Dancing on wheels: Collinsville roller skaters waltz and tango their way through life

Many a middle-school student has found romance on the roller rink, but Ken and Clare Watts were adults with children of their own when the sport brought them together.

They still practice at Rollercade in South St. Louis, where they met 33 years ago, as well as the Edwardsville YMCA Meyer Center. They have won dozens of medals and trophies for dance roller skating.

“We got married on a Saturday night and competed in a competition on Sunday morning,” said Ken, 59, of Collinsville, a former firefighter and heating and air conditioning salesman who now delivers medical supplies.

The Wattses were sitting in a booth at Rollercade’s snack bar, wearing matching green-velvet outfits with crystal accents. Ken couldn’t skate that night because of a bulging disc (he fell on ice at work), but Clare made a few rounds on her own.

The pop songs played for youngsters at most rinks aren’t ideal, but the couple make due. Competitions feature organ music for waltzes, foxtrots or tangos.

“It’s like ballroom dancing on skates,” said Clare, 71, a part-time bank teller with red hair and a bright smile.

“We definitely look like ducks out of water out there with everyone else, but that’s OK,” said Ken, a balding man with a closely shaven beard.

In 1990, the Wattses earned their highest award as a team. They made the finals in artistic compulsory dance at the Roller Skating Association national championships in Pensacola, Fla., placing fifth in a field of more than 25.

As recent as four years ago, Clare placed third in the golden division (65 and older) of ladies figure skating at the national championships in Fort Wayne, Ind.

As a young girl in Maryville, Clare roller-skated on the sidewalk before taking lessons at the old Moonlight Roller Rink. Her first husband also was a skating enthusiast.

“The joke is that before my mom took me home (from the hospital), she went by the roller rink first to show me off,” said son Brian Ruth, 46, of Collinsville, a college student and picture framer.

Ken also caught the skating bug early. By 17, he was working as a Rollercade floor guard. Both he and Clare eventually got into dance.

In 1982, Ken needed a new partner for his silver-medal proficiency test, and a St. Louis pro suggested Clare, a widow by that time. Within months, they were entering competitions together.

“We went to our first regional championship (in Lincoln, Neb.) in June of 1983, and we won,” Ken said. “That was unusual because there were a lot more skaters than there are today, and we hadn’t been skating that long.”

The Wattses clearly remember their first date on Oct. 20, 1982. They practiced at Rollercade, then ate at Pizza Hut, where they watched the St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series on TV.

Ken taught dance roller skating when the couple lived in Tulsa, Okla., for eight years. Clare hit the rink until she was five months pregnant with daughter Samantha, now 31, of New York City.

Ken and Clare have a total of five children in their blended family (Samantha is the only one who skates as an adult) and two grandchildren.

“Roller skating was our family sport,” Brian said. “We went to competitions all the time. Instead of being a soccer mom, my mom was a roller-skating mom.

“My late father used to skate with us. Mom met both of her husbands at the roller rink. But (Mom and Dad) didn’t compete nearly as much as Mom and Ken do. They really upped their game.”

The Wattses have slowed down a bit in recent years. They used to practice 20 to 25 hours a week and enter 10 or 15 local, regional or national competitions a year all over the country.

Sometimes they got up at 6 in the morning, drove to a Milwaukee, Wis., roller rink to practice and returned home that evening.

“(The rink) had a live organ player who would play dance music for a three-hour session one Sunday a month,” Ken said. “It was a lot of fun.”

Today, Ken and Clare practice 20 to 25 hours a month and enter four or five competitions a year, mostly in the Midwest.

As a team, they compete in the veterans division (55 and older) of artistic compulsory dance. Ken falls in the same division for solo and figures.

“Ken and I just skate forward,” Clare said. “We used to skate backwards with one foot, but we don’t do that anymore. When you’re older, you have to be careful.”

In 40 years, Ken has broken his wrist, shoulder, elbow and four fingers while roller skating. Falls affecting a navicular bone (in the foot) put him in a cast twice in one year. Clare has broken her nose and cracked a kneecap.

Injuries aside, the Wattses see roller skating as a great lifetime hobby that keeps them in good shape, maintaining core strength and lung capacity. And it’s fun.

“I loved skating as a kid, and I still love it,” Clare said. “It’s not something everyone can do. I put in a lot of years learning how to do it, and I just don’t want to lose it until I have to.”

“When they put the music on, something goes through you,” Ken said. “You just gotta dance.”

This story was originally published April 10, 2015 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Dancing on wheels: Collinsville roller skaters waltz and tango their way through life."