ATOY WILSON
Photo courtesy Oklahoma Historical Society
Photo courtesy Detroit Public Library
Atoy's first competition win was in 1963, when he claimed the Southwest Pacific juvenile men's title. In Lake Placid in 1965, he became the first skater of colour to compete and medal in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, taking the silver medal in the novice men's event. The following year at the age of fourteen, he became the first person of colour to win a U.S. title at any level, claiming the gold medal in the novice men's event at the U.S. Championships in Berkeley, California. In 1969, he became the first person of colour to pass the USFSA's Eighth Figure Test. Following in the footsteps of his famous first coach, he later joined the professional ranks, touring with Ice Follies and Holiday On Ice as the first person of colour to hold a principal role in a touring ice show. His travels often took him to cities in the deep south teeming with profound racism. In 1973, Wilson made history yet again by becoming the first person of colour to compete in a professional competition: the 1973 World Professional Championships in Tokyo, Japan.
LESLIE ROBINSON
Like Atoy Wilson, Leslie Robinson got his start at The Polar Palace and was coached by Mabel Fairbanks. Ever supportive, Mabel helped Leslie get his first audition in the professional ranks. He went on to skate with a show in Las Vegas and in Holiday On Ice.
MICHELLE MCCLADDIE AND RICHARD EWELL III
Michelle McCladdie and Richard Ewell III's rise to prominence in the early seventies almost eerily mirrored the story of Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner. Like Tai and Randy, McCladdie and Ewell got their start at the Culver City Ice Arena, were paired by Mabel Fairbanks and went on to be coached to the medal podium at the U.S. Championships by Mr. John Nicks. While skating, Michelle studied sociology at Pepperdine University; Richard history at West Los Angeles Junior College. Both of their fathers worked for the U.S. Postal Service.
Michelle had blonde hair and green eyes and admitted that she surprised everyone but Richard when she announced her ethnicity. "My looks contradict my origins," she laughed in a November 1972 interview for "Ebony" magazine. "But then, black comes in many different shades and I'm proud of it. Maybe it'll bury a few stereotypes."
REGGIE STANLEY
The only non-Californian of the bunch, Reggie Stanley of Philadelphia got his start on the ice at the age of nine. In an interview in the February 1977 issue of "Boys' Life" magazine, he recalled, "I liked it right away, even though I was falling all over the rink. It wasn't one of those storybook things, where the guy gets out there and boom! He's jumping and spinning like a pro. But it really got to me - the feeling of the ice under my blades like I was skimming under glass... My skating improved over the next two years, and when I was 11 I started taking lessons and practicing seriously. The lessons and practice weren't much fun. I kept wishing the sport would just be skating the way you felt inside. But I saw that there was a lot more to it than I could teach myself, and I definitely wanted to get better. I also wanted to compete - and win."
JOAN CAMPBELL
Hailing from Carson, California and representing the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club, Joan Campbell became the first person of colour to win a woman's title at the U.S. Championships in 1980, when she bested another African American skater, Debi Thomas, for the novice women's crown. Joan's strength was school figures.
BOBBY BEAUCHAMP
While competing, Bobby worked at Robinson's Department Store in Costa Mesa, selling imported Waterford crystal decanters to housewives. Quoted in the "Kansas City Star" on February 1, 1985, Beauchamp lamented, "The LA Times has never done an article on me. But I've even tried to interest 'Ebony' magazine in my story several times, but they have no interest. Sometimes it makes me want to scream in their faces, but I know it is best to keep doing the best I can and forget it. There also is no interest, no encouragement, from the black community. We get much more support from our skating family than anyplace else."
DEBI THOMAS
When Debi Thomas was growing up in San Jose, California, her mother Janice put her in flute, piano and trumpet lessons, ballet and gymnastics, but figure skating proved to be her true love. Showing promise, she eventually started working with British coach Alex McGowan at the Redwood City Ice Arena while driving ninety miles every day to attend classes at San Mateo High School. At the age of thirteen in 1980, she won the Central Pacific Regionals and placed second in the novice women's event. In the years that followed, she made history time and time again. Winning the 1983 International Sugar Criterium in Tours, France, she became the first person of colour to ever win an international figure skating competition. In the years that followed, she became the first person of colour to win a U.S. women's title, a World women's title, an Olympic medal and a World Professional women's title. Quoted in the "Kansas City Star" on February 1, 1985, her coach Alex McGowan remarked, "Debi is actually much better known internationally than at home. In France she is known as La Perle Noire, The Black Pearl. Here, we are pretty much ignored."
BRUNO JERRY
The son of Roosevelt and Gloria Jerry, Bruno Mellin Jerry was born October 6, 1957 at Holliman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, New Mexico. As a boy, he was educated at a military school in Germany, where his father was stationed as an officer. The family later settled in Baltimore, Maryland, where his mother found work as a medical records librarian. He attended the Ralph Young School run by Jesuits and the Lake Clifton High School.
Bruno first skated when he was in the fourth grade after attending an Ice Follies show with his classmates but didn't take up the sport seriously until he was sixteen. He was the only skater of colour at the rink where he trained and didn't receive his first lesson until he was fourteen. His first coach, at the Orchard Rink in Towson, was Gail Roeper. Prior to taking up skating, he was on his high school's varsity wrestling team. His wrestling coach didn't even know he skated until he read about it in the paper. Bruno later recalled, "My coach at the Baltimore Skating Club told me I had to concentrate on skating - I really wanted to be good enough to perform in a show - or I'd be wasting my time. Not many kids knew I skated, because I did it all away from school. I told the wrestling coach I was quitting the team, but I didn't tell him why. I didn't think he'd be too wild about losing one of his wrestlers to a non-school activity like figure skating. I just felt he wouldn't understand."
After graduating from high school, Bruno attended the Brandywine College in Wilmington, Delaware, where he was able to continue skating. His coaches there were Diane Agle and Ron Ludington. He passed his USFSA Gold tests in figures, free skating and dance and competed at the South Atlantic, Eastern and U.S. Championships in the mid seventies. In 1976, he won the junior men's event at the South Atlantic Regional Championships and finished eighth in junior men's at the U.S. Championships. The following season, he placed second in the Eastern Championships in New York.
In an interview with "The News Journal" on December 17, 1981, Bruno remarked, "There aren't many black figure skaters, but maybe those of us who are in it will encourage others. I know the expense of getting into skating is a discouraging factor. Prejudice? I don't think so - no more than any other sport. I know there were blacks I competed with who used prejudice as an excuse when they didn't do well. That never entered my mind. If I didn't do well, it was me, just me. Besides, win or lose, it was fun."
Bruno's love of skating led to interrupt his education and turn professional in 1978. He toured as a principal skater with the Ice Follies, Walt Disney's World On Ice and Dorothy Hamill's Fantasy On Ice in the eighties. In 1987, he appeared in a show at the Kennedy Center Opera House with Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner and Scott Hamilton. Known for his huge jumps and jazzy style, Bruno was popular with not only audiences but fellow skaters and dancers as well. Legendary choreographer, dancer and activist Alvin Ailey was a fan of his.
