Explore

The First Skaters From Each State To Compete At The U.S. Figure Skating Championships

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.

Mabel Thorns, the first skater from California to compete at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Photo courtesy Yosemite National Park Archives.

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


Alyssa M. Takatsuki and Jonathan Ige, the first skaters from Hawaii to compete at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships

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

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 FacebookTwitterPinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of "Jackson Haines: The Skating King" and pre-ordering "Sequins, Scandals & Salchows: Figure Skating in the 1980s", which will be released this fall where books are sold: https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.