By 1950, Roller skating had emerged as the number-one participatory sport in America.
Author Tom Russo scoured newspaper archives and interviewed skaters of the Roller capital\'s Heyday to reveal the enduring legacy of Chicago\'s Rink rats..
Eighteen celebrated rinks are now gone, but rinks that remain honor the traditions of the sport\'s glory years.
Meanwhile, the Swank drew South Side crowds to its knee-action floor and stocked jukebox.
Its epicenter: Chicago And no one was left behind The Blink Bats, a group of Braille Center skaters, held their own at the huge Broadway Armory rink.
By the end of the decade, five thousand rinks operated across the country.
Stateside, skating uplifted morale and kept war factory workers exercising.
Soldiers serving overseas pleaded for skates along with their usual requests for cigarettes and letters from home.
Ironically, the war years launched the Golden Age of Roller Skating.
By 1950, Roller skating had emerged as the number-one participatory sport in America
