Once upon a time a young lady by the name of Celia Fate went to Texas. She came back with dreams of roller derby and the ambition to make it happen. Thank you to her, we have the Carolina Rollergirls!
A couple of her team mates wanted to honor this BIG birthday:
by Dennis Salmon, 2004
Skating so fast they seemed to fly
Did Celia Fate and Eva Lye
But how could they stay on their feet?
When on the track a Bruiser they meet
“You pretty girls don’t dare try to pass”
Snarled the Bully with the big ass
But rather than yield they skated faster until
They passed the Hulk like she was standing still
I met Celia on the dance floor. It was Halloween night at King’s Barcade, when it was on S. McDowell St.–when dancing in Raleigh was at it’s best with DJs like Matt Routh (aka Ratt Mouth, aka DJ exe) or some other Neu Romance crew. This was the Fall of 2003 before the first ever CRG practice which was January 2004 at the Skate Ranch.
Celia approached me at the edge of the dance floor, as I gulped water taking a break from cutting up the dance floor. She came on roller skates–quads. She had long skate laces in her long hair. She wore the colors black and red. Celia handed me a quarter-page, black and white flyer. She said “Hey, you look athletic.” She told me about starting a roller derby league. She might as well have been speaking french, no one knew what that meant then, not as we know it now in the modern sense. I stuffed the flyer in my bra, as I had serious moves yet to be released out of my body. I’m not much for talking, especially with beats like that in the room. Fortunately for me, we made another connection shortly thereafter, through a mutual friend, Stef Maus, later to become know under the derby moniker Edith Shred.
The flyer, I can still see it in my mind. I wish I had kept it. It sat next to my “reading station” at home for a while. I remember staring at it each day wondering what it was all about. What did this crazy girl have in mind? What was this thing called Roller Derby?
It’s hard to believe almost a decade has past since our first encounter. Thank you, Celia. Roller Derby has enriched my life greatly. Raleigh, Durham, and the greater Triangle thank you too, for one more reason this is a great place to live.
Love,
Ms. Anthrope the Mordant
Please take a chance to thank this amazing woman for bringing roller derby into all of our lives. Happy Birthday Celia Fate!
