliding everywhere and making me fall several times, he took off skating around the floor like a pro, spins and turns and all! I was furious! I felt foolish and more than a little embarrassed at being the victim of his joke. But I had to admit, it was funny! So, after he apologized several times, I laughed about it with him and all was forgiven (eventually).
Roller Derby
After we were married, we lived in California for a few years. At the time, Women’s Roller Derby was a popular sport televised on local television. It was a contact sport, played on a banked track. That version of Roller Derby usually involved the women fighting or other staged drama and rating antics. It reminded me of wrestling in that much of it seemed phony and I was not particularly drawn to it. But my husband loved it! He had his favorite skaters and would yell out loud at the television, cheering them on.
According to the Women’s Flat TrackDerby Association, “today’s roller derby is a legitimate sport played by true athletes” with about 400 leagues worldwide.
An Evolution
My memories of roller skating while growing up in a steel town are all fond ones. It was a fun activity, a great way to stay physically active, and a wonderful way to spend time with family and friends. Roller skating has really evolved since those days. Today, you can enjoy roller skating in both indoor and outdoor rinks using shoe skates or the in-line skates that became popular in the late 1980s. Many roller rinks today are part of entertainment complexes that house other fun activities, electronic entertainment, and food services. If you have a young family, go have some fun and take them roller skating. The memories will last a lifetime!
