Chicago Outfit Roller Derby (commonly referred to as The Outfit) was a women's flat-track

roller derby Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played by two teams of fifteen members. Roller derby is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leagues worldwide, mostly in the United States. Game play consists of a series of short scrimmages (jam ...

league based in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Founded in 2007, the Chicago Outfit was a member of the

Women's Flat Track Derby Association The Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) is the international governing body for the sport of women's flat track roller derby, and association of leagues around the world. The organization was founded in April 2004 as the United Leagues Co ...

(WFTDA). In 2022 Chicago Outfit Roller Derby merged with the DuPage Derby Dames to form a new league called Chicago-Style Roller Derby. Chicago-Style Roller Derby currently plays at Coachlite Skate Center in

Roselle, Illinois Roselle is a suburb of Chicago and is a village located in both DuPage County and Cook in Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Ch ...

History and league structure

The Outfit formed in 2007, after the collapse of another roller derby organization in Chicago, the Chi-Town Sirens. While many of the former Sirens joined "the other" Chicago league, the

Windy City Rollers Windy City Rollers is a women's flat-track roller derby league located in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by Juanna Rumbel (Elizabeth Gomez) and Sister Sledgehammer (Kelly Simmons) in 2004, Windy City is the first flat-track roller derby league establ ...

, the rest launched the Outfit as a new organization that only played against other league's teams, rather than creating its own home league. In September 2009, the Chicago Outfit joined the

WFTDA Apprentice Program The Women's Flat Track Derby Association Apprentice is the program affiliate of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). In operation from 2009 until early 2019, the Apprentice Program served to onboard new member leagues into the WFTDA. ...

, and became full members of the

(WFTDA) on June 17, 2010. The Outfit consisted of three travel teams. The Syndicate was the Outfit's A-team, representing the league in bouts counting toward WFTDA rankings. The Outfit added the Shade Brigade, the B-level team, in January 2009. The Shade Brigade typically competed against lower-ranked WFTDA leagues or the B-teams of leagues that had higher rankings. Due to the large number of new skaters joining the Outfit at the end of 2010, the league created an additional, C-level team called the Shakedown for newer skaters. The Shakedown began competing in August 2011. Chicago Outfit home games were held at Cicero Stadium.

WFTDA competition

The Outfit first qualified for WFTDA Playoffs in 2011, entering the

WFTDA North Central Regional Tournament The WFTDA North Central Regional Tournament or WFTDA North Central Region Playoffs was one of four annual roller derby regional qualifying tournaments for the WFTDA Championships. The Tournament was organised by the Women's Flat Track Derby Assoc ...

as the ninth seed and finishing in fifth place, by defeating Arch Rival of St. Louis (to whom they lost their opening game on day 1 of the tournament), 153-113. In 2012, the Outfit entered the North Central Playoff as the eighth seed but finished in tenth, culminating with a 180-166 loss to Cincinnati Rollergirls. As the ninth seed at the 2013 Division 1 Playoff in Salem, the Outfit lost all three of their games to finish in tenth place. In 2014, the Outfit competed at the Division 2 Playoff in

Kitchener-Waterloo The Regional Municipality of Waterloo (Waterloo Region or Region of Waterloo) is a metropolitan area of Southern Ontario, Canada. It contains the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo (KWC or Tri-Cities), and the townships of North Dumf ...

, Ontario as the fifth seed and finished in seventh place, with a 189-150 victory over

Demolition City Roller Derby Demolition City Roller Derby (DCRD) is a women's flat-track roller derby league in Evansville, Indiana, and is a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). History and organization DCRD became Evansville's first flat-track rolle ...

. At the 2015 Division 2 Playoff in Detroit, the Outfit had their best result to date, entering as the sixth seed yet finishing in fourth place, after a loss to

Naptown Roller Girls Naptown Roller Derby (NRD) is a women's flat-track roller derby league based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 2006, the league started their 10th season in March 2016. Naptown Roller Derby is a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Associatio ...

190-107. At the 2016 Division 2 Playoff in Wichita, the ninth-seeded Outfit defeated

Carolina Rollergirls Carolina Roller Derby is a women's flat-track roller derby league in Raleigh, North Carolina. Operating as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and founded in January 2004, Carolina is a founding member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association ...

249-173 to finish in ninth place.

Rankings

In the community

The Outfit was a democratic league, run by the skaters and for the skaters. The league has a long history of contributing charitably to several other non-profit organizations, including the Howard Brown Health Center, Ignite the Spirit, Family of Moxie Mayhem,

Derby News Network Derby News Network (DNN), based in Baltimore, was an internet broadcast network, founded in 2007, which featured the women's skating sport of roller derby. DNN used the internet to collect remote streaming video Video on demand (VOD) is a medi ...

, Help Tequila, Girls Rock! Chicago, the American Cancer Society, and Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN). The Outfit also coached the Chicago Riots, which is a

junior roller derby Junior roller derby is the sport of roller derby, modified for children and adolescents up to 18 years of age. The sport is played in both modified-contact, known as "positional blocking," and full-contact approaches, to facilitate safety across m ...

league consisting of skaters ages 10 to 17. In 2013, members of The Outfit appeared on ''

The Queen Latifah Show ''The Queen Latifah Show'' was the title of two American television talk shows hosted by Queen Latifah. The original ''The Queen Latifah Show'' ran from September 13, 1999, to August 31, 2001. The revamped ''The Queen Latifah Show'' debuted Septem ...

''.

Kent Smith Frank Kent Smith (March 19, 1907 – April 23, 1985) was an American actor who had a lengthy career in film, theatre and television. Early years Smith was the son of Mr. and Mrs. James E. Smith. He was born in New York City and was educated ...

, member of the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in ...

, volunteers as an announcer for the Outfit.

References

External links

Chicago Outfit Roller Derby
{{Chicago sports 2007 establishments in Illinois Roller derby leagues established in 2007 Roller derby leagues in Illinois Women's sports in the United States Women's sports in Illinois Women in Chicago