King Of Coaches: The Pepi Weiß-Pfändler Story

 "Without him we wouldn't have a [winner]. The Vienna School owes him a lot." - "Neue Freie Presse", February 25, 1927

Josef 'Pepi' Weiß-Pfändler was born in Vienna, Austria in 1880. He first took to the ice at the Cottage Eislaufverein at the age of eleven. Two years later, he began skating at Eduard Engelmann's rink in Hernals and in 1896, he joined the Training-Eis-Klub. That same winter, he entered his first speed skating competition on the frozen Danube river, winning a five hundred meter race, backwards skating race and obstacle course. His successes as a speed skater continued through the Edwardian era. In 1913, he won his last five hundred and fifteen hundred meter races and was awarded the Pollak-Parnegg-Preis.

It wasn't until the age of thirty three, when he retired from speed skating, that Pepi started seriously pursuing speed skating. He started training for the 1914 European Championships, which were to be held in Vienna, but was talked out of it by the Österreichischer Eislauf-Verband's future President Hans Pfeiffer, who felt he could best serve the sport as an instructor. After one winter teaching at the Engelmann rink just before the Great War, he took a position as the head trainer at the prestigious Wiener Eislaufverein. 

Top: Pepi Weiß-Pfändler and Fritzi Burger. Bottom: Ludwig Wrede, Herma Szabo, Pepi Weiß-Pfändler and Willy Böckl.

From the early twentieth century until World War II, Austrian skaters dominated the international figure skating scene, bringing home dozens of medals at the European and World Championships... and Pepi had a hand in coaching nearly all of them. Over the years, he was the trainer of no less than thirteen Olympic Medallists: Karl Schäfer, Herma Szabo and Ludwig Wrede, Willy Böckl, Helene Engelmann and Alfred Berger, Fritzi Burger, Lilly Scholz and Otto Kaiser, Melitta Brunner, Felix Kaspar and Ilse and Erik Pausin. At one point or another, he also gave lessons to a fourteenth Olympic Gold Medallist, Sonja Henie.

Pepi Weiß-Pfändler and Fritzi Burger

After the Great War, Pepi worked with several pre-War champion skaters, including World Champions Gilbert Fuchs and Fritz Kachler and European Champion Ernst Herz. His other students included Karl Mejstrik, Idi Papez and Karl Zwack, Hilde Holovsky, Paula Zalaudek, Grete Lainer, Hedy Stenuf, Hanne Niernberger, Erich Erdös, Ilse Hornung, Liselotte Landbeck, Gisela Reichmann, Dr. Hugo Distler, Herbert Alward, Emil and Herta Ratzenhofer, Otto Preißecker and Ernst Oppacher. Skaters that Pepi taught won over eighty medals at the World Championships - a record that no modern coach can come to close to touching. It's important to recognize that the coach/skater relationships in Pepi's day weren't the same as today. There was no coach travelling to every competition, sitting in a kiss n' cry area and holding their skate guards. They were largely self-sufficient, but the intermittent lessons they had with their trainers in between these competitions played a very important role in their development.

In an interview with Harrington E. Crissey Jr. for "The Journal of the Figure Skating Historical Society" in 1994, Melitta Brunner recalled, "Weisz was paid a salary by the Wiener Eislauf Verein rather than having his students pay him. He wouldn't just take anyone under his wing; he would send out talent scouts on the rink - it was a very large rink, one of the biggest in Europe. The scouts, who were skaters who taught the general public, would comb the rink for children with ability. These children were taken to a special portion of the rink for training on a two-week trial basis. If Weisz didn't feel the chid merited instruction, he or she would be let go. That's how Vienna became so well known for its skating instruction. People from all over the world studied at the Wiener Eislauf Verein. One day, right after the Chamonix Olympics of 1924, a young girl showed up to have lessons with Pepi Weisz. When I asked who the girl was, I learned she had skated in the Olympics and finished last. I thought she looked very good. It was Sonja Henie. Wilhelm Henie, Sonja's father, was a top Norwegian fur merchant and a smart guy. When the 1924 Olympics ended, he asked where Herma Szabo, the gold medalist, had trained and found that she studied with Weisz at the Wiener Eislauf Verein; so he headed there and stayed at the Imperial Hotel. He used Sonja to help his business by dressing her up in a mink coat and fur hats and while Sonja had daily lessons from Weisz for a month, Papa Henie took orders from Viennese fur merchants."

Lilly Weiller, Pepi Weiß-Pfändler, Fritzi Burger, Ilse Hornung and Edith Hecht

The skaters that listened to Pepi clearly succeeded, and unfortunately one skater who didn't paid the ultimate price. In November of 1934, Pepi expressly forbade a twenty-three year old ice clown named Oskar Loschitz from practicing a somersault on the ice. Oskar waited until Pepi wasn't around, tried it anyway and smashed his head. He was taken to the hospital and died of cerebral bleeding not long after.

The Eislaufstlefel, a brand of skating boots endorsed by Pepi in the thirties

Pepi's talents extended far beyond figure and speed skating. He also worked with Vienna's hockey teams and speed skaters and enjoyed playing bandy, hunting, skiing, cycling, fencing, boxing and wrestling. He was a member of the Danube rowing team and by all accounts, and excellent marksman. His greatest love, however, was music. For over thirty years, he played the cornet and flugelhorn with the Wiener Volksoper orchestra.

In 1934, Pepi was honoured by the Wiener Eislaufverein for his twenty years of service, "care and tireless zeal". He retired a few years later, leaving the club's skaters in the hands of Gustav Hügel and Anton Steiner. He passed away after a long illness on May 25, 1939 at the age of fifty-nine. Two months before his death, Vienna's Vice-Mayor presented him with a certificate on behalf of the city, noting his contribution to skating in Austria. Sadly, since his death, his contributions to the sport have gone almost completely unnoticed... and he's yet to have been inducted to the World Figure Skating Hall Of Fame.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

The 1933 World Figure Skating Championships

Sonja Henie receiving an award in Stockholm. Photo courtesy National Archives of Poland.

The year was 1933. Ulrich Salchow was the President of the International Skating Union, everyone was humming along to Saul Chaplin and Sammy Cahn's hit song "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" and the world marvelled at two exciting new convenience food products: Skippy Churned Peanut Butter and Kraft Miracle Whip Dressing. That February, a who's who of the figure skating world convened in two of the burgeoning sport's biggest 'power countries' to decide the 1933 World Figure Skating Championships. The women's and pairs competitions were organized by Salchow's home club - the Stockholms Allmanna Skridskoklubb - and held on February 11 and 12, 1933.

The Swedish organizers spared no expense, concluding the event with a lavish banquet at the Grand Hôtel Royal every single competitor and judge received souvenirs and prizes. Held the week after the Swiss Winter Sports Week in Zürich, the men's event at the Doldier Stadion was held with much less fanfare. One of the more interesting footnotes from this events was the fact that professional skater Phil Taylor - Megan Taylor's father, entertained the Swedes with an exhibition... a rarity in an ISU sanctioned competition in a period where the strict rules of amateurism were constantly espoused. Hop in the time machine as we take a brief look back at the stories and scandals from this competition of yesteryear!

THE PAIRS COMPETITION

Photo of Stockholm venue. Courtesy National Archives of Poland.

The most interesting story surrounding the pairs competition at the 1933 World Championships had more to do with who didn't attend than who did. Former Olympic Gold Medallist and World Champion Lilly Gaillard (Scholz) was one of the most decorated pairs skaters of her era and had won an incredible five consecutive medals with her first partner, Otto Kaiser, in the twenties. Her new partner Willy Petter caused quite a stir in the Austrian press at the time by announcing that the duo would not attend the World Championships. Frustrated by their loss at the 1933 European Championships in London, Petter was clear that the reason that he and Gaillard declined an invitation to Stockholm was because they felt the judges had shown clear bias towards the other top Austrian pair of the time, Idi Papez and Karl Zwack.

Idi Papez and Karl Zwack. Photo courtesy National Archives of Poland.

Though only five teams ultimately vied for the pairs title that year, the event was really a two-way battle between Papez and Zwack and the Hungarians, Emília Rotter and László Szollás. Swedish skating historian Gunnar Bang recalled that Rotter and Szollás "lift and small 'step' always goes 'home' among the general public... The battle against Papez and Zwack of Vienna was hard and even, as the latter had many small, clever combinations and a very funny little pirouette, which later became their speciality." In an extremely close three-two split of the judging panel, the Hungarians narrowly edged the Austrians for the title.

Randi Bakke and Christen Christensen. Photo courtesy Nasjonalbiblioteket.

Norway's Randi Bakke and Christen Christensen edged two Swedish teams for the bronze. Their medal win was Norway's first in pairs skating at the World Championships in ten years.

THE WOMEN'S COMPETITION

The nine competitors in the women's event at the 1933 World Championships in Stockholm. Photo courtesy Bildarchiv Austria.

If there was one central theme to the women's event in 1933, it was youth. At twenty, two time Olympic Gold Medallist and heavy favourite Sonja Henie was one of the 'elder stateswomen' of the field. She faced significant challenges from twelve year old Megan Taylor, thirteen year old Cecilia Colledge and fifteen Hilde Holovsky... but then again, she was Sonja Henie. The "Sport Tagblatt" praised the efforts of both Taylor and Colledge in the school figures highly, noting that Megan was "surprisingly good" and "really had no weak sides" and saying Cecilia was a "pure" skater who always had correct tracings.

Hilde Holovsky (left); Cecilia Colledge in Stockholm (right). Photos courtesy Anno, National Archives of Poland.

The same newspaper described Henie as "more masculine, with a great swing." After the figures, Henie led with two hundred and fifteen points to Sweden's Vivi-Anne Hultén's two hundred and two. Taylor was third, Colledge fourth, Holovsky fifth and Belgium's Liselotte Landbeck sixth.

Vivi-Anne Hultén skating her figures. Photo courtesy National Archives of Poland.

Between twenty and twenty five thousand spectators turned out at the outdoor stadium in Stockholm to watch the women's free skate, with many more sent home at the turnstiles as there simply wasn't any more room. In dramatic fashion, Henie drew the 'unlucky' first position in the starting order. Of the thirty dresses she packed, she chose a red one. Starting out very strong, the dominant Norwegian almost fell near the end of her program. When Hultén took the ice in a white dress, one Swedish journalist had all the ammo they needed to pen an article which Gunnar Bang later described as "cruel" casting Hultén as the angel and Henie as the devil. However, the real star of the evening was young Hilde Holovsky. Her brilliant performance was lauded by the Swedish press, who said she was in "a class by herself". The Austrian press claimed that Henie herself admitted that the young Austrian had outskated her. One brave judge, Austria's Otto Bohatsch, even dared to place Holovsky ahead of Henie in the free skate. In the end, Henie won yet another World title, Hultén narrowly edged Holovsky for the bronze and the two talented young Britons Taylor and Colledge placed fourth and fifth. When Henie returned to Oslo days after the event, some fifteen thousand well-wishers gathered in a throng hoping to catch a glimpse of the young starlet.

Sonja Henie in Stockholm. Photo courtesy Bibliothèque nationale de France.

THE MEN'S COMPETITION

Karl Schäfer

Unlike the dramatic pairs and women's competitions, the 1933 men's event was about as anti-climactic as a restaurant that only serves wine by the glass and not the carafe or bottle. As much as the Austrian press tried to point out the fact that their 'number two' man Erich Erdös had made great improvements as of late and might give Karl Schäfer a run for his money, everyone knew Schäfer was the man to beat and that unless he made uncharacteristic errors, it would next to impossible for anyone to do so.

With outstanding performances in both the school figures and free skate, Schäfer easily won his fourth consecutive World title with first place ordinals from all five judges in both phases of the competition. Similarly, Germany's Ernst Baier - who Gunnar Bang noted had "progressed extremely in the last year" was a solid second on all but one judge's scorecard. 

Ernst Baier. Photo courtesy Bibliothèque nationale de France.

The battles between the skaters that followed were perhaps the most interesting. Markus Nikkanen and Erich Erdös (third and fourth place) and Herbert Haertel and Edi Scholdan (fifth and sixth place) tied in ordinal placings, with the point totals determining the result in both cases to the detriment of both Austrian skaters. In a case of blatant national bias, French judge Charles Sabouret stood alone in placing his country's own entry, Jean Henrion, sixth when no other judge had him higher than last or second to last place.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

The 1954 European Figure Skating Championships

Photo courtesy Muzeo Collezione Salce

The year was 1954 and from January 29 to 31, seventy-four talented skaters from ten countries gathered in the city of Bolzano, nestled in the Tyrolean Mountains, to compete in the European Figure Skating Championships. Organized by the Federazione Italiana Sport del Ghiaccio in conjunction with the Societa Polisportiva Alto Adige, the event was only the third ISU Championship to be held in Italy. It was held at the Palazzo del Ghiaccio di Bolzano, which only opened the November prior. Let's take a little trip back through time and explore the stories and skaters that shaped this event!

THE WOMEN'S COMPETITION

With a whopping twenty two entries, the women's event in Bolzano was by far the most time consuming. Valda Osborn, the defending European Champion, had turned professional and the runner-up in 1953, Germany's Gundi Busch, was considered a heavy favourite. Eighteen year old Busch unanimously won the school figures by quite a wide margin, but not everyone was entirely impressed. In "Skating World" magazine, Captain T.D. Richardson wrote, "There are many who will assert that her methods in the school are to say the least unorthodox - and I must admit that once or twice I wondered how the resultant tracings on the ice could possibly justify the marks she received. That they did satisfy the judges, however, was obvious by the commanding lead she received."

Erica Batchelor. Right photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine.

In the free skate, Erica Batchelor (the bronze medallist in 1953) gave perhaps the cleanest performance. Her teammate, fourteen year old Yvonne Sugden, arguably delivered the most difficult. Gundi Busch took a nasty fall on a double flip and went on to make several other small errors. The judges seemingly overlooked this, placing her decisively first anyway. The Swiss judged tied Erica Batchelor with Gundi Busch in free skating; British judge Mollie Phillips had Busch tied with Yvonne Sugden. The rest of the judges were all over the place. Two judges had Austria's Annelies Schilhan second; another had her in a tie for tenth. Nelly Maas, a promising young Dutch skater, had marks ranging from second to seventh and the third British entry, Brighton's Clema 'Winkie' Cowley, was placed fourth by the Swiss judge... and sixteenth by the Italian. When the marks were tallied, Gundi Busch came out on top - making history as the first German to win the European women's title. The silver went to Erica Batchelor; the bronze to Yvonne Sugden. In nineteenth place was another young talented young Dutch skater - Sjoukje Dijkstra.

THE MEN'S COMPETITION

The previous year in Dortmund, Carlo Fassi had made history as the first Italian skater to win the European title. His superb school figures in Bolzano earned him first place marks from all but the Czechoslovakian judge, who had Karol Divín in first place. While Fassi was widely praised for his precision in the figures, the young Frenchman in second Alain Giletti was not. Captain T.D. Richardson wrote, "I thought his school was definitely over-marked. Looking down from the balcony, for example, onto the three-change-three, I, with a number of others thought that most of the 'lines in' were on the flat. And I detest 'double tracking' - a heinous fault of which no one could accuse our British skaters, or those trained in Britain either - although it was much in evidence amongst many of the others. In this regard I kept wondering what the ex-professional teacher [Werner] Rittberger must have thought of this - for he was on the ice as an official most of the time. I know what his brother professionals, off the ice, thought."

If some of the judges might have had misgivings about Alain Giletti's figures, they didn't about his free skating. Five out of the seven judges had him in first. The Italian judge had Carlo Fassi first and Giletti fourth. The Swiss judge had Karol Divín first and Giletti and Fassi tied for second. Both Giletti and Fassi skated extremely well, but Karol Divín missed several jumps. When the marks were tallied, Fassi repeated as European Champion with Giletti second and Divín third. Only three points separated the top two skaters.

The Swiss judge who placed Karol Divín first faced jeers from the audience. Some questioned how even medalled at all, because his figures weren't particularly outstanding as compared to sixteen year old Michael Booker, who placed fourth. He earned the bronze based on his ordinal placings; Booker had more points. Alain Calmat, who placed fifth, had his trip to Bolzano paid for by World Champion Jacqueline du Bief. She donated all proceeds from an exhibition given at the Palais de Glace in Paris to pay for his travel expenses to Europeans and Worlds.

THE ICE DANCE COMPETITION

Jean Westwood and Lawrence Demmy. Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine.

Twelve couples entered the first ever European Championships in ice dance. Defending World Champions Jean Westwood and Lawrence Demmy took a decisive lead in the compulsory dances, to no one's surprise whatsoever.

A last-minute schedule change just before the free dance made for utter chaos for judges and skaters alike. Cyril Beastall recalled, "There [also] appears to have been some confusion in the arrangements for dance and pair skating at Bolzano, causing upset among the competitors. We are not disputing the advertised right of the authorities to change the programme, but at the same time the competitions should be run for the skaters? The draw, originally, for dance and pairs was scheduled for 8 p.m., and the pair skating was advertised to take place at 9 p.m. After waiting twenty minutes, the pairs left for the rink, to change and be ready for the run round. It was only at 8:25 that the VIP's appeared, and then announced that the dancing would be first at 9 p.m., followed by the pairs. Experience should have indicated that this would result in considerable confusion. At the rink, some of the dancers were ready and some were not. We were sorry to hear from Mme. Meudec's experience - after being told the same afternoon that no change of programme was contemplated, she arrived in good time, as she thought only to be sent away because the competition had started! Hardly efficient or courteous by ordinary standards?" Mme. Henri Meudec, the French judge who had judged the compulsory dances, was replaced in the free dance by an Italian judge.

Jean Westwood and Lawrence Demmy earned unanimous first place marks in the free dance to easily win the first European dance title over their teammates Nesta Davies and Paul Thomas and Barbara 'Bunty' Radford and Raymond Lockwood. It was the first of many British medal sweeps in dance at Europeans. The Italian, Austrian and French teams ranked fourth through sixth were only separated by two ordinal placings. Bona Giammona and Giancarlo Sioli, the Italians who came fourth to the delight of the Bolzano crowd, moved all the way up from seventh after compulsories - but received tenth place marks from the Austrian judge.

Captain T.D. Richardson couldn't help but rave about Jean Westwood and Lawrence Demmy's winning performance. He remarked, "They are excellent in the compulsory dances; but it is in the free that they are outstanding. To start with, their programme bears a mark of genius in its general arrangement and in the skill with which it enables the man to show off the lady. In this regard it much resembles the ballet wherein, in a pas de deux it is left to a great degree to the ballerina to perform the main dancing and to the male dancer to present her. I think that this feature, which some ardent skaters might consider a fault, would be noticeable only to the expert. The value of a programme of this character must be left to the technicians - few indeed in number - to assess... It was by its faultless precision a thing to wonder and rejoice at. For myself, I will travel a long way to see its like again."

THE PAIRS COMPETITION

The absence of the top two pairs teams from the 1953 European Championships paved the way for one of the closest contests ever at Europeans in Bolzano. Austria's Sissy Schwarz and Kurt Oppelt had the most points and fewest ordinal placings, but the judging panel was split three-two in favour of Switzerland's Silvia and Michel Grandjean, with the German, British and Swiss judges voting for the Grandjean's and the Austrian and Czechoslovakian judges voting for Schwarz and Oppelt. The Grandjean's victory was the very first gold medal at an ISU Championship in any discipline for Switzerland. The bronze medal went to Czechoslovakian siblings Soňa Balůnová and Miroslav Balůn.

Sissy Schwarz and Kurt Oppelt. Photo courtesy Bildarchiv Austria.

Captain T.D. Richardson remarked, "In this event Michel and Silvia Grandjean... thoroughly deserved their win, for they were the only pair to combine elegance and charm, gliding speed, a sufficiency of difficulty and that 'togetherness' which is the essential of pair skating. Most of their rivals indulged in a superfluity of acrobatics with little evidence of skating technique. If the judges were asking for difficulty - most of them must have been looking the other way when Bob Hudson and Jean Higson performed - for they executed movements that many of the other pairs would not have dared to attempt; and what is more, they included some very good skating. In my opinion, they should have been second - fourth place was much to low. It is true that Kurt Oppelt and [Sissy] Schwarz, who came second, have an excellent programme, but until they take the trouble to eradicate many glaring faults of position, footwork and general technique, they cannot be ranked as near-champions. The Czechoslovak pair... who came third were rough and not at all together."

The sour taste left in the mouths of the pairs skaters, ice dancers and judges after the organizer's last-minute schedule change was compounded by a minor incident at the customary closing banquet. Cyril Beastall complained, "At a party following the events at Bolzano, when those present were listening to the various speeches and in a happy atmosphere, a discordant note was introduced. The room was long and those at the far end had considerable difficulty in hearing the lengthy speeches - but on these occasions no one bothers about that. Therefore there was a buzz of conversation from the far end of the room, which members of the British party, nearly twenty strong, seated near the presentation table, could of course hear. The discordant note was introduced by Mr. Bubi (pronounced Booby) Witt, who in strident English and with flushed face proceeded to call everyone to order in the manner of a disgruntled schoolmaster. Quite a few of those present are still asking why Mr. Witt made his 'request' in English."

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

A Need For Speed And Syncopation: The Alex D.C. Gordon Story

Alex D.C. Gordon, Lesley Norfolk and John Pearce. Photo courtesy "Ice & Roller Skate" magazine.

"It is obvious that the elements of figures are not only a benefit, but are absolutely essential in the mastery of good ice dancing." -  Alex D.C. Gordon, "Winter Sports" magazine, November 1964

The son of Margaret Cecelia (Crawford) and Alexander Theodore Gordon, Alexander 'Alex' David Crawford Gordon was born on February 3, 1913 at Freefield House in Rayne, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. 

When he was two years old, his father (who served as Lieutenant-Colonel during The Boer War) abandoned his mother, moved to Stirlingshire and shacked up with another woman. Alex and his mother received no support from his father during The Great War. When the War ended, their divorce was finalized and his father was elected as the Member of Parliament for Aberdeen and Kincardine Central. His father passed away in March of 1919 at the age of thirty-seven, a victim of the Spanish flu pandemic. By the thirties, Alex was living in Putney Hill, London with his mother and her third husband. In 1937, he married Elspeth Keech in Edinburgh. She was seventeen; he twenty-four. They divorced in 1941, the same year his mother passed away.

During the years leading up to World War II, Alex developed a passion for figure skating. He passed the National Skating Club's Gold Dance, Silver Figure and Pair (International) tests and Bronze English Style Figure tests. After the War, he resumed skating and as a representative of Queen's Ice Dance Club. He won the Club's drawn partners contest in 1946 with Marjorie Widdowson and three consecutive bronze medals in the British Ice Dance Championships with Barbara 'Bunty' Radford, narrowly missing out on a fourth in 1950. His passion for the sport even led him to spend some time in Johannesburg, South Africa where Arthur Apfel, the 1947 World Bronze Medallist was teaching.

Bunty Radford and Alex D.C. Gordon (left), Sybil Cooke and Bob S. Hudson (center) and Julie and Bill Barrett (right). Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine.

Though a talented skater, Alex's most important contributions to figure skating and ice dancing were on the other side of the boards. He served on the National Skating Association's Council and Ice Figure Committees for over twenty-five years and acted as chair of the Ice Dance Committee for several years. He was a first-class judge in singles, pairs and ice dance, as well as an ISU judge and referee for both figures and dance. He judged and refereed at countless British, European and World Championships and served as an assistant referee at both the 1960 and 1964 Winter Olympic Games. He also served as a Substitute Member and Member of the ISU's Ice Dance Committee for a decade and was a very important figure in the development of the discipline during the fifties and sixties - a golden era when British ice dancers dominated the sport.

Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine

As an official, Alex more than once found himself at the center of controversy. In 1948, while serving on the National Skating Association's Council, he published a highly critical letter which caused much bad blood. He complained the Council was slated in favour of roller skaters and that there were too many judges who didn't skate (anymore) themselves or attend rinks when they weren't judging. He claimed these judges were "completely out of touch" with the sport's progress as a result. In 1951, he gave one skater scandalously low mark of 2.8, which resulted in a barrage of complaints and in 1965, he found himself in the center of a scandal when a petition circulated asking the National Skating Association to ban him from judging at the British Championships. In her book "Figure Skating History: The Evolution Of The Dance", Lynn Copley-Graves summarized, "An ISU Special Committee appointed at Alex Gordon's request investigated allegations that he had coached and judged his own pupils. In the hearings, Alex was found to have freely given advice to pupils of one or two professionals and to have inadvertently aroused adverse comment among other skaters and pros. The Special Committee found no evidence of bias in his judging cards, stressed the need for utmost discretion by all judges in their interactions with competitors and their pros, and closed the matter. This meeting, held in strictest confidence, was breached by one person who spoke publicly about it."

Despite these complaints, Alex served as a mentor to many Scottish skaters and was very well-liked by his judging peers. When he wasn't at a rink or in a meeting, he was busy running The Devil's Punchbowl Hotel in Hindhead (which is still in operation today) with his business partner, World and British Professional Champion John Pearce. 

Alex passed away on January 14, 1973 in Surrey at the age of fifty-nine. For his services to British skating, he was posthumously awarded an Honorary Membership to the National Skating Association.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

The Flying Camel Fête

The summer fête was the event of the year in a sleepy seaside community with the unusual name Flying Camel. There were card parties, games of chance and elephant sales; fortune tellers and book tables. The highlight of the festivities was the annual Taste of the Town contest.

Every year, people would come to Flying Camel from miles around, lugging crockpots and chafing dishes. There were a record twenty-seven entries in the 2002 contest. Mrs. Waxel showed up with her wondrous wild rice risotto. Mr. Flutz flaunted his fabulous flan. Chi Chi Congelado travelled fifteen miles from the village of Bunny Hop with an overflowing pot of her famous Cha Cha Chasse chili in tow.

For years, Delia Doubleloop ruled the Taste of the Town contest with an iron fist. The mere smell of her perfume in the air evoked fear in the contestant's hearts. She sauntered slowly from table to table, yielding her pretentious jewel-encrusted tasting spoon like a sword. 

After each tasting, Delia loudly expressed her displeasure. Mrs. Waxel went wobbly in the knees when Delia ruled that the risotto wasn't fit for a starving retriever. Mr. Flutz started sweating profusely when Delia announced his flan was a flop. Chi Chi Congelado cried when Delia called her Cha Cha Chasse chili Kaka Chasse chili. 

When it was announced that first prize went to Delia's dear friend Mrs. Twizzle, who showed up with the driest shortbreads in town, pandemonium broke out in the tent where the Taste of the Town contest was held. Delia snuck out the back of the tent with a smirk on her face as an angry mob surrounded the event's organizer, Mr. Seasonsbest. They demanded to know why Delia continued to be the head judge when she awarded first prize to her friends every year, regardless of how bland and uninspiring their food was.

"Now, now," protested Mr. Seasonsbest. "Delia has been judging the Taste of the Town since 1953, back in the days when the contest was held outdoors. You always complain, but I can hardly do anything about it... Her best friend is the mayor's wife and the mayor sponsors the contest!"

Mrs. Waxel started a letter-writing campaign to have Delia expelled; Mr. Flan put up "Delia Must Go!" posters at the church hall and post office. The pressure on Mr. Seasonsbest to do something was mounting... and eventually he did.

In an exclusive interview with Mrs. Wobblyedge, the intrepid reporter of the "Flying Times Gazette", Mr. Seasonsbest candidly discussed his position. Delia would remain as head judge, because he wouldn't want to lose the Mayor's financial support and finding a fair, impartial judge would simply involve more effort than he was willing to put in. Instead, the format of the Taste of the Town contest would be completely revamped. To put everyone on an even playing field, no one would be allowed to cook anymore. Taste of the Town would transform into a baking competition. Everyone would follow the same recipe and make exactly the same pie. "Precision," said Mr. Seasonsbest, "was far more important than flavour."

Fewer people attended the following year's Taste in the Town contest, but those who did watched with a curious interest as Delia sauntered around with a measuring tape instead of her customary tasting spoon. She penalized Mrs. Waxel because the peaks on her meringue were too many millimeters apart. She almost had a coronary when she saw Mr. Flutz use a 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon instead of 1/8. Though Mrs. Twizzle's pie crust crumbled, she received suspiciously high marks for PCS - Pie Component Scores. She grudgingly awarded Chi Chi Congelado extra points for sprinkling nutmeg on the top of her pie in the second half of the contest, because after all - that was the true mark an excellent pie.

A hush fell over the crowd as Mr. Seasonsbest opened the envelope and announced the winner: "First prize... Chi Chi Congelado". When a surprised Chi Chi went up to accept her prize, a coupon for 20% off a monogrammed tea cozy, she sighed and announced, "A win is a win, but this is bittersweet. The nutmeg in the second half was a new Personal Best, but the Cha Cha Chasse Chili I made last year was far tastier I think."

When I talk about why figure skating history is so important, I often bring up cooking and baking. You can spend the same time in the kitchen doing both, but they are polar opposites - as different as night and day, yin and yang or skating and gymnastics.

Before the IJS system was introduced, competitive skating was a lot like cooking. People absolutely followed a general recipe, but you had plenty of room to experiment. 

When you're in the kitchen making a marinara sauce that would do Sophia Petrillo proud, you have the freedom to put your own spin on a tried and true recipe - an extra dash of pepper here, a substitution there. Cooking can be a form of self-expression; whereas baking is really a science.

To achieve success in competitive skating today, you need to follow a recipe to the letter. Music be damned, you need to hit those levels to get those all-important points. The logic is honestly a hoot really: "Cross-cuts bad! Difficult transitions good! Spin levels! Features! Me Tarzan! You Jane!" A healthy sprinkle of nuance would have done a world of good when they came up with this stuff.

As any great baker will attest, when you follow a good recipe to the letter the cake you make will end up being delicious - but it will be almost identical to the one in the magazine and the person next-door's.

One of the main reasons figure skating history is so important is that there is a whole generation coming up now who have learned to become masterful bakers, but they don't even know that there was a time when cooking was all the rage.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support by signing up for the newsletter and ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

Janet Lynn At The Midway Village Museum

A very special treat for all of you courtesy Alex Garry, Patrick O'Keefe and the wonderful staff at the Midway Village Museum... video footage of Olympic and World Medallist and U.S. Champion Janet Lynn's presentation in Rockford, Illinois on June 10, 2023. Hear from one of the sport's biggest legends in her own words! 

PART ONE

PART TWO

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a pre-ordering a copy of the upcoming book "Jackson Haines: The Skating King": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/2015/08/jackson-haines-definitive-biography.html. 

The Disappearance Of George Blodgett And Harold Golding

In the middle of a hot July in 1953, fifty-seven year old George Reddington Blodgett II and fifty-four year old Harold Golding of Cambridge, Massachusetts left Boston on a private plane. Their destination was Lima, Peru. Their plan was to deliver the plane to a buyer and see the sights on a month-long South American vacation. 

Blodgett, the pilot, was a Yale and Harvard grad and a corporate tax attorney with the Boston law firm of Herrick, Smith, Donald, Farley and Ketchum. He was also the older brother of pioneering General Electric scientist Dr. Katharine Burr Blodgett. Golding was the Vice-President of the International Equipment Company in Brighton.

Left: Harold Golding. Right: George Blodgett as a young man attending Yale during the Great War. Photo courtesy Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center, Wendy Schnur.

On July 16, the men spent the night in Guatemala City, flying to Managua, Nicaragua the next day. From there, they headed out on their Cessna 170 to San José, Costa Rica. They never arrived at their destination.

When the men failed to show up in San José, the alarm was raised. The U.S. Embassy was informed and the Nicaraguan, Panamanian and Costa Rican air forces co-ordinated in a search and rescue effort with the State Department in Washington, which sent two amphibians from the 26th Rescue Squadron at the American Embassy in Peru. One of Blodgett's co-workers, attorney Charles Hovey, made the trip down to Central America to aid in the search.

The area where they believed the plane may have crashed was a dense rainforest. Though hampered by poor visibility, pilots flew over the jungle looking for any signs of a downed plane... to no avail. Word was passed on to those living in neighbouring villages about the missing plane, instructing locals to report any sign of the missing men.

In early August, one rumour circulated that the plane had landed in the Canal Zone in Puerto Carrillo, but officials said there was no verification of this. They doubted that a small plane had sufficient fuel aboard to make it that far. Another rumour from a Costa Rican village said the plane crashed into the sea. 

Shortly after this, two messages were found written in the sand on a beach in Puerto Carrillo. One said 'OK' and the second, in Spanish, said that an aircraft had crashed into the mountains ten miles west of Puerto Carillo. 

The messages in the sand proved to be dead ends. On March 20, 1954, the Blodgett and Golding families both held memorial services at the First Congregational Church in Cambridge despite the fact that the plane or their bodies were never found.

There were a number of unusual 'coincidences' regarding George Blodgett. For one, his disappearance and presumed passing wasn't the only tragedy in his family. His father, a prominent General Electric patent attorney, was shot and killed by an intruder in his home in 1897, when George was just two years old. Less than a year prior to his disappearance, both George and a passenger suffered facial cuts when a plane he was flying from Paris to Cape Town crashed in Mbeye, Tanganyika (now Tanzania). While it was certainly possible that he had terrible luck, that's pretty terrible luck indeed! However, to suggest that Blodgett was an inexperienced or 'bad' pilot would be unfair. He had flown sixteen thousand miles around the perimeter of the United States in 1947, with his wife as co-pilot. He had also flown over the jungles of Central America at least once before.

What did this all have to do with figure skating? Well... George Blodgett was a relation of U.S. women's and pairs medallist Polly Blodgett. He was a respected skating judge and a former President of The Skating Club of Boston. Golding was the current President of the Skating Club of Boston. During World War II, the two men served together on the club's board - Blodgett as Secretary and Golding as Treasurer.

Left: Polly Blodgett. Right: Ollie Haupt Jr. and Polly Blodgett. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

What became of George Blodgett and Harold Golding? I think it's completely unprobable that they went on to live 'new lives under presumed names' like characters in a spy novel. The most likely scenario is that their plane had engine problems or ran into bad visibility in some remote region of Central America and that they both perished in the crash. There is also the remote possibility that one or both survived the crash but perished as a result of their injuries, starvation or getting lost in the jungle. However their stories ended, it is important that we remember their important contributions to the figure skating world.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

The Disappearance Of Ernest Worsley

In 1912, roller skater Ernest Worsley took to the ice to compete in the pairs event at the World Figure Skating Championships in his hometown of Manchester, England. His future wife and partner on both ice and rollers was Lois Eugenie Norah Lovett, the daughter of the rector of St. Werburgh's church in Chorlton-cum-Hardy. 

Lois and Ernest Worsley

After acting as the first secretary-manager of the Manchester Ice Palace, Ernest travelled overseas to North America. After a stint in Quebec, he managed the rink of the New Haven Skating Club at the time of the event that is now recognized as the first U.S. Figure Skating Championships. He was back in Great Britain just in time for the outbreak of The Great War.

On March 26, 1915, thirty-two year old Ernest left his home at 18 Cavendish-road in the Manchester suburb of Chorlton-cum-Hardy to go to his job as a chemical engineer and seemingly vanished into thin air.

Lois and Ernest's families filed a missing persons report, put up posters and alerted friends in Bradford, London, Liverpool, Leeds, Preston and Lancaster to be on the look-out. An article from the "Liverpool Echo" noted that he "recently suffered from a loss of memory, the result of a serious illness, and it is of interest to note that this forgetfulness takes a form that has become fairly familiar among those who have been studying the effects of high explosives during the war. It is feared that after he left home he had a further attack of loss of memory. To strangers, however, he will appear quite rational." 

The "chemical preparation of great intensity" he was working with was a formula submitted to the War Office, to be used in explosive shells on the front lines in Europe. The "Manchester Evening News" reported, "The symptoms of the malady from which Mr. Worsley suffered before he left Manchester resemble closely those which have been noted in the soldiers who have come from the battle front in France affected by fumes from German shells, and it is believed that his experiments have been responsible for this illness, but he had apparently recovered before he left Manchester, and to all appearances his condition was normal."

There were numerous possible sightings of Ernest in the days after his disappearance. He was first spotted in Shrewsbury, nearly two hours from Manchester, on April 3. Someone else thought they recognized him in Wrexham on April 4 - Easter Sunday. When approached and asked what he was doing in the area, he said he was on his way to Wales to go on a walking tour.

Just as mysteriously as he disappeared, Ernest re-appeared. A vague newspaper article from the April 12, 1915 issue of the "Manchester Evening News" reported that he had "returned home from Worcester. He had been working hard on experiments with explosives and was suffering from overstrain, but is now better." 

The circumstances of Ernest's disappearance and how he spent over a week in Wartime Britain in the spring of 1915 are murky at best, but by that fall he was back doing what he loved - skating an exhibition with his wife and Ethel Muckelt on a frozen pond in Belle Vue. Sadly, he passed away on August 12, 1919 in Bombay, India at the age of forty-one, in the height of the Spanish flu pandemic.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

Pride Month

 

Happy Pride Month!

Check out Skate Guard's Pride Month page for a Required Reading list and a Pinterest board of LGBTQ+ Skating History. 

To nominate LGBTQ+ skaters to the Skate Canada Hall Of Fame, click here.

National Indigenous History Month

Photo courtesy Government of Canada

June is National Indigenous History Month! Skate Guard highlights the important history of skaters of First Nations, Inuit and Métis heritage with an extensive timeline. You can view the special content for National Indigenous History Month by tapping on the side menu bar of the blog or visiting the following page:

National Indigenous History Month

To nominate skaters of Indigenous heritage to the Skate Canada Hall Of Fame, click here.