Marjorie Clair Louise Theresa Brasuhn Monte (January 27, 1923 – 9 August 1971), known as Midge "Toughie" Brasuhn, was a

roller derby Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played on an oval track by two teams of five skaters. It is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leaguesA Roller Derby league is synonymous with an individual club or team in other team sports, as ...

skater. Born in

St Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

, to a

German-American German Americans (, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. According to the United States Census Bureau's figures from 2022, German Americans make up roughly 41 million people in the US, which is approximately 12% of the pop ...

family, Brasuhn acquired the nickname "Midge" as a child by virtue of her height - only 4'11".Herb Michelson, ''A Very Simple Game'' She joined the roller derby in 1941, in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

,"Roller Derby Star Dies", '' Daily Herald'', August 25, 1971, section 2, page 1 and soon married Ken Monte, a fellow skater. Brasuhn rose to fame in the late 1940s with a billboard campaign showing her with green dye on her face asking the question "Who Is Toughie?" She regularly competed against Gerry Murray, sometimes on a one-to-one basis,'Toughie' and Gerry in Half-Mile Match Contest
, ''

Miami News ''The Miami News'' was an evening newspaper in Miami, Florida. It was the media market competitor to the morning edition of the ''Miami Herald'' for most of the 20th century. The paper started publishing in May 1896 as a weekly called ''The Miami ...

'', February 16, 1950 and in 1949 took a leading role in the film '' Roller Derby Girl''. In 1950, she was voted one of the ten leading sportswomen by the Sportswriters of America, and she became the captain of the Brooklyn Red Devils. She was known for her aggressive play, and would sometimes knee her opponents in the jaw. Brasuhn retired from competition in 1962, and was subsequently inducted into the

Roller Derby Hall of Fame The Roller Derby Hall of Fame, also known as the National Roller Derby Hall of Fame, was founded in 1952,William H. Young and Nancy K. Young, ''World War II and the Postwar Years in America'', p.596 by the editors of the ''Roller Derby News'' paper. ...

.Keith Coppage, ''Roller Derby to RollerJam'', p.122 In the mid-1960s, she briefly skated with the rival Roller Games, before moving with her son to

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

, where she died unexpectedly in 1971.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brasuhn, Toughie 1923 births 1971 deaths Sportspeople from St. Louis Roller derby skaters American people of German descent