Mary Lou Palermo
Roller derby skater makes her mark
Gayle Faulker Kosalko
Sometimes you meet somebody in your community whose life history just astounds you. It was that way for me when I met Mary Lou Palermo.
Mary Lou has just been inducted into the Roller Derby Hall of Fame in Philadelphia and will be inducted this month into the Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in Chicago.
When you first meet this perky senior with the pretty smile, you'd never guess that she had her own fan clubs more than 50 years ago and had been known to thousands of derby aficionados as "Lulu."
She grew up on the South Side of Chicago, street skating like a lot of other girls, but when she saw her very first roller derby in 1942 at age 13, she knew this was what she wanted to do.
She began her professional career at 15, a career that lasted for 23 years and took her virtually all over the world.
The team uniforms were thick tights, shorts and jerseys and what Mary Lou refers to as "awful football helmets." Professional skates were like ice skating boots and were double-lined.
Picture these skaters whizzing by at 35 miles an hour. The friction would heat up the bearings to such a degree that often their maple wheels would break while they were skating. Because the rivets would get so hot, Mary Lou wore three pairs of socks and thick padding in her skates to protect her feet from blisters.
Lulu's trademark was wearing her hair in pigtails with ribbons. Not only was it cute and unique, it was a saving grace for other skaters. Can you imagine getting whipped by a long mane traveling at you at that speed?
Mary Lou said her fans let her know that she was everybody's mother's or grandmother's favorite out there on the floor. Actually, Cab Calloway and Kate Smith both told her their moms loved Lulu when she met them.
Roller derby was one of the first sports televised back in 1946.
"Back then there was Uncle Miltie and us. We were on live twice a week," Mary Lou said.
And as their television audience grew, the result was 90,000 fans in attendance for the derby's New York run at Madison Square Garden. The skaters had reached celebrity status.
Throughout her career, Mary Lou was a five-time All-Star MVP in 1951, captain of the European Team, the Hawaiian Warriors, the Midwest Pioneers and the NY Chiefs in the first World Series played at Madison Square Garden.
This mother of two hung up her skates in 1967 but has faithfully attended the women's yearly reunions for the last 37 years.
"We have about 100 who go," she said. "The oldest one is 90 and she was from the original 1935 team."
Mary Lou's photos, skates and uniform are now on display at the Hall of Fame. She is pleased but amazed that somehow she has become part of sports history doing the thing that she loved the most - just skatin' through life.