July 20, 2007 - Dayton Daily News
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ROLLERGIRLS GEM CITY TEAM BRINGS PLENTY OF FLAIR TO REVIVING SPORT
Tom Archdeacon - Staff Writer

She teaches French and Spanish, Greek and Latin derivatives and Greek and Roman mythology. While that's impressive in the world of academia, what really strikes a chord with some of her Fairmont High students is when they find out Mrs. Samanas becomes Voodoo Storm after she laces on her skates as one of the Gem City Rollergirls. It gives Audra Samanas some street cred, so to speak: "I guess it's odd enough and out there enough, and with extreme sports so popular — I've got several skateboarders in class — they can appreciate it." Tonight everybody can appreciate it when the Rollergirls meet the Fort Wayne Derby Girls at 7:30 at the Nutter Center. There's not a more colorful, more unlikely team in this town than the Rollergirls. Ranging in age from 19 to 43, some are mothers, some are single. They're everything from nurses and yoga instructors to factory workers and a government contractor. But on skates they become flamboyant alter egos, people named Hannah Barbaric, Helda Reckonwith, Indie Anna Jones and Trip Flare. Although the team has been in existence just two seasons, it's revived a popular tradition in Dayton. In roller derby's heyday — especially in the late 1960s — the famed Bay Area Bombers and their All Star rivals used to tour the nation, packing places like the Boston Garden and Dayton's Hara Arena. Today there's been a revival, with some 200 grass-roots women's teams nationwide. "We're attracting people who remember the old derby from back in the day and young alternative folks — rockabilly kids and the like — and we're getting mainstream suburbanites," said Brenda Shaw, who skates as Harley Behavin'. "We think we appeal to lots of folks." Maybe even some French students.