Mike Gammon
by Phil Berrier
Born Michael Paul Milane on November 2, 1941 to Paul and Gerry (Murray) Milane, Mike was destined for Roller Derby stardom. Mike grew up on the Roller Derby track. The often-used cliche is that Mike could skate almost before he could walk, an exaggeration for sure, but probably not too far from the truth. There are photographs of Mike at age 2 1/2 on skates and in uniform.
When Gene Gammon and Gerry Murray married, Mike took his stepfather's last name. He made his skating debut with the New York Chiefs at age 17 in the spring of 1958. Later that summer a young man by the name of Mike Paul (Gammon) skated a few series on the West Coast with the Brooklyn Red Devils. Mike made his official skating debut in 1959 and, naturally, took Rookie of the Year honors along with another young skater by the name of Jan Vallow.
While in the New York training school in 1958, Mike met and married Judi McGuire. For years they were the league's top scorers and, arguably, the league's most dynamic husband-wife team.
For the most part, Mike skated with the Chiefs until the team was disbanded in 1967. Rather than place the Gammons on another team immediately, Jerry Seltzer let them slip away. The Gammons and Chiefs teammates Buddy Atkinson, Jr, Dru Scott Atkinson and Pete Boyd joined the new Philadelphia Warriors team of the National Skating Derby helping to establish that team as a powerhouse Roller Games franchise.
Gammon returned to the Roller Derby in 1969 with the Southern Mustangs. For the next two seasons Mike skated with the Cardinals/Red Devils during the regular season and the Oakland Bombers during the annual road trip.
In the autumn of 1971 Mike returned home to New York when the Chiefs franchise was re-activated. No one belonged in the Chiefs uniform more. When New York area fans voted on which skaters they would most like to see on their home team, "Dynamite" Mike Gammon was their top choice even above "Mr. Roller Derby", Charlie O'Connell. Mike remained with the Chiefs until mid-May of 1974. Living out of a suitcase on the road had taken its toll and it was time to go home to the Bay area.
Gammon returned to skating in 1975 with the New York Braves of the short-lived United Banked Track Roller Skating Association, better known as Roller Stars. The next year Mike skated some exhibition games with the new Bay Bombers as a prelude to the official opening of the International Roller Skating League. When the league opened for its inaugural season in 1977 "Dynamite" Mike Gammon was again a member of the San Francisco Bay Bombers. Mike retired following the 1978 season, but came back to skate again in 1983 and 1984. Gammon, considered invincible on skates fell victim to career-ending injuries.
To watch Mike Gammon skate was to see near perfection on the track. Mike Gammon possessed speed, agility and an uncanny sense of balance. Add those qualities to his superior knowledge of the game and how it should be skated and you have one of the greatest skaters to ever set foot on the banked-track. Mike Gammon will always be considered one of the true superstars of Roller Derby. In recognition of his unparalleled contribution to the sport, Mike Gammon was one of the first to be inducted into the National Roller Derby Hall of Fame when it was re-opened in 2004.