Bob Roberts (1917-1969), a nationally known baton twirler and former Los Angeles Rams drum major, made roller-skating baton twirling one of his specialties. Despite countless newspaper references to Roberts performing on skates, I have yet to find a photograph of him doing it — one of the frustrations of trying to piece together baton twirling history.
This is the original news clipping from which the photo to the left was restored using AI software. What the restoration provides in clarity it lacks in authenticity. AI has a long way to go before it gets the eyes and fingers correct. Baton twirling restorations are especially challenging because of fingers and batons.
Bob Roberts built a career around the baton that took him from Detroit band fields to wartime military shows, Hollywood parades, and a teaching program that trained thousands of young twirlers.
Born in Pennsylvania in 1917, Roberts studied music at Detroit’s Cass Institute of Technology, where he played clarinet and served as drum major. A 1944 newspaper profile traced the start of his twirling career to his time at the school.
Roberts soon expanded his performances beyond college venues, appearing with the Kay Kyser and Sammy Kaye bands. Representing the Ford Motor Co. band, he marched in American Legion national convention parades. He also developed a signature routine combining baton twirling with roller skating, though an exhaustive search yields no surviving photographs of him twirling on skates.
Enlisting in 1942, Roberts spent his military service performing for troops. One postwar report credited him with over 580 shows across two years overseas, with stops in India, Africa, Egypt, China, and Burma. Press coverage from the era regularly cited the Detroit serviceman as one of the country’s top twirlers.
Following the war, Roberts relocated to California. He performed as the drum major for the Los Angeles Rams and became a fixture in regional events, including the Tournament of Roses and Hollywood’s Santa Claus Lane Parade. Outside of performing, he worked as a Hollywood hairdresser; a 1949 newspaper photo documented him styling Japanese film star Kinuyo Tanaka during her U.S. visit.
In his later years, Roberts shifted his focus to instruction. After leading clinics nationwide, he launched a summer program at the University of Redlands in 1959. Attendance grew from 32 participants in its inaugural year to hundreds annually. By 1969, the program had trained more than 2,200 twirlers.
Roberts died of a heart attack in November 1969 at age 52. His wife, Valerie, took over management of the Roberts College of Baton and continued operating the Redlands program.
Bob Roberts and the Twirling Pipeline
When Bob Roberts brought his summer baton twirling clinic to the University of Redlands in 1959, 32 students signed up. A decade later, the campus hosted over 200 twirlers at a time. The shift speaks to both Roberts’ pull as a Director and the momentum building across California’s twirling community.
The Camp for Serious Twirlers
By the 1960s, Redlands had become a premier gathering place for serious twirlers and instructors. Newspaper accounts from the era reflect a rigorous curriculum: instruction in one-, two-, and three-baton, military and solo strutting, dance routines, flags, and precision drill work. Beginners trained alongside advanced twirlers, college-age instructors mentored younger athletes, and national champions regularly appeared on the faculty and in exhibitions. By Roberts’ final summer in 1969, the camp staff alone numbered around 30.
That growth offered an essential space for the sport’s ongoing evolution. The technical complexity of modern competitive twirling was forged through collective work. Skills were created, demonstrated, adapted, and refined in real time. Summer camps and clinics provided the vital ground where those ideas were shared and perfected.
7,000 Mile Teaching Tour
Roberts had long recognized the power of that shared environment. As early as 1950, press reports noted his return from a 7,000-mile teaching tour through Texas, Detroit, Chicago, and Kansas, alongside clinics at Pepperdine College and music camps across the region. At Redlands, that work scaled into a major institutional hub. Over 11 summers, Roberts directed 2,261 participants at the university.
Teaching Tree
Those numbers represent a profound teaching tree. Students who trained and taught at Redlands carried those methods into their own studios and programs. Their students, in turn, became coaches, building the technical foundation that sustained future national and world champions. While twirling’s institutional records don’t always track every step from mentor to student, the lineage flowing through Redlands is unmistakable.
Remarkable Resume
Roberts brought a remarkably broad background to the campus. A former competitive twirler and drum major in Detroit, he had performed with major touring bands, entertained troops during World War II, twirled on roller skates, and served as drum major for the Los Angeles Rams, with appearances in the Rose Parade and Hollywood’s Santa Claus Lane Parade.
Following his unexpected passing in 1969 at age 52, his wife, Valerie, maintained that momentum. Continuing through the Roberts College of Baton, she sustained the Redlands program. Reports noted her supervising around 2,000 young participants each summer, and expanded the framework into Colorado.
Research into Bob Roberts, his students and his influence on subsequent generations of baton twirlers is ongoing. If anyone has any information to assist in highlighting his or Valerie’s contributions to baton twirling please leave a comment or send us an email. Thank you!
