Learn all about the fascinating world of figure skating history with Skate Guard Blog.
Explore a treasure trove of articles on the history of figure skating, highlighting Olympic Medallists, World and National Champions and dazzling competitions, shows and tours. Written by former skater and judge Ryan Stevens, Skate Guard Blog also offers intriguing insights into the evolution of the sport over the decades. Delve into Stevens' books for even more riveting stories and information about the history of everyone's favourite winter Olympic sport.
If you're minding the heat, why not cool down with a free figure skating eBook? For a limited time only, you can download free copies of my reference books "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating" on Amazon.
Please Note:
- This offer is valid on Amazon.com from July 27-30 and applies to the eBook editions of both books. It does not apply to the hard cover or paperback editions.
- This offer is valid in North America, but may not be available in all other countries. If you are having any difficulty with downloading your copies, simply ensure you are visting your country's Amazon site (ex. Amazon.ca in Canada, Amazon.co.uk in the UK - and type in the names of the books).
- Please leave an honest review of both books on Amazon, Goodreads and LibraryThing and subscribe to the Skate Guard newsletter. Links are below!
- Pre-order your copy of my next book "Jackson Haines: The Skating King", which will be available through dozens of retailers by November 1, 2023.
LEAVE A REVIEW OF "TECHNICAL MERIT: A HISTORY OF FIGURE SKATING JUMPS"
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.
Looking for a great figure skating book to take to the beach this summer?
I recently put together a list of five great figure skating biographies that everyone should read for the great folks at Shepherd. Click here to read the list and reach out on social media to let me know which of these figure skating biographies you have read and which ones that I didn't include that you really enjoyed reading!
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.
Photo courtesy Joseph Butchko Collection, an acquisition of the Skate Guard Archive
Born March 20, 1900 in Crookston, Minnesota, Edward Everett McGowan was the son of Thomas and Josephine (Campbell) McGowan. He grew up in Glyndon Township, where his father was employed as a weigher for the Minnesota State Grain Inspection Agency. As a toddler, Everett learned how to skate while visiting Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He won a speed skating race on clamp skates at the age of six.
Photo courtesy University Of St. Thomas (MN) Archives
As a young man, Everett enjoyed just about every recreational pursuit imaginable - everything from speed and roller skating to baseball, lacrosse, boxing, badminton, tennis, croquet, dominoes and football. While studying law at St. Thomas shortly after The Great War, he played left half for the college's football team. In 1920, he won the Northwestern Indoor Amateur Skating Association's speed skating title and defeated future Olympic Gold Medallist Charles Jewtraw in a race in Lake Placid. He turned professional the following year, amassing an astonishing twenty five victories in his first season. One of them was a win against his own speed skating coach, Norval Baptie. Reporters called him the "Three Letter Man Of Skating".
Everett McGowan. Photos courtesy Hennepin County Library.
During the roaring twenties, Everett set a world speed skating record in the fifty yard dash, raced an automobile travelling forty four miles per hour on Onota Lake in Pittsfield, Massachusetts and competed in a six-day international roller skating race at Madison Square Garden.
Everett McGowan. Photos courtesy Hennepin County Library.
Everett also played baseball and boxed professionally. He played hockey for six years with teams in Edmonton, Vancouver and Winnipeg, before being sold to the New York Rangers, who farmed him out to the Springfield Indians, where he had a short but sweet career as a defenseman.
In the height of his success, Everett met a roller skater eight years his junior named Ruth Lillian Mack. They soon tied the knot and embarked on an unlikely career as professional figure skaters.
Photo courtesy Hennepin County Library
Everett and Ruth - or McGowan and Mack, as they would soon become famously known - learned some of the finer points of figure skating from Gustave Lussi, Norval Baptie and Howard Nicholson. Soon they translated 'table top' adagio roller skating tricks to the ice and created a unique style that was all their own. Their first performances were in conjunction with speed skating races, hockey games and carnivals in the State of New York. At one such event in Syracuse, a reporter remarked, "The pair went through a series of waltz whirls, spins and stunts which had the fans constantly in applause." When they appeared at a carnival in Kansas City in 1934, the program stated, "Skaters: If your insurance is paid up, you can try this."
Photos courtesy Hennepin County Library
Everett and Ruth's first big 'gig' was the Black Forest ice show at the Dallas Centennial Exposition in 1936. In the years that followed, they appeared in the film "Ice Follies Of 1939". They acted as producers and stars of their own travelling McGowan and Mack International Ice Revue, which brought them acclaim at hotels and movie theatres across America. They had a portable 20 X 40 tank rink which could be installed and frozen in less than twelve hours. Their advertisements boasted, "The only portable real ice rink which complies with every State and City refrigeration ordinance, and can be made at any size."
What many did not know at the time was the fact that Ruth and Everett's skating career almost ended before it really got started. Arthur L. Goodfellow recalled, "McGowan became afflicted with a rare and supposedly incurable form of arthritis. Every clinic visited had the same dismal response. 'Mac, your days of ice skating are over.' But McGowan, a fighter from away back, refused to give up. Two persons had taken a particular interest in his case - one was a doctor with a major health clinic, the other a former veterinarian and sports massage expert, Ralph Cressler, who at the time was managing the Hippodrome ice rink in St. Paul. It was Cressler who proposed an unorthodox method of treatment. He had tried it with varying degrees of success with arthritic animals. 'This idea of mine might help you,' said Cressler, 'but it will take a man with guts to do it.' McGowan's reply, 'Let's go.' So Cressler rigged up a special harness and literally hung McGowan from the rafters by the head, stretching [his] legs and spinal column for weeks. It was a rough ordeal and between bouts he'd go to the regular clinic doctor for check-ups. However, the unconventional Cressler treatment was unbelievably successful. Within eight months Everett and Ruth were ice show stars again." Unbelievably, Everett wasn't the only skater to endure such 'treatments' at the time. Olympic figure skater, film noir actress and ballet dancer Belita Jepson-Turner was also sent to a veterinarian for care.
Everett and Ruth appeared in shows at the College Inn, Hotel Sherman, Conrad Hilton Hotel, Adolphus Hotel and Boulevard Tavern. They also toured with Ice Capades, Ice Follies and Holiday On Ice. The 1940 Ice Follies program raved, "Everett McGowan has... a tremendously rugged physique, coupled with cool nerves [which] gives him the ideal requisites for the exacting tasks he performs in this year's 'Ice Follies'. His partner, Ruth Mack, is a charming person both on and off the ice. She, in contrast to her husky partner, seems small and petite, but what she lacks in size is more than made up in courage. She goes through the rigors of the severe routine calmly and coolly and her striking personality radiates through the audience as she, with her partner, acknowledges the plaudits of the audience."
Everett and Ruth, along with their thirteen year old daughter Jo Ann (who went on to star in Holiday On Ice herself) were also featured in the 1944 Republic Pictures film "Lake Placid Serenade", starring Věra Hrubá Ralston. Their signature number was called "Cafe de Apache", and was set to Jacques Offenbach's "L'Amour de L'Apache". The Apache dance, popular in Paris in the early twentieth century, was a highly theatrical, angry dance with elements of stage combat that depicted a struggle between a pimp and a prostitute. Maurice Mouvet described it as "as an intensely brutal dance, but... not vulgar with deliberate vulgarity. It is the dance of realism, of primitive passion; as a picture of life in the raw it has beauty and artistic strength."
Arthur Godfrey and Everett McGowan
In April of 1952, Everett installed a portable ice rink for an episode of the variety show "Arthur Godfrey And His Friends". The episode, which was performed entirely on ice, was a massive hit and CBS was inundated with phone calls, telegrams and letters as a result.
Everett and Ruth continued to perform professionally well into the fifties. They later operated the All-Year Indoor Skating Rink at the Raleigh Hotel in South Fallsburg, New York. On May 19, 1962, Everett was inducted into the National Speed Skating Museum's Hall Of Fame. Ten years later, he was inducted into the Ice Skating Institute's Hall Of Fame. Sadly, Everett passed away on May 1, 1982 in Kiamesha Lake, New York at the age of eighty-one. Ruth passed away on March 18, 2001 in Forest Lake, Minnesota at the age of ninety-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 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.
Tunics and polyester pants were all the rage, Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" topped the music charts and the very first Wendy's Restaurant opened in Columbus Ohio. With "one giant leap for mankind", 1969 was also the year of the Moon Landing, "Abbey Road" by The Beatles and the very first Woodstock festival.
Yet, from January 29 to February 1 at the Seattle Center Arena on 4th and Mercer in Seattle, Washington, the only thing any self-respecting American cared about were the results of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. The city had played host to the U.S. Championships twice previously at that point. In 1951, Dick Button had claimed his sixth U.S. title in Seattle and in 1960, Carol Heiss and David Jenkins each took their fourth. The faces may have been different in 1969, but the level of skating couldn't have been higher. Let's take a look back at how things played out! THE NOVICE AND JUNIOR EVENTS
Blizzard conditions caused poor attendance on the first days of the competition, when many of the novice and junior events were held. Eleven young men vied for the novice men's title, and two of the smallest prevailed. Los Angeles' Jimmy Demogines and Boston's Mahlon Bradley held the first two places in the school figures and managed to retain them overall after giving impressive free skating performances. In the novice women's event, a young Dorothy Hamill rose from sixth after figures to claim gold ahead of Juli McKinstry and the early leader, Sheri Thrapp of Burbank. In the junior men's event, Richard Ewell III landed a triple Salchow and Atoy Wilson attempted a rare double Walley, but it was John Baldwin of the Broadmoor Skating Club who came out on top despite two missed jumps in his free skate. The star of the junior women's event was Audrey King, who vaulted from eighth to third with a delightful free skating performance. However, it was Louise Vacca of Long Island's impressive free skate that clinched the title. The junior pairs event wasn't particularly well skated, but John Baldwin managed to win his second gold medal in Seattle with partner Jannat Thompson. Ten couples entered the Silver Dance competition. After six were eliminated in the initial round, it was Candace Johnstone and Bruce Bowland of the Essex Skating Club who were the unanimous winners of the title. THE PAIRS COMPETITION
Cynthia and Ron Kauffman. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.
"We are going to make this year one of our best performances," Cynthia Kauffman told Jane Tarbox. Cynthia and her brother Ron's commitment to skating was a challenge in the months leading up to the Nationals in Seattle. She'd been attending Griffin Murrfy Business College; he'd been on GI duty. Yet, they'd still found time to work with coach Ron Ludington as much as possible. When the Kauffman's missed their side-by-side double toe-loops in the compulsory program, JoJo Starbuck and Ken Shelley surprised many by taking the lead.
Video courtesy Frazer Ormondroyd
The tables turned in the free skate when Starbuck and Shelley dropped to second with two falls and the Kauffman's delivered a conservative but classy performance on their way to their fourth and final U.S. title in front of a hometown crowd. In "Skating" magazine, Lynn Thomas noted, "One bystander remarked that the Kauffman's performance was too beautiful to be interrupted by applause. That is the supreme compliment." Melissa and Mark Militano moved up from fifth after the compulsory program to take the bronze with an exciting free skate that featured a throw Axel and double Salchow.
THE ICE DANCE COMPETITION
Judy Schwomeyer and James Sladky in Seattle. Photo courtesy Judy Sladky.
Eleven talented teams weaved their way through the Westminster Waltz, Quickstep, Blues and OSP but Judy Schwomeyer and James Sladky were in a class of their own. Though they were somewhat upstaged in the free dance by Anne and Harvey Millier, they decisively took their second U.S. Gold Dance title with unanimous first place marks from the five judges. Though they were third in the free dance, the Millier's remained in fifth place, behind Joan Bitterman and Brad Hislop, Debbie Gerken and Raymond Tiedemann and Debbie Ganson and Rollie Arthur. Bitterman, Hislop and Ganson all represented the host Seattle Skating Club, thus receiving generous applause from the large crowd who attended the free dance.
Judy Schwomeyer and James Sladky. Photo courtesy Judy Sladky.
Recalling the rink in Seattle, Judy Sladky said, "I'm 4'10" and the board was so high I could barely see over it. I kept thinking, 'How could the judges possibly see your feet if they can't even see your head?'"
THE MEN'S COMPETITION
Tim Wood
Tim Wood dominated the senior men's school figures from start to finish, even earning a 5.8 from one judge for his back paragraph bracket. In the free skate, Wood was pitted against John 'Misha' Petkevich, Gary Visconti and Kenneth Shelley. All four men had stellar reputations as outstanding free skaters, so needless to say, the audience in Seattle were riveted as each man came out and tried to outdo each other. In "Skating" magazine, Lynn Thomas recalled, "Tim... won the free skating, but the majority was not so clear. His program was excellently conceived with varied, imaginative footwork. The jumps were woven into the fabric of the routine, and Tim generated more excitement than he has in the past. As usual, five minutes seemed like a short time when J. Misha Petkevich was skating. His music and huge jumps generate excitement throughout, but his program may suffer from familiarity. His footwork was not as creative as Wood's; some steps were too repetitive. Gary Visconti skated with his usual energy, but his jumps were small compared to Wood's and Petkevich's. He seemed to be spending so much time selling the performance to the audience that he forgot about the actual skating. Kenneth Shelley and Roger Bass were the only other men to skate particularly well." Wood's victory in Seattle was unanimous. Petkevich defeated Visconti for the silver in the narrowest of three-two judging panel splits, and Shelley vaulted from seventh to fourth. THE WOMEN'S COMPETITION
Everyone in Seattle was curious to see who Peggy Fleming's successor would be. Dawn Glab of the Arctic Blades Figure Skating Club managed a narrow lead over Tina Noyes, Julie Lynn Holmes and Janet Lynn in the senior women's school figures. Though she skated one of her best performances in the free skate, it simply didn't have the same technical content of the other three contenders. Noyes attempted a triple toe-loop - the same jump she'd missed the year prior at the Nationals in Philadelphia - and again floundered. Holmes skated beautifully, landing a rare double inside Axel, but was unable to best the ethereal Janet Lynn, who was competing for the first time in ten months.
Janet Lynn in Seattle. Photo courtesy "Peace And Love" by Janet Lynn.
Janet Lynn had some small errors - a missed combination and a touch down on her triple toe-loop, but the overall package she presented drew well-deserved rave reviews. She took the gold medal, earning first place ordinals from three of the five judges. Judge E. Newbold Black IV gave his first place ordinal to Noyes, and the wife of former USFSA President John Shoemaker gave hers to Holmes. Dawn Glab finished fourth; Jennie Walsh of the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club ninth.
After the competition, a heartbroken Tina Noyes told a reporter, "Halfway through I started to get tight. I knew I had to relax, but my legs felt stiff. The music would fade inside me. I was blowing it, and I couldn't do anything about it... Skating has been everything for seven years. Oh, why did I let this get away?"
American skaters had an outstanding showing at that year's World Championships in Colorado Springs. Every single member of the team finished in the top ten at Worlds that year - an achievement that was truly a testament to the depth and talent in U.S. figure skating at that point in time.
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.
January, 1938... the usual pile of fan mail flowed into the Twentieth Century-Fox studio. Some letters were addressed to "Sonja Henie c/o 20th Century Fox", others simply to "Sonja". There were thousands of letters from Oslo, Ottawa and Ohio. Some of them were charming; some of them a little cuckoo. Men were in love with her; women envied her glamour and mystique; little girls wanted to be just like her.
The Norwegian ice queen didn't sit there in front of a giant pile of letters opening them one by one herself. She had people to do that for her. On March 21, 1938, one of those people finally opened a letter postmarked January 14. When they did, they probably had to pick their jaw up off the floor.
Photo courtesy Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection. Used with permission.
The letter in that studio employee's hand warned Sonja Henie that she was being watched. It demanded five hundred dollars in cold hard cash and threatened, "Do not report this to the police." It was signed Joe Cummings. The frightened employee brought the letter to the attention of their superior and the studio's management decided not to tell Sonja or her father about the incident for fear that they would have a hullabaloo on their hands. Instead, the studio executives contacted the Federal Bureau Of Investigation in Washington. It wasn't until that April that Sonja was finally told about the letter's existence. She wasn't a happy camper.
The FBI traced the letter and determined that "Joe Cummings" was actually a twenty-four year old Scottish immigrant named Fred Roger Cunningham. Prior to moving to California, he had previously resided in Plainfield, New Jersey and worked in Civilian Conservation Corps camps in Sneedsville, Tenneseee and Buffalo, New York. The feds further ascertained that Cunningham had been arrested in Tucumcari, New Mexico on January 22, 1938 on suspicion of theft of an automobile near Pasadena... only eight days after the letter to Sonja had been mailed. For this car theft, he was sentenced to a year in the Los Angeles County road camp. When the feds went to 'visit' Cunningham, he was taken into federal custody on extortion changes. He was probably lucky that the FBI found him before he met the end of Papa Henie's cane.
FBI investigator John H. Hanson released the following statement upon Cunningham's arrest: "On April 16, this individual was located by special agents of the Federal Bureau Of Investigation and made a full confession with respect to this case in which he stated that he had written the extortion letter to Miss Sonja Henie and mailed [it]."
Fred Roger Cunningham
Cunningham had told the FBI he had written the extortion letter "as a bit of devilment" but admitted that he was flat broke at the time. He also claimed that at no time would he have ever harmed the three-time Olympic Gold Medallist. The feds ultimately went easy on the young man, allowing bail on his nine-month sentence to be posted if he stayed the hell away from Sonja and her family.
That same spring Sonja and Tyrone Power's 20th Century Fox 1937 film "Thin Ice" was released to British audiences. The film opened at Earl's Court in London in March of 1938 at the exact same time as the film "One Mile To Heaven"... a tale about a career-driven young woman who found herself in the middle of an extortion plot.
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.
"If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear."
- Excerpt from "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
Penned in the late sixteenth century by William Shakespeare, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is without a doubt one of the most famous plays in history. Though the play has been performed thousands of times on the world's most iconic stages, it wasn't until the late twentieth century that the play was first translated to the ice. Though it was earlier used as a theme of an ice show at Sea World San Diego in the summer of 1988, the first large-scale adaptation of the legendary play took place four years later at the Granite Curling Club in Edmonton, Alberta.
Michael Slipchuk and Kevin Cottam
Presented by the National Ice Theatre Of Canada, "A Midsummer Night's Ice Dream" debuted from August 16 to 23 as part of the Edmonton Fringe Festival. The brainchild of choreographer Kevin Cottam, it was the first figure skating production in the Edmonton Fringe Festival's eleven year history at the time. Uniquely, Cottam set Shakespeare's play in a subway station, focusing "on the Changeling boy's relationship with the bickering royal couple, Oberon and Titania", according to the August 13, 1992 issue of the "Edmonton Journal". The stars of the Fringe production (Michael Slipchuk, Cameron Medhurst, Anisette Torp-Lind, J.P. Martin, Mark Schmitke and Allison McLean and Konrad Schaub) honed their acting skills with Jan Miller. An original score was composed, recorded and performed by Jan Randall.
Though the production was wildly popular with Fringe audiences and sold out for all thirteen performances, the reviews weren't all favourable. Theatre critic Christopher Dafoe, covering the show in the August 19, 1992 of "The Globe And Mail", was less than complimentary: "As dance theatre, Ice Dream is, well, a wonderful bit of figure skating. As Puck, the only character in the production who speaks, Australian skater Cameron Medhurst sounds like he's about to deliver an off-colour joke about sheilas and kangaroos. J.P. Martin and Anisette Torp-Lind show some flash as Oberon and Titania, the king and queen of the underworld, but the rest of the skaters, including Canadian champion Michael Slipchuk - he plays Bottom as a janitor - play their parts with the emotional range of a Zamboni. Jan Randall's score is a patchwork of pop, jazz and classical themes that sound as if they were all processed through the same synthesizer and Allison Warman's body-conscious costume design has the unfortunate effect of making the fairies look like extras in Flashdance. Still, there's no arguing with success and now that the Fringe has dipped its toe into sports theatre, we can no doubt expect a flood of jock thespians. Look forward to Kurt Browning as a giant insect in an adaptation of Kafka's Metamorph-Ice. Silken Laumann sculling the North Saskatchewan River in a distaff production of Three Men In A Boat. And, of course, Michael Jordan starring in Nike Theatre's full-court production of Arthur Miller's classic Death of A Pitchman."
Despite Dafoe's criticisms, in May 1994 the production was adapted for television by Tohaventa Holdings with an all-star cast, including Liz Manley, Yuka Sato and Jozef Sabovčík. Australian Champion Cameron Medhurst reprised his role as Puck. Filming for the ninety minute television special took place in Spruce Grove, Alberta.
The show was picked up for national broadcast in Canada and later shown on PBS in the United States. It won an Alberta Film and Television Award for Musical or Variety in 1995. Although "A Midsummer Night's Ice Dream" and the National Ice Theatre of Canada's other two taped productions have since somewhat fallen into obscurity, they speak to an important era in Canadian figure skating history when creativity was at a peak and opportunities existed for experimentation and artistic growth.
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.
"Hundreds of hours spent in freezing cold rinks... Early mornings, late nights..." Those words could easily describe the careers of any of Canada's top figure skaters, but they equally apply to the grossly underappreciated Canadians who have dedicated the better part of their lives to officiating the sport. Today's Skate Guard blog highlights the judges, referees and technical specialists who have represented The True North strong and free on the world's biggest stages.
CANADA'S OLYMPIC OFFICIALS
Year
Men's
Women's
Pairs
Ice Dance
Team Event
1932
J. Cecil McDougall
J. Cecil McDougall
(none)
N/A
N/A
1936
John Z. Machado*
(none)
(none)
N/A
N/A
1948
Melville Rogers
Melville Rogers
Melville Rogers
N/A
N/A
1952
Norman V.S. Gregory
Donald Gilchrist
Donald Gilchrist
N/A
N/A
1956
Ralph McCreath
Ralph McCreath
Ralph McCreath
N/A
N/A
1960
John Greig
John Greig
John Greig
N/A
N/A
1964
Bill Lewis
Suzanne (Morrow) Francis
Suzanne (Morrow) Francis
N/A
N/A
1968
Ralph McCreath
(none)
Ralph McCreath, Donald Gilchrist (AR)
N/A
N/A
1972
Donald B. Cruikshank
Joan MacLagan
Joan MacLagan, Donald Gilchrist (AR)
N/A
N/A
1976
Suzanne (Morrow) Francis
Ralph McCreath, Donald Gilchrist (R)
Ralph McCreath
Dorothy Leamen
N/A
1980
Alice Pinos
Donald Gilchrist (AR)
Dennis McFarlane
Suzanne (Morrow) Francis
N/A
1984
Margaret (Crosland) Berezowski, Donald Gilchrist (R)
Norris Bowden
David Dore
Ann Shaw
N/A
1988
Jean Matthews
Dennis McFarlane, Donald Gilchrist (R)
Suzanne (Morrow) Francis
Ann Shaw
N/A
1992
Jean Matthews
Mary Pearson
Dennis McFarlane
Bill McLachlan
N/A
1994
Elizabeth Clark
Audrey Williams
Frances Dafoe
Jean Senft
N/A
1998
Sally Rehorick
(none)
John Greenwood
Jean Senft
N/A
2002
(none)
Debbie Islam
Benoit Lavoie
Ann Shaw (AR)
N/A
2006
William Thompson
Benoit Lavoie, Michael Slipchuk (TS)
William Thompson, David Moellenkamp (ATS)
John Greenwood, Marie Bowness (ATS)
N/A
2010
Debbie Islam
Cynthia Benson
Andrea Derby, David Moellenkamp (TS)
Jodi Abbott
N/A
2014
(none)
Karen Howard
Karen Butcher
Jodi Abbott
Karen Butcher
2018
Janice Hunter
Nicole LeBlanc-Richard
(none)
Leanna Caron
Janice Hunter, Leanna Caron
2022
Cynthia Benson
Janice Hunter, Kelly Cruickshank (ATS)
Andrea Derby
Nicole LeBlanc-Richard
Nicole LeBlanc-Richard, Andrea Derby, Kelly Cruickshank (ATS)
*John Z. Machado withdrew from the
judging panel halfway through the men's event at the 1936 Winter
Olympic Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen due to illness and was
replaced by a German judge.
CANADA'S WORLD OFFICIALS
Year
Men's
Women's
Pairs
Ice Dance
1930
J. Cecil McDougall
J. Cecil McDougall
J. Cecil McDougall
N/A
1931
(none)
(none)
(none)
N/A
1932
Norman Mackie Scott
Norman Mackie Scott
Norman Mackie Scott
N/A
1933
(none)
(none)
(none)
N/A
1934
(none)
(none)
(none)
N/A
1935
(none)
(none)
(none)
N/A
1936
(none)
(none)
(none)
N/A
1937
(none)
(none)
(none)
N/A
1938
(none)
(none)
(none)
N/A
1939
(none)
(none)
(none)
N/A
1947
(none)
Donald B. Cruikshank
(none)
N/A
1948
Melville Rogers
Melville Rogers
Melville Rogers
N/A
1949
(none)
(none)
(none)
N/A
1950
Norman V.S. Gregory
Norman V.S. Gregory
Norman V.S. Gregory
(none)
1951
Donald Gilchrist
Donald Gilchrist
Donald Gilchrist
(none)
1952
Donald Gilchrist
Norman V.S. Gregory
Donald Gilchrist
Norman V.S. Gregory
1953
John Greig
John Greig
John Greig
(none)
1954
Melville Rogers
Melville Rogers
Melville Rogers
(none)
1955
Donald Gilchrist
Donald Gilchrist
Donald Gilchrist
(none)
1956
Ralph McCreath
Ralph McCreath
Ralph McCreath
(none)
1957
Pierrette Paquin Devine
Sandy McKechnie
Sandy McKechnie
Pierrette Paquin Devine
1958
Nigel Stephens
Gordon Jeffery
Nigel Stephens
Gordon Jeffery
1959
Donald Gilchrist
Pierrette Paquin Devine
Donald Gilchrist
Pierrette Paquin Devine
1960
Bill Lewis
Bill Lewis
Bill Lewis
Sandy McKechnie
1962
Norman V.S. Gregory
Melville Rogers
Melville Rogers
Norman V.S. Gregory
1963
Sandy McKechnie
Dick McLaughlin
Dick McLaughlin
Sandy McKechnie
1964
Pierrette Paquin Devine
Donald Gilchrist
Donald Gilchrist
Pierrette Paquin Devine
1965
Bill Lewis
Ralph McCreath
Ralph McCreath
Dorothy Leamen
1966
Suzanne (Morrow) Francis
Joan MacLagan
Suzanne (Morrow) Francis
Dorothy Leamen
1967
Donald Gilchrist
Donald B. Cruikshank
Donald Gilchrist
Frances (Abbott) Gunn
1968
Bill Lewis
Joan MacLagan
Bill Lewis
Frances (Abbott) Gunn
1969
Dorothy Leamen, Donald Gilchrist (R)
Donald B. Cruikshank
Dorothy Leamen
Barbara Lane
1970
Audrey Williams
Ralph McCreath
Ralph McCreath
George J. Blundun
1971
Donald Gilchrist (AR)
Barbara Graham
(none)
George J. Blundun
1972
Bill Lewis, Donald Gilchrist (R)
Suzanne (Morrow) Francis
Suzanne (Morrow) Francis
Audrey Moore
1973
Dorothy Leamen
Joan MacLagan
Alice Pinos, Donald Gilchrist (AR)
Frances (Abbott) Gunn
1974
Dorothy Leamen
David Dore
Dorothy Leamen, Donald Gilchrist (R)
Audrey Moore
1975
Ralph McCreath, Donald Gilchrist (AR)
Bill Lewis
Audrey Williams
Pierrette Paquin Devine
1976
Joan MacLagan
David Dore
Dorothy MacLeod, Donald Gilchrist (R)
George J. Blundun (AR), Joyce Hisey (S)
1977
David Dore
Norris Bowden
David Dore, Donald Gilchrist (R)
Joyce Hisey, George J. Blundun (AR)
1978
Dorothy MacLeod
Margaret (Crosland) Berezowski, David Dore (AR)
Norris Bowden, Donald Gilchrist (AR)
Roy Haines, George J. Blundun (R)
1979
Margaret (Crosland) Berezowski
Suzanne (Morrow) Francis
Suzanne (Morrow) Francis
Dennis McFarlane
1980
David Dore
Donald Gilchrist (AR)
Audrey Williams
Suzanne (Morrow) Francis
1981
Donald Gilchrist (R)
David Dore
Dorothy MacLeod
Joyce Hisey
1982
Norris Bowden, Dennis McFarlane (S)
Margaret (Crosland) Berezowski, Dennis McFarlane (S)
Norris Bowden
Joyce Hisey
1983
Margaret (Crosland) Berezowski
Margaret (Crosland) Berezowski
Suzanne (Morrow) Francis, Donald Gilchrist (R)
Ann Shaw
1984
Margaret (Crosland) Berezowski
(none)
Frances Dafoe, Donald Gilchrist (R)
Suzanne (Morrow) Francis, Joyce Hisey (AR)
1985
Norris Bowden
Jean Matthews
Frances Dafoe, Donald Gilchrist (AR)
Dennis McFarlane
1986
Jean Matthews
(none)
Ralph McCreath, Donald Gilchrist (R)
Bill McLachlan
1987
Jean Matthews
Donald Gilchrist (R)
Frances Dafoe
Suzanne (Morrow) Francis
1988
Jean Matthews
Audrey Moore
Suzanne (Morrow) Francis
Ann Shaw
1989
Jean Matthews
(none)
Audrey Williams, Donald Gilchrist (R)
Dennis McFarlane
1990
Audrey Williams (AR)
(none)
Frances Dafoe, Donald Gilchrist (R)
Jane Garden
1991
Mary Pearson
Jane Garden
Audrey Williams (S)
Joyce Hisey (AR)
1992
Jane Garden
(none)
Frances Dafoe (S)
(none)
1993
Elizabeth Clark
(none)
Frances Dafoe
(none)
1994
(none)
Margaret (Crosland) Berezowski
Susan Heffernan
Joyce Hisey (R)
1995
(none)
John Greenwood
Sally Rehorick (S)
Jane Garden, Ann Shaw (AR)
1996
Mary Pearson
(none)
Susan Blatz
Jean Senft, Ann Shaw (AR)
1997
Sally Rehorick
(none)
Debbie Islam
John Greenwood
1998
(none)
Susan Heffernan
(none)
Ann Shaw (R)
1999
(none)
(none)
Jane Garden
Elizabeth Clark
2000
Jane Garden
(none)
Susan Blatz
Elizabeth Clark
2001
Debbie Islam
John Greenwood (R)
Benoit Lavoie
Ann Shaw (AR)
2002
William Thompson
(none)
Sally Rehorick
John Greenwood (AR)
2003
Beth Crane
(none)
William Thompson, John Greenwood (R)
Elizabeth Clark
2004
Jean Senft
(none)
Sally Rehorick
Elizabeth Clark, Ann Shaw (R)
2005
Benoit Lavoie, Michael Slipchuk (TS)
(none)
Susan Blatz, Debbi Wilkes (ATS)
Marie Bowness (ATS)
2006
Debbie Islam, Benoit Lavoie (C)
Michael Slipchuk (TS)
Cynthia Benson, John Greenwood (R)
(none)
2007
Debbie Islam
Debbie Islam, Ravi Walia (TS)
Susan Heffernan, David Moellenkamp (ATS)
(none)
2008
Sally Rehorick (C)
Janice Hunter
Debbie Islam, David Moellenkamp (TS)
(none)
2009
(none)
Susan Heffernan (R)
Andrea Derby
(none)
2010
Ravi Walia (TS)
(none)
(none)
(none)
2011
(none)
(none)
(none)
Elizabeth Clark
2012
Ravi Walia (TS)
(none)
Andrea Derby
Jodi Abbott, Marie Bowness (TS)
2013
Beth Crane (C)
Susan Heffernan (R)
Karen Butcher, Jamie McGrigor (ATS)
Marie Bowness (TS)
2014
Benoit Lavoie
Cynthia Benson, Sally Rehorick (C)
Susan Heffernan
Leslie Keen, Shae Zukiwsky (TS)
2015
Beth Crane, Kelly Cruikshank (ATS)
(none)
Karen Howard
Rock Lemay (TS)
2016
Andrea Derby
Jean Senft, Benoit Lavoie (R), Jamie McGrigor (TS)
Benoit Lavoie
(none)
2017
Jeff Lukasik
Leanna Caron
Sally Rehorick
Nicole LeBlanc-Richard
2018
Susan Blatz, Sally Rehorick (R)
Lynne Dey
Karen Howard
Jean Senft, Marie Bowness (TS)
2019
Cynthia Benson
(none)
Andre-Marc Allain, Beth Crane (R)
Jodi Abbott (R)
2021
Ravi Walia (TS)
(none)
(none)
Marie Bowness (TS)
2022
Debbie Islam, Cynthia Benson (TC)
Karen Howard
Véronique Gosselin
(none)
2023
(none)
Beth Crane (TC)
Leanna Caron, Laurene Collin-Knoblauch (ATS)
(none)
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.
.png "Free eBook promotion")
