Roll models

Catch up with Tillamook’s Derby dames

Story & photos by Gretchen Ammerman

Oregon Coast TODAY

Roller derby has come a long way since Raquel Welch knocked women off the track with a well-timed hit from a well-shaped hip in the 1972 movie, “Kansas City Bomber.”

Often covered in tattoos, going by self-appointed names that can tend toward the shocking, derby girls of the modern era are all bark and no bite.

“They look mean and tough, but they are the sweetest and most inclusive people you’ll ever meet,” said Margo McClellan, aka Hellcat Maggie, who attended her first practice in Arizona in 2012. “I’ve skated most of my life, but I’ve always been kinda nerdy, so I thought, ‘Roller derby isn’t for me.’ But there’s a quote that I am pretty sure was said by Eleanor Roosevelt, ‘Do one thing that scares you every day,’ and I try to live like that. So I showed up to an open practice and these women kinda swooped down on me and, by the time I got home, I had seven new Facebook request from these bad-ass but super-friendly, sweet women; many of whom are still friends to this day.”

McClellan skated with that team for a few years, until she followed her heart to the Central Oregon Coast and briefly paused her derby days.

“In 2017, I heard from a neighbor that there was a fledgling team getting started in Tillamook,” she said. “It actually started as an introduction to derby class at the community college but enrollment was too low so they cancelled it. But all of us who had signed up stayed in touch and decided to do it on our own.”

Now called the Derby Dames, the team primarily practices at Tillaskate, a building on the Tillamook County Fairgrounds that is used a few times a year for events, but the rest of the year can be rented for skating by groups large or small.

These days, the Dames have not only a very cool logo, but a solid number of skaters for a new team in a small area.

“It’s a whole different breed of women from the way I grew up,” said McClellan, who identifies as a Gen-Xer. “It’s so inclusive. My generation was much more brought up to see other women as competition and it was more normal for us to be catty to each other. With derby, it’s all about support and encouragement. It doesn’t matter your size your age. As a matter of fact, the more out of shape or older you are or have any other perceived setbacks, the more impressed we are that you showed up to try derby!"

If that sounds like propaganda, I can attest, as a person over 50, that when I rolled in on my non-regulation wheels and healthy fear of pain, I was welcomed with open arms. I briefly flirted with derby roughly a decade ago, and skated under the name Killa B, as I was a beekeeper at the time. So I gave that name when asked what I wanted my derby name to be. For the next hour, the sound of “Killa B” rang out as I was encouraged to participate fully in all aspects of the practice session. Not for one second did a single derby girl on that fairgrounds floor make me feel that I was at least a person older than most of the other girls there. I was just part of the team as much as I wanted to be.

“Our message to anyone interested but unsure is, show up, watch a practice, introduce yourself and meet some of the girls,” McClellan said. “Even if you don’t know how to skate, we’ll teach you, and we even have loaner gear. And you don’t even need to skate. We have plenty of people that fill support roles and are considered full members of the team.”

And, for those who think that roller derby died out with wide lapels and disco balls, it is alive and well and represented internationally.

“It still feels like a small community, though, because we know skaters from countries all over the world like Australia,” McClellan said. “There is an international derby cup and the Rose City Rollers in Portland have won it three times in the last four years.”

One of the few requirements to join the Derby Dames is that skaters are at least 18 years old. There was a junior league in the works when the pandemic hit.

“Right now, we don’t quite have the resources to start it back up again,” McClellan said. “But there’s a lot of interest from the community so we’re hoping to get our juniors back on the track at some point soon.”

The Derby Dames currently practice every Tuesday at 6 pm. For more information, go to @tillamookrollerderby on Facebook. You can also check out the dames skating in the Garibaldi Days parade on Saturday, July 25.