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Photo courtesy Ingrid Hunnewell
Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound Of Silence" topped the music charts, Adam West and Burt Ward made their television debut as Batman and Robin and President Lyndon Johnson gave his first State of the Union Address. These were the events that happened in the weeks leading up to the 1966 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, held at Iceland, the St. Moritz Ice Skating Club's rink, in Berkeley, California from January 26 to 29, 1966. Let's take a look back at all of the excitement!
Competition schedule. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.
THE NOVICE AND JUNIOR EVENTS
Left to right: Atoy Wilson, Barrett Brown and Gary Palmer and Jimmy Disbrow. Photos courtesy "Skating" magazine.
Torrey Sun of the Broadmoor Skating Club won the novice men's free skate, but hampered by poor scores in figures was unable to grab one of the top three spots. Atoy Wilson made history as the first skater of colour to claim a U.S. title, expanding on his lead in figures to win the event in a three-two split over Kenneth Shelley. The bronze medal went to Denver's Douglas Berndt. Benjamin T. Wright recalled, "Much of [Atoy Wilson's] success can be attributed to his mother, Thelma, a strong supporter of all skaters and especially those of colour, a loyal friend to those she chose to honor with her friendship and a 'pillar' of skating in Southern California, whose untimely death in 1994 was mourned by all who knew her."
Dawn Glab
Twelve-year-old Dawn Glab of Paramount, California moved up from second after figures to claim the novice women's title but had only one first-place ordinal. All three of the junior pairs medallists skated almost as impressively as the seniors, but the gold narrowly went to Betty Jean Lewis and Richard Gilbert of Boston.
Left: Dolly Rodenhaugh and Thomas Lescinski. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine Right: Janet Lynn in 1966.
In Silver Dance, Dolly Rodenhaugh and Thomas Lescinski of Pittsburgh defeated Barrett Brown and Gary Palmer in a three-two split of the judging panel. Sixteen-year-old John 'Misha' Petkevich of Great Falls, Montana defeated Jimmy Disbrow in another three-two judging panel split in the junior men's event. Though he fell early in his program, his dazzling free skating effort earned him unanimous first-place marks in that phase of the competition, as well as a standing ovation.
The junior women's podium. Photo courtesy "Peace And Love" by Janet Lynn.
Gail Newberry of the Broadmoor Skating Club held a slim lead over Janet Lynn after the school figures, but she was no match for Slavka Kohout's student when it was time for free skating. Lynn's winning performance included Axels in both directions and a triple Salchow. In her book "Peace And Love", Lynn recalled, "In the press room, a sportswriter told me I'd just won the junior national championship. I couldn't believe it. I burst into tears. It was such a surprise, because I'd been in competition for so many years already and never won a sectional title, let alone nationals... A judge, who must not have been watching too closely, stopped my dad in a hallway to say, 'Nice triple Axel your daughter did out there.'"
THE PAIRS COMPETITION
The retirement of Vivian and Ronald Joseph meant that a new pair would be walking away with the Henry Wainwright Howe Memorial Trophy in 1966. Only three pairs vied for the title, and Seattle's Cynthia and Ron Kauffman, who were students of Ron Ludington, led the event from start to finish. The five judges were all in agreement on the order of placement of all three pairs. The silver went to Susie Berens and Roy Wagelein and the bronze to Paige Paulsen and Larry Dusich. "Skating" magazine described the Kauffmans winning free skate thusly: "These two presented free and athletic movement without sacrificing unison and control, grace and beauty without sacrificing strength and speed. During the beautiful 'mirror' sequence, the audience was absolutely silent, breaking into applause and cheers at the thrilling split double twist to the knee."
THE ICE DANCE COMPETITION
Defending champions Kristin Fortune and Dennis Sveum stood atop the leaderboard after the compulsory dances - the American Waltz, Argentine Tango, Viennese Waltz and Kilian. The large field of twelve couples was whittled down to eight after the competition's initial round. Though Lorna Dyer and John Carrell offered Fortune and Sveum some stiff competition, they were unable to catch up to them in the free dance. Both of the top two teams used four different tempos in their programs and were coached by World Champion Jean Westwood. The bronze medal went to Buffalo's Susan and Stanley Urban.
Sandy Schwomeyer packing for the 1966 U.S. Championships. Photo courtesy Judy Sladky.
A young Judy Schwomeyer and James Sladky placed sixth in their first trip to Nationals, two spots behind her sister Sandy and her partner James Pennington. Judy Sladky recalled, "'66 was our very first. We got together on December 6th after I'd passed all of my tests. Jim's partner quit and my partner quit. We had skated a little bit of pairs in the summer and we really skated well together we thought. At that time, you didn't leave your partner. That was like a divorce. You did not do that! I said to Luddy, 'I quit! If people are going to be like this, I don't want to do it.' He said, 'Well, why don't you get your Gold Dances?' so I went out and took all four of them on the same day and passed them. As far as I know, it hadn't been done and if it had, it was a while ago and it certainly wasn't done by a fourteen-year-old girl. I said, 'Well, Luddy, why don't we see if Jim's available.' That was December and Easterns I think were in December too. Jim was in the midst of finals at Syracuse University so he sent me the dress from his old partner and wrote down the free dance on paper and I learned it from paper. He flew out after his finals and we skated maybe a week, two weeks and entered Easterns then Nationals."
THE WOMEN'S COMPETITION
On the road to her third U.S. title, seventeen-year-old Peggy Fleming won every school figure, including the paragraph loop which had been something of a personal nemesis. Her winning free skate included two clean double Axels.
Photo courtesy Ingrid Hunnewell
Sixteen-year-old silver medallist Tina Noyes landed a double Axel of her own in the free skate, which was in combination with a double loop. She also performed a novel one-foot Axel/one-foot double Salchow/double Salchow sequence. Pamela Schneider of the Skating Club Of New York hung on to claim the bronze medal, despite losing out in the free skate to Sharon Bates of the host St. Moritz Club.
THE MEN'S COMPETITION
Smoke Rise, New Jersey's Scotty Allen earned first place ordinals from three of the five judges in the school figures. However, his lead over Gary Visconti, who'd unseated him as U.S. Champion and defeated him at the North American Championships the year prior, was tenuous at best. In the free skate, Visconti fell early in his program but rebounded to skate the rest of his program cautiously but cleanly. Allen skated one of the best performances of his career, landing a triple Salchow and triple loop in addition to a host of double jumps. Though Allen managed to regain his national title from Visconti, it wasn't a 'runaway win' as again had only three first-place ordinals. Detroit's Tim Wood, who had been third after figures, disappointingly fell three times in his free skate. His errors allowed Billy Chapel of Colorado Springs to move up to third. Though Chapel fell on a double Axel, his energetic performance - which was heavy on showmanship - won over the crowd and earned him a standing ovation. Paul McGrath finished fifth, followed by Duane Maki, Richard Callaghan and Ronnie Frank.
Photo courtesy Ingrid Hunnewell
In his book "Falling For The Win", Gary Visconti recalled the competition thusly: "I was on the five-minute warm-up, the last group of five top male competitors. It was the most dreaded part of any competition for me, with the judges watching and the fans cheering every major move of their favorite skater. I had drawn second to last to perform; Scott Allen achieved the coveted spot of last. I remember my name announced and gliding out slowly to my starting position. It was calm now and there was dead silence. I looked up at the clock on the scoreboard and it was 12 midnight. I thought, I wish it was 12:05, and I would be finished. What a way to think! Well, that’s just how my performance went. I did not complete three of my major tricks, and each time I missed I had more 'juice,' more 'pizzazz,' more smiles, and more performance ... more audience connection. Funny how we try to wing it and cover up under pressure. It was a great performance, but one with too many errors. Scott won. Guess I gave it to him. It was a super life lesson for me and just what I needed! Second place felt like 20th place."
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