Although the contact sport known as roller derby has been around for decades, Auburn has not had an official team since 2013, following the sudden and unexpected ending of the Burn City Rollers.
The Burn City Rollers were an Auburn-based roller derby team started by Carrie Wallis Holzmeister in 2009. Holzmeister was teaching English at Auburn University at the time.
Holzmeister, known as Cho Cold to her team, was inspired by other roller derby teams to start a league in Auburn.
Roller derby is a contact sport played between two teams of five players on roller skates.
“I first became interested in roller derby while reading an article in USA Today about the resurgence in its popularity in the U.S.,” Holzmeister said.
At the time, others seemed to think the idea was far-fetched.
“It was kind of a whim, but I told my boss, my coworkers and my husband that I was going to start a roller derby league so I could play,” Holzmeister said. “They all kind of laughed at me, but I actually made it happen.”
In Auburn, there was not an obvious demand for a female-based sports team, especially for such a hands-on sport. So she had to implement some creative marketing techniques.
“I founded the league in September of 2008 by sticking a bunch of flyers that I drew myself in bathroom stalls in Auburn bars,” Holzmeister said. “I can’t recall exactly how many people showed up to that first interest meeting, but it was more than I expected, and I instantly found a community that I didn’t realize I was lacking in Auburn.”
The Rollers played against teams from across the Southeast and practiced at the Skate Center in Auburn.
The Rollers taught team member Zipporah Bonney, known to her teammates as the Voluptuous Vixen, a lot about herself.
“My Burn City Rollers experience was one of my favorite and best memories of my derby career,” Bonney said. “It was the first time I had been a part of a team that taught me so much about myself and my skills. The teamwork and respect from my teammates was unmatched by any other team I’ve been on in the last ten years.”
Over time, the team was no longer able to pay their rent at the skating rink where they practiced. The Burn City Rollers officially came to an end when they played their final match on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2013.
“I don’t know the ins and outs of what went down that lead to the league dissolving,” Holzmeister said. “But I do know that when I was the sole name on the league’s LLC, I was not doing a very good job of running the business side of the league.”
Holzmeister didn’t want to be the person responsible for the business, but she did it so she could continue to play roller derby, she said.
“There were months when we couldn’t have paid our rent to the roller rink if I hadn’t put a bunch of my own money into the league’s bank account,” Holzmeister said. “So it really was a labor of love, and I didn’t do it any favors to make it sustainable. So, even though it made me really sad to hear that such a huge part of my life was ending forever, I completely understood. It was not easy to have a weird, niche sport trying to survive financially in a small college town where football is king.”
Holzmeister was an active member in the league for two seasons until she became pregnant with her first child and officially retired in 2012.
A former member of the Burn City Rollers, Kristin Cobb, known by her derby name Rojo Wrecksy, played in the league for about two years. She said the league officially disbanded because they couldn’t afford to pay the roller rink for private practice space.
“We tried to play in Columbus a few times and then move to Columbus,” Cobb said. “But then another group started their own league in there, and they eventually turned into a separate team. A few Burn City Rollers ended up joining that team or moved away.”
Despite the bittersweet ending of the Burn City Rollers, many past members still speak highly of their time playing for the team and the lifelong friendships they made during that time.
Holzmeister still practices roller derby and considers herself a lifelong member, regardless of the end of her team. She now teaches English in Maryland at Goucher College.
Bonney is still involved in roller derby and plays with a Birmingham team known as the Tragic City Rollers.
Cobb no longer participates in roller derby but still considers herself a lifelong member.
Holzmeister said she hopes someone will bring roller derby back to Auburn. Many of the other former members have all expressed interest in roller derby returning to Auburn and spoke about the importance of a sport that empowers women of all shapes and sizes.
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