| In 1937 a group of roller-rink operators determined to | | | | In 1940, figure-, dance-, and speed-skating |
| band together and make a serious attempt to | | | | championships were combined, and an all-inclusive |
| elevate the sport's standards and management. | | | | national championship meet was held at the Cleveland |
| Several amateur competitions were fostered. On | | | | Public Auditorium. The four-day meet catered to |
| April 3, 1937, seventeen operators met at Detroit | | | | almost five hundred amateur skaters participating in |
| and organized the Roller Skating Rink Operators | | | | all the classes of the three branches of the sport. |
| Association (RSROA) of the United States. It set up | | | | The meet was so successful that the membership of |
| as its main objective the advancement of amateur | | | | the RSROA decided to hold the National |
| roller skating. | | | | Championships at the same auditorium in 1941, when |
| Perry Rawson, a retired New York broker and | | | | for four days, once again, the big auditorium was |
| amateur ice skater, who had thoroughly studied | | | | filled with amateur skaters. There were many more |
| International Style figure and dance skating, visited | | | | competitors than in the previous year, and ages |
| England in 1937 and saw for himself what had been | | | | ranged from six to thirty-six, all competing in dancing, |
| accomplished on rollers in that country. When he | | | | figures, and racing for national titles. |
| returned to America, Rawson brought back motion | | | | At this time the RSROA founded an annual |
| picture films showing that the International Style, | | | | professional school where the country's leading |
| which was prevalent on ice, was possible on rollers. | | | | instructors could get together in a group, exchange |
| The films showed British champions doing school | | | | information, and agree on the standardization of |
| figures, free style, and dancing on roller skates. | | | | skating and teaching procedure. It established rules |
| The exhibition of these films in many rinks throughout | | | | and regulations for the game of roller hockey and for |
| the United States aroused great enthusiasm. In | | | | the organization of amateur roller hockey teams and |
| October of 1938, James and Joan Lindstone, the | | | | leagues. It arranged a series of graded proficiency |
| British champions, came to the United States and | | | | tests for dance, figure and speed skating, for which |
| toured the country, giving exhibitions at many of the | | | | bronze, silver, and gold medals were awarded. |
| leading rinks. Their spellbinding act greatly impressed | | | | Meanwhile, roller skating had been publicized in three |
| American skaters, and from that point the | | | | motion picture short subjects, had been included in |
| International Style came into its own in the United | | | | two feature films, and had been the subject of many |
| States. | | | | magazine articles and at least one full-length novel. |
| The first national meet to be sanctioned by the | | | | Books were published, containing the various rules, |
| RSROA was the speed-skating championships held at | | | | regulations, tests, and amateur competitions for all |
| the Sefferino Rollerdrome at Cincinnati in 1938. In the | | | | branches of the sport. The first regularly scheduled |
| following year, the RSROA held its first national | | | | newspaper column devoted exclusively to roller |
| figure- and dance-skating championships, the | | | | skating started in the New York Journal-American in |
| figure-skating events being held at the Arena | | | | 1940. The RSROA was very effective at getting the |
| Gardens Rink in Detroit, and the skate-dancing | | | | general public to accept and get excited about roller |
| competitions at the Mineola Skating Rink, Mineola, N.Y. | | | | skating. |