You may have never actually seen Fritz Blaw in person. And if you have, he may have been a blur, because he is usually on wheels. You have most certainly encountered his handiwork, however, most notably as the “Rollerblading poster guy.” His Motorblade Postering Service wallpapers Austin with fliers, posters, and handbills for a wide variety of events and services happening around town.
Fritz has as his postering route most of Austin’s remaining legal outlets for street-level advertising. His business began when he was distributing posters for area dance performances, of which he was a part. Upon seeing fellow dancer Jimmy Turner of American Deaf Dancing Company in the streets, “just cruising in traffic with almost no gear,” Fritz was inspired to get his first pair of skates, and later, to use them as a tool for poster distribution.
“I had about eight different jobs already: Terra Toys at Christmas, baking cookies for Magnolia [Cafe], substitute teaching, child care … and this postering thing just started to snowball. It made more and more money every month.”
As time goes by, his love for skating, as well as his mountains of skates and accessories, have continued to grow. “Yeah, I had all these piles of sweaty gear, and my wife was getting pretty tired of all my stuff invading our lives, so I bought a truck.” It is from here that he now teaches his classes. Fritz has gone on to become a certified International Inline Skating Association instructor with a private school endorsed by Rollerblade. Becoming an in-line instructor has allowed him to fuse several of the elements of his life that he loves all into one.
“I have a teaching degree, and I love teaching, but what I always hated was having a set curriculum, all these administrators and teachers scrutinizing everything. You get to be so creative as a skating teacher.” His enthusiasm is infectious and gathers momentum as he continues, “I mean, I’ve taught everything, I’ve even taught the big-bang theory on skates, getting kids to be the molecules, and showing them how the universe started.”
For every lesson that he teaches, be it hockey, freestyle, or physics, he has the skates to match. Whether your interest lies in racing, hockey, or even off-road, Fritz has a pair of skates to fit, buried somewhere in the back of his skate truck, along with ramps, hockey sticks, goals, and scooters.
As much as he promotes skating for a living, he laments not having more time to lobby the city for skate resources. “The hardest part about talking to people about skating in Austin, is having a law that states you must be on the sidewalk” unless of course you are downtown, where skating is prohibited altogether. “You can’t skate on UT or state property, and private property has private security,” he adds.
“There are so many cities, so many places that have beautiful skate paths: Houston, Arlington … We’re so far behind; here we are a college town, and one of the most liberal cities in Texas, you would think we would have good skate paths.
“As often as there’s a tennis court, or a basketball court, there should be a hockey rink, with new pavement and fences for kids to play hockey.”
Fritz is still hopeful, however, and continues to find venues for his classes. His annual Kids Inline Skate camp is held at the Austin Recreation Center, which features a small skate park, and his courses taught through the Texas Union are held on campus.
Spend any time around Fritz and it’s easy to see that the 10-plus years he has spent on wheels, as both skating instructor and unofficial symbol of Austin’s in-line community, have filled him with enthusiasm and a wonderful ability to be, teach, and create fun.
“You know,” he says grinning, “there’s almost no way to have a drag with a bunch of people on skates.”
Moterblade Postering Service can be contacted for postering services, and Fritz Blaw can be reached for group or private lessons at motorblade@aol.com or 323-5457. The 10th annual Kids Inline Skate camp will be held at the Austin Recreation Center, June 11-15 & 25-29, and July 9-13 & 23-27.
This article appears in May 11 • 2001.