William Hart

Roller Rink Starlight William Hart

Insiders know roller rinks are conspiracies to turn singles into couples.

William Hart's coming of age memoir begins when he joins an amateur roller racing team well stocked with national champions of both sexes. A varsity sprinter, Hart soon excels at speed skating.

It's the early 1960s when 50s sexual repression still prevails except in rare liberated zones like the rink. There teens experiment with their budding sexuality. Immersed in powerful mood music they glide in pairs through darkness under stars and make out in the bleachers. Love comes easy for many teammates as they date skate before practice and travel to competitions. Hart falls for a kindred spirit, a motivated girl from a dysfunctional family, but his youthful cluelessness and her party girl mom lead them into estrangement and near tragedy.

This true story celebrates a premier American roller rink in its heyday. It comps readers box seats for the electrifying sport of flat track roller racing (think Apolo Ohno on wheels). Mostly it dramatizes an older man's complex thoughts about how he lost a girl he can't forget.