Senior skaters feel at home on wheels

Leroy Gallo doesn't rent the lace-up roller skates from behind the counter."The last time I tried shoe skates was years ago when I used to race," Gallo said.By "years ago," Gallo, 73, of Wood Dale, means 1953. "I can't skate on them well because I can't get the turns right," Gallo said, attaching his size 6 clamp-on skates to his size 8 1/2 tasseled brown leather shoes. Attention to detail, Gallo said, is how he's managed to preserve his $10 investment made at the former Chicago Roller Skate in 1951.Gallo said, at times, he's replaced the skates' rubber and wheels to keep on rolling.It's the older skates, which are set on a different angle, Gallo said, that seem to know how his feet need to move.Gallo's clamp-ons have rolled on the floors at more than a dozen city and suburban rinks for more than 50 years.Many of those classic rinks where organists played are long gone.The Riverview Roller Rink.The Hub.Arcadia. Madison Gardens. The Elm."The Rollerbowl, that was one of the best places," Gallo said. "All the guards wore tuxedos and they had a double organ behind a glass case."Gallo gets a taste of the good old days each Wednesday night when he, his wife, Aldona, and many longtime friends join other skating devotees to spin their wheels to the sounds of organ music at Lombard Roller Rink.The old Rollerbowl's dress code made a lasting impression on Gallo and other guys who remember those glory days."No Levis," Gallo said, "No wash pants of any kind. That's why I usually wear a suit or a suit coat and tie." During the summer, Gallo scales it back to just a tie.But at the old skating palaces, one dressed sharp."If you didn't, you didn't get in," Gallo said. "With so many rinks closing, they're just lucky to get people to skate today." And Gallo said he's lucky to have learned about the old-time skate night in Lombard by word of mouth about three years ago as his former skate place, North Avenue Rollerway in Melrose Park, was closing its doors."Now it's a gas station," Gallo said.Raoul Allesee, 80, of Chicago has been skating for 67 years, the last several, he said, in Lombard.Some of Allesee's biggest moments can be tied back to roller skating."I came out of the roller rink on Dec. 7th and found out we were at war," Allesee said.The year was 1941. Pearl Harbor had been attacked. The U.S. was entering the second world war."While in the Navy during the war, I carried my skates," Allesee said."I don't know," Allesee said. "It was part of my life."It still is.No clamp-ons for Allesee. He wears shoes in which the wheels can be locked with a key into the soles."So if he wants to chase a girl, he doesn't have to change his shoes," joked Doris Jensen, 71, of Chicago.Jensen said she skated as a kid, then, once she married, had a family and divorced, she returned to the rink. "Once I started skating again 30 years ago," Jensen said, "I kept going."Where Jensen went was The Elm, an Elmhurst roller rink that opened in the 1956.Bob Gormley, 82, a Wednesday night regular, taught skating lessons and managed at The Elm for 33 years until that rink closed in 1989."The property became too valuable," Gormley said, to remain a roller rink. "We didn't have air conditioning," and due to the costs it would take to put in a system around the pipe organ, Gormley said, wouldn't have made financial sense. Gormley said his love of skating started early. As a 20-year-old, he'd graduated high school but didn't have any goals for his life. But through competitive skating, he found his calling.Despite his thin knee brace, Gormley still glides across the floor in his blue-and-white floral print collared shirt and shorts, often holding the hand of a long-legged partner in sheer stockings."Skating now, it is a matter of 'use it or lose it,' " Gormley said. "I enjoy skating. I don't do it because it's exercise. I do it because it's fun."For Margie Festor, 62, part of the fun of roller skating comes from the social side of meeting people and making friends."You come here and it's happiness. You forget about your troubles," said Festor, who comes out each Wednesday with her husband, Dan, 64, who's sidelined with a bad knee.Along with heading to their nearby Lombard rink, Festor also skates at The Orbit Skate Center in Palatine, another central meeting point for many older skaters.Festor will be one of several hundred veteran skaters - alumni of former area roller palaces - expected to attend an annual Fall Old Times Reunion from 7 to 11 p.m. Oct. 6 at the Palatine rink.The skater reunion features live music from organist Frank Pellico, who also plays each Monday night at the Aurora Skate Center."Nothing replaces the live organ," Festor said.Shortly after Bob Heinrich bought Lombard Roller Rink 13 years ago, he had an organ installed in the building.Yet, even for traditionalists like Heinrich, there are pressures to change with the times. In Lombard, the organ "wasn't profitable enough to keep it. Between the maintenance costs and money for an organist," said Heinrich, who eventually had it removed.While the music may be recorded, Heinrich said, through his Wednesday night programs, "I'm trying to keep the old style going."Heinrich said, "There are the kids that come on Fridays and Saturdays. They're here to socialize." Looking out at people with so much history rolling on eight wheels, Heinrich said, "To me, these are the skaters." 512391A veteran skater exits Lombard Roller Rink with his skate shoe case in hand on a Wednesday night.Chet Susslin | Staff Photographer 512339A younger skater casually passes by a dapper-attired Raoul Allesee of Chicago and Ray Grana of Darien, in an open-collared shirt and slacks, at Lombard Roller Rink.Chet Susslin | Staff Photographer 341512Experienced skaters Warren Johnson of Indiana and Barbara Prezell of Wheaton show off their moves at Lombard Roller Rink.Chet Susslin | Staff Photographer 512339Older skating traditions keep rolling on Wednesday nights at Lombard Roller Rink.Chet Susslin | Staff Photographer 512339Leroy Gallo, 73, of Wood Dale skates onto the floor with Dee Brown, left, of Schiller Park and competitive skater Judy Wadas of Oak Lawn on a Wednesday night at Lombard Roller Rink.Chet Susslin | Staff Photographer