Who won the first professional sports championship for the city of
Anaheim? Which Roller Hockey International team owner posed for
Playboy? Which RHI team's logo did Sports Illustrated describe as
looking like "a malevolent vacuum-cleaner attachment?" Which coach
won two championships for two different teams in RHI's first two
seasons? Why were fans nearly ejected from the Oakland Skates'
arena for celebrating a hat trick? All those questions and more are
answered in "Wheelers, Dealers, Pucks & Bucks: A Rocking
History of Roller Hockey International." Author Richard Graham
takes you behind the scenes to show how Dennis Murphy created
Roller Hockey International, and why Murphy might be the most
unlikely, least known and most influential visionary in North
American professional sports history. Despite his rather
leprechaun-like stature, "Murph" had tall dreams, a gift of gab and
the ability to bring together a diverse group of people to work
toward a common goal. After seeing some children playing hockey on
inline skates on a suburban street, Murphy was inspired to create a
professional league that ran from 1993-1999 and which soared and
then crashed much like the inline skating craze of the 1990s.
What's best about this book, however, are the stories that Graham
has collected from the league's founders, team owners, players,
administrators, referees and fans. You will alternately be amused
and astounded by some of the hilarious events, player pranks,
episodes of shortsightedness shown by some of the league's founders
and team owners, the controversy over the league's puck and more.
Particularly moving are the stories of players whose dreams of
playing professional sports came true in Roller Hockey
International. Full of thrills, spills and body checks, along with
an abundance of humor, "Wheelers, Dealers, Pucks & Bucks" is
the story of a niche sport and a professional league that dared to
dream big. With its hundreds of stories about players, coaches,
managers, team owners and league administrators, Graham's book is
similar in scope and depth to "Loose Balls" Terry Pluto's classic
about the American Basketball, and as funny as Jim Bouton's "Ball
Four" (but not as mean). Wheelers, Dealers, Pucks & Bucks
chronicles the fastest rise and fall of any sports league in modern
history, and countless hours of research, interviews and
off-the-record conversations have paid off for Mr. Graham and the
reader. We meet the wheelers (the players), most of who were
minor-league ice-hockey journeymen. These players were propelled by
a new sport to take center stage at major NBA and NHL arenas during
the summer months, fulfilling their dreams of fame and not so much
fortune. Next are the dealers like Dennis Murphy, with connections
so strong he could gather the top 10 sports moguls in a room with a
single phone call. The disappointing saga of the puck specifically
designed for roller hockey, which was counted on to supply the
bucks to bankroll the league (imagine if the NBA earned a royalty
for every basketball sold in the entire world), is a lesson that
even today's big-league commissioners should heed. All sports fans
and especially those who want to understand the operations of a
league and its teams will benefit from this book. Wheelers,
Dealers, Pucks & Bucks: A Rocking History of Roller Hockey
International recounts the six crazy seasons of Roller Hockey
International and could well become the next great sports movie --
featuring characters even the greatest scriptwriters couldn't
create. The foreword was written by Jeanie Buss, a former Roller
Hockey International team owner and a current executive vice
president for the 16-time NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers. For wild
action (both on and off the playing surface), humor and the true
story of Roller Hockey International, Wheelers, Dealers, Pucks
& Bucks can't be touched with a 10-foot-long hockey stick.
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