Gregory John Welch
May 22, 1957-April 28, 1987
New York's Greg Welch got his start in skating at the Skaneateles Figure Skating Club at the age of twelve. At the 1972 Middle Atlantic Figure Skating Championships, he won the bronze medal in mixed pairs with Kathy Edmonds. Two years later, he won the New England Regional novice pairs title with Susan Gundersen. Susan and Greg went on to win the bronze medal in novice pairs at the 1974 Eastern Championships. Greg was also the winner of the Niagara Invitational Competition in Buffalo. He went on tour with the Ice Capades and perform at Knott's Berry Farm and Radio City Music Hall. He passed away on April 28, 1987 at the age of twenty-nine, leaving behind his partner Dennis Coi.
Greg Welch (center) in "Paradise On Ice". Photo courtesy New York Public Library.
Greg's obituary from the "Syracuse Post-Standard": "Gregory J. Welch, 29, of 4044 Jordan Road, Skaneateles, died Tuesday at University Hospital. A native of Auburn, Mr. Welch lived 19 years in Skaneateles. He was a professional ice skater 11 years. He was a principal skater with the Ice Capades and most recently with Radio City Music Hall in New York City. When Skaneateles' Austin Park rink opened, Mr. Welch began skating on a daily basis, but, at the age of 12, he said in a 1985 interview, 'I was too late to get into competitive skating.' His first professional job was with Ice Capades in the summer of 1976 and in four years he made the rank of principal skater. Then he left. 'After four years, I had my fill of it', he said in the interview. 'It really gets to you.' Mr. Welch appeared on the NBC's 'Big' but that was quickly canceled. He was able to move into the Knott's Berry Farm show in California. Mr. Welch worked with his sister, Laurie, when he auditioned for 'Paradise', a show in which she was already working. The two skated as a team with that show and with the Radio City show during the 1985 Christmas season. Mr. Welch was a communicant of St. Mary's of the Lake Church."
Memories from Greg's sister Laurie: "He was a great brother. He was six years older and was extremely creative. He was the reason I got into skating, because I wanted to be just like him. He would babysit for my brother and I because he was older than us. Whenever he would babysit for us - like if it was an entire weekend or something - he would organize a huge production. He knew where my Dad's video camera was and would save his money and go buy a blank tape. He would have these elaborate productions and I was always the star. He would do set design, costumes, make-up and run rehearsals. The people that were in his 'shows' or movies were all my friends, my other brother Chris' friends and neighbour kids... We performed at Radio City Music Hall together for two years - 1985 and 1986. The funny story there was that when we auditioned, we heard it was on synthetic ice. We didn't really skate together ever but we put together this nice little routine. When we got to the audition, we realized it was being held on real ice. We had our other blades on that we would wear for synthetic ice. We were an absolute disaster! Each one of us fell. We left there and were just horrified and we thought, 'Oh my gosh, how embarrassing! That was the worst audition ever.' We went back to our apartment and the phone rang and we were offered the job. We both said, 'Are you sure you called the right people?' Robin Cousins and Peggy Fleming came in and they filmed the Radio City Christmas show and they cut where our skating segment was and put in Robin and Peggy at Rockefeller Center in our spot. Greg was so mad! If you look closely at that video, there are snowmen and trees on the stage at Radio City. If you look behind the trees, you'll see Greg standing up. We were told to crouch down behind the trees so that they could film that part and cut to Rockefeller Center but because Greg was so mad he was like, 'I'm not crouching damn it!'... He was just such a phenomenal person and he and Dennis were the funniest couple. They adored each other."
*Source for inclusion: National AIDS Memorial, The Names Project Memorial Quilt
