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Created in 2013, Skate Guard is a blog that focuses on overlooked and underappreciated areas of the history of figure skating, whether that means a topic completely unknown to most readers or a new look at a well-known skater, time period, or event. There's plenty to explore, so pour yourself a cup of coffee and get lost in the fascinating and fabulous history of everyone's favourite winter sport!

Jim Hulick

 James Ralph Hulick

December 1, 1951-December 10, 1989

Born in West Covina, California, Jim Hulick got his start in figure skating at the Valley Figure Skating Club. After winning the bronze medal in the novice pairs event at the 1968 Pacific Coast Championships with Kathleen McKinney, he teamed up with Laurie Brandel. Laurie and Jim won the 1970 Pacific Coast junior pairs title. Jim and his third partner, Cynthia Van Valkenberg, won the U.S. junior pairs title in 1971 and placed in the top ten in senior pairs at both the 1972 and 1973 U.S. Championships. Jim turned professional in 1976 to skate with a show in Atami, Japan and went on tour with the Ice Follies and coach future World Champions Kristi Yamaguchi and Rudy Galindo. He passed away on December 10, 1989 at the age of thirty-eight.

Jim Hulick and Glenn Southard

Jim's obituary from "Skating" magazine: "James Hulick, 38, prominent pairs coach and former champion, died of cancer in West Covina, California. Hulick was the 1971 U.S. Junior Pairs Champion, with partner Cynthia Van Valkenberg, and following a career with Ice Follies International, he began coaching four years later. Among his most prominent students... were current U.S. Senior Pair Champions Kristi Yamaguchi and Rudi Galindo whose career he guided from its beginning. In 1987 he coached Galindo to the World Junior Men's title and in 1988 guided the team to the World Junior Pairs title. Despite his illness which was diagnosed in August 1988, he continued coaching and last summer conducted a pair's seminar for the Canadian Figure Skating Association in Calgary, Canada. 'It always seemed like he blocked out his sickness for us,' Galindo said. 'I really do have admiration for him to put all the medical things aside to do something for us.' Hulick traveled to Kobe, Japan, with Yamaguchi and Galindo to the NHK competition over Thanksgiving. He checked into the hospital upon his return to the U.S. and died two weeks later on December 10."

*Source for inclusion: "Icebreaker: The Autobiography of Rudy Galindo", Rudy Galindo, Eric Marcus, 1997

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