Over the decades, history has been made countless times at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. From record-breaking scores to technical and artistic innovations, this prestigious competition has played host to it all. Today on the blog, we recognize dozens of skaters who made some very special history of their own, as the first competitors to represent their state at the competition.
A couple of caveats to this list of history makers:
Skaters listed are the first to represent a skating club from their state at the U.S. Championships, not necessarily the first skaters from that state to compete. There are certainly many examples of skaters who were born/lived in one state and represented a skating club in another. These records were sourced from over a hundred years of data from newspaper archives, back issues of "Skating" magazine and online sources. If you notice any errors or omissions, please reach out with a primary source listing the skater, the year(s) they competed at the U.S. Championships and the club they represented and I'll be happy to correct it.
|
State |
Skater(s) |
Year |
Skating Club |
|
Alabama |
Donita Roal and Charles Bernhard IV |
1993 |
Huntsville Figure Skating Club |
|
Alaska |
Danny Clausen |
1991 |
Anchorage Figure Skating Club |
|
Arizona |
Michelle Ford and Glenn Parriott |
1972 |
Skating Club of Phoenix |
|
Arkansas |
Pooja Kalyan |
2013 |
Ozark Figure Skating Club |
|
California |
Mabel Thorns |
1935 |
Los Angeles Figure Skating Club |
|
Colorado |
Patricia Vaeth and Jack Might |
1941 |
Pikes Peak Figure Skating Club |
|
Connecticut |
Juliet (Stanton Adee) Townshend |
1914 |
New Haven Skating Club |
|
Delaware |
Donald Bachlott |
1968 |
Skating Club of Wilmington |
|
District of Columbia |
Dorothy Snell |
1940 |
Washington Figure Skating Club |
|
Florida |
Tiffany Bailey and Bill Brennan |
1989 |
Skating Club of Florida |
|
Georgia |
Leslie Sikes |
1979 |
Atlanta Figure Skating Club |
|
Hawaii |
Alyssa M. Takatsuki and Jonathan Ige |
2001 |
Hawaii Figure Skating Club |
|
Idaho |
Karen Howland |
1959 |
Sun Valley Figure Skating Club |
|
Illinois |
Charles A. McCarthy |
1921 |
Figure Skating Club of Chicago |
|
Indiana |
John E. Allen |
1957 |
Winter Club of Indianapolis |
|
Iowa |
Vivian Hayes and Bo Bergeson |
1957 |
Sioux City Figure Skating Club |
|
Kansas |
Brent Reynolds |
1981 |
Kansas City Figure Skating Club |
|
Kentucky |
Barret Brown |
1964 |
Louisville Figure Skating Club |
|
Louisiana |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
Maine |
Curt Croxford |
1967 |
Skating Club of Brunswick |
|
Maryland |
Mary Natwick |
1935 |
The Ice Club, Baltimore |
|
Massachusetts |
Nathaniel Niles, Theresa Weld Blanchard, Edith Eliot Rotch, Dr. Kingsley Field, A.W. Atkinson, L.W. Howland, Edward M. Howland, Miss Crocker, Mourtney Crocker, Miss M. Curtis, E.W. Taylor |
1914 |
Skating Club of Boston |
|
Michigan |
Herbert E. Cook |
1933 |
Olympia Skating Club |
|
Minnesota |
Chris I. Christensen, C.J. Cruikshank |
1921 |
St. Paul Figure Skating Club |
|
Mississippi |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
Missouri |
Virginia Bucher |
1937 |
Kansas City Skating Club |
|
Montana |
Mary Lou Raymond and Jack Nankervis |
1958 |
Butte Figure Skating Club |
|
Nebraska |
Jack Flom |
1947 |
Figure Skating Club of Omaha |
|
Nevada |
Casey Link |
1989 |
Las Vegas Figure Skating Club |
|
New Hampshire |
Diana Georgeou |
1979 |
Southern New Hampshire Skating Club |
|
New Jersey |
Mabel MacPherson, Marlene M.B. Fegley, Doris Gumprich |
1941 |
Atlantic City Figure Skating Club, Figure Skating Club of Northern New Jersey |
|
New Mexico |
Everett Weiss |
1992 |
Albuquerque Figure Skating Club |
|
New York |
Lucile and Irving Brokaw, Vincent Winn, Miss Palliser and Mr. L. Josephs |
1914 |
Skating Club of New York |
|
North Carolina |
Pam and Jeff Warters |
1985 |
Eastland Mall Ice Skating Club |
|
North Dakota |
Enola and Ray Schramm |
1939 |
Fargo Winter Club |
|
Ohio |
Paul Pavliska |
1938 |
Elysium Figure Skating Club, Cleveland |
|
Oklahoma |
Jeanne Leroux |
1944 |
Tulsa Figure Skating Club |
|
Oregon |
Gloria Jeske and Edward G. Worth |
1947 |
Eugene Figure Skating Club |
|
Pennsylvania |
Joseph Chapman, Oliver P. Tatum, Curtis L. Clay, Carl Borndie |
1921 |
Philadelphia Skating Club and Humane Society, Pittsburgh Skating Club |
|
Rhode Island |
Mr. and Mrs. Kennison T. Bosquet |
1941 |
East Side Skating Club of Providence |
|
South Carolina |
Carly Berrios |
2014 |
Greenville Figure Skating Club |
|
South Dakota |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
Tennessee |
Jamie-Maria Sharpe and David Walker |
1990 |
Figure Skating Club of Memphis |
|
Texas |
Sully Kothmann |
1952 |
Dallas Figure Skating Club |
|
Utah |
Vickie Carr and Paul Tassone |
1973 |
Wasatch Figure Skating Club |
|
Vermont |
Edmund Darey Nesti |
1992 |
Champlain Valley Skating Club |
|
Virginia |
Darin Hosier |
1984 |
Skating Club of Northern Virginia |
|
Washington |
Britta Lundequist, Betty Lee Bennett, Dorothy and Ralph Beymer |
1939 |
Seattle Skating Club |
|
West Virginia |
Tim Zink |
1971 |
Charleston Figure Skating Club |
|
Wisconsin |
Carol Jean Smith |
1939 |
Superior Figure Skating Club |
|
Wyoming |
Nathaniel Hess |
2003 |
Jackson Hole Figure Skating Club |
To approach the same data in a different way, here are the decades in which each state was first represented.
|
Decade |
Skates First Represented |
|
1910s |
Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York |
|
1920s |
Illinois, Minnesota, Pennsylvania |
|
1930s |
California, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, Washington, Wisconsin |
|
1940s |
Colorado, District of Columbia, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island |
|
1950s |
Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Texas |
|
1960s |
Delaware, Kentucky, Maine |
|
1970s |
Arizona, Georgia, New Hampshire, Utah, West Virginia |
|
1980s |
Florida, Kansas, Nevada, North Carolina, Virginia |
|
1990s |
Alabama, Alaska, New Mexico, Tennessee, Vermont |
|
2000s |
Hawaii, Wyoming |
|
2010s |
Arkansas, South Carolina |
|
Unrepresented as of 2024 |
Louisiana, Mississippi, South Dakota |
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