A Hungarian Hero: The György Czakó Story

Born July 11, 1933 in Budapest, Hungary, György Czakó first took to the ice at the age of six. "I was a late child because my father was a soldier in the first World War and spent four and a half years as a prisoner in Siberia," explained the eighty two year old in a series of February 2016 interviews. "I was about three or four years old when I got tuberculosis. Because in this time, there was no medicine (antibiotics, penicillin) against this disease, yet I was not allowed to walk. When the disease was over, the doctor suggested to my parents that they should take me to fresh air, for instance to skate outside."

Czakó's first efforts at the Városligeti Műjégpálya were not met with encouragement. "The first coach told me I should go home and never skate any more because I am not talented," he explained. "Others told me just work hard and you will be successful. I believed the others. In those times, we had only one skating rink in Budapest. Beautiful region, but it was open only four months a year." Despite limited ice time, by the age of eighteen the young skater who once told to never skate again was Hungary's senior men's champion.

The following year, the rising star was sent to represent his country at the 1952 European Championships. He finished eighth of ten entries and was named to Hungary's six member Olympic team. In Oslo, Czakó finished in twelfth place but performed alongside medallists Jeannette Altwegg and teammates Marianna Nagy and her brother László in the closing ceremonies. He drew inspiration from his more seasoned competitors. "Naturally there were other skaters as models for me," he said. "I looked up to Dick Button who was Olympic Champion before the silver medallist Ede Király from Hungary. If you want to win you have to learn everything from the better ones and add something which is individual. At least this should be aimed for."

Not in the least discouraged by last place finishes at both the 1953 European and World Championships, Czakó soldiered on and tried new things. He skated pairs with Olympic teammate
Eszter Jurek and invented the Czakó jump, a variation on the Walley. He explained, "we were out in [the] Soviet Union to 'change experience' at the time when the Soviet figure skating was in [its] infancy. When we were out there the second time, I noticed that the eighty second jump in a register of a Russian coach is the Czakó jump. Then at the Olympic Games it turned out that this jump was invented in the west as well and was called Robertson, somewhere else Walley." The difference between the Czakó jump and the Robertson jump, as the Hungarian Champion explained, is in the take off: the Czakó from a crossover, the Robertson from a serpentine.

After defeating future Olympic Gold Medallist Manfred Schnelldorfer at the 1955 European Championships in his home city and winning a silver medal at the Winter Universiade, Czakó turned professional, joining a Hungarian ice revue. "I turned to the Hungarian skating show in 1957," he explained. "I skated as soloist seven years in this show. There where about thirty five to forty skaters but it seemed for the audience more because of the [frequent costume changes]. The other soloists beside me were Marietta Marik, Marianna Nagy, Gábor Vida, Gyula Jelfy and Györgyi Botond. The themes were build up from different musicals, operettas, country and Hungarian musics, Gypsy stories and chansons. Each part or duration was about a quarter of an hour. The show had its own orchestra with ten members. We had our own theatre with nine hundred seat places and 10 X 10 meter ice surface."

The popular Hungarian skater remained with the ice revue for its entire run. "I stopped performing in 1965 when the show finished," he confirmed. "Then I did the coach exam, and started coaching in a little town south from Budapest. There were a couple of talented skaters and we organized competitions and invited the skaters from Budapest and we went to competitions in Budapest also. My skaters beat the other ones from Budapest often. After two years, I continued coaching in Budapest. My best memories as a coach were when my daughter [Krisztina] became silver medallist at European Championship in 1997 in Paris. She won a Skate Canada in Edmonton also." He also served as President of the Budapest Skating Club for many years and worked as a mechanical engineer.

Czakó reflected amazement as to how the sport has progressed both in Hungary and internationally since the fifties when he competed: "Naturally figure skating developed very much in the whole world since then. There was only two skaters in the world who could jump a double Axel. The one was Olympic Champion Dick Button and the other one was Hungarian Champion Ede Király, the second in the world. Now a double Axel is a compulsory jump for a ten year old skater. There were no triple jumps yet. In the meantime, we had a World Champion couple in ice dancing, a European Champion and two silver medallist winners at the European Championships. We now have successes in short track [speed skating] also." The Hungarian skating world owes a great debt to this man who has worked tirelessly to encourage the growth of skating in his country. The fact his first coach told to go home and never skate again is yet another shining example of one of skating's enduring lessons: there will always be people who have absolutely no clue what they are talking about.

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.

Pioneering Professional Pairs: Dazzling Duos You Didn't Know

At the 2016 World Figure Skating Championships in Boston, Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford brought the audience to their feet with their brilliant "Hometown Glory" free skate on their way to their second consecutive World title. With side-by-side triple Lutzes and a throw triple Lutz, a throw quadruple Salchow, high flying triple twist and a challenging side-by-side triple toe/double toe/double toe combination, they pushed the boundaries of what pairs skaters can achieve on the frozen stage. It was without a doubt one of the difficult and daring displays on ice in recent memory.

After watching a performance like Meagan and Eric's, it's incredible to think how far the discipline pairs skating has come since the days of Madge and Edgar Syers and The Brunet's. Many trailblazing teams have paved the way for today's duos but unfortunately, the stories of some have been unfairly forgotten. Today's blog highlights several pioneering professional pairs teams that you may never have heard of: eight unsung skating heroes who each in their own way made important contributions to the discipline.

CATHLEEN POPE AND GEORGE KERNER

By 1915, figure skating was fast becoming a socially acceptable and popular pursuit amongst New York City's high society. At the St. Nicholas Rink, amateur and professional skaters alike rubbed elbows with the rich and famous. Names like Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt, Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Gould, tennis champion Edith Rotch and Mrs. John Jacob Astor all frequented the rink at one point or another. Cathleen Pope and George Kerner, a professional pairs team, too regularly skated at the rink. This athletic duo performed alongside Charlotte Oelschlägel in the ice ballet that was part of the "Hip, Hip Hooray!" variety show at The Hippodrome as well as in "The Big Show" which gave four hundred and twenty five performances in around half a year. They also took the stage at the College Inn at the Hotel Sherman in Chicago. Pope and Kerner were particularly known as one of the earliest teams to introduce more athletic, adagio style lifts to their pairs programs. James A. Cruikshank mentions the two in his 1921 book "Figure Skating For Women", noting their use of waltzing for dramatic effect in their choreography: "Amerikaner Waltz, is a fine figure for pair-skating and capable of many developments. Its success in the beautiful numbers skated by George Kerner and Cathleen Pope in the New York Hippodrome taught many American skaters that they had been neglecting a very interesting and comparatively easy number."

SIGRID AND ALFRED NAESS

The son of an army sargeant, Norwegian born Alfred Naess earned his stripes not as a figure skater but as a speed skater. He won both the Norwegian and European all-around speed skating titles in the 1890's and during his tenure in the sport set three world records and won two five hundred meter races at the World Championships. After retiring from speed skating, he teamed up with an Austrian skater named Freda Maier-Westorgaard and they performed vaudeville style acts as a professional pairs team in Europe. In 1913, he arrived in America. Within a year, he and wife Sigrid were performing as a figure skating pair alongside Will Phillips in "The Elopers", a vaudeville stage production in Chicago. Ice was made in June especially to incorporate the pair's theatre performance. Alfred Naess' particular skill as a figure skater was noted in the St. John Daily Sun on March 10, 1897: "Mr. Naess is beyond all question the finest fancy skater ever seen in this part of the country." The married pair continued performing in shows in America but both returned to her native Austria later in life, where the pair died in almost perfect unison within a year of each other in the fifties.

ELSBETH AND GEORGE MULLER

Susan Brownell's wonderfully detailed "Figure Skating in St. Louis – After 90 years, 'Meet Me in St. Louis'" offers a fantastic primer on the history of this professional pairs team and coaching duo, who really fall under the category of ice dance pioneers more than pairs pioneers but as the lines were blurry back in those days, I think it's fair to include them. Brownell states "The club invited the professional George Muller and his sister Elsbeth to visit during the skating seasons from 1917-1919. George was a Berliner who had performed before heads of state in Sweden and Canada, while his sister Elsbeth had been a pioneer in introducing 'fancy skating' to German women. In 1912 Muller had been invited by the Boston Skating Club to introduce the international style of figure skating in America. He was affiliated with several American clubs and is today remembered as the inventor of the Dutch Waltz, Fiesta Tango, Willow Waltz, and Ten Fox dances." Now I've got that dreadful Dutch Waltz music stuck in my head again! Thanks a lot, George! This pair performed in carnivals in the clubs they taught at and also found success as the inventors of literally dozens of pattern dances for roller skaters such as the Adora Fox Trot, Aeroplane Dance, Berliner Waltz and Carnival Tango. The St. Louis Skating Club flourished under their presence much as young skaters testing their preliminary dances do when swing rolling their way to a pass.

BROR LUDWIG MEYER AND EMMY BERGFELT

Immigrants from Sweden who arrived at Ellis Island prior to World War I, this brother/sister team might have matched beautifully on the ice but there was certainly quite the age gap going on. Bror was nineteen years Emmy's senior but that didn't stop them from spending some quality sibling time on the ice together dazzling crowds. I always have a soft spot for brothers and sisters who skate together because my sister and I both spent so many years growing up on the ice together so this team's story really spoke to me, being the big brother myself. Bror was an accomplished singles skater who beat Olympic Silver and Bronze Medallists Richard Johansson and Per Thorén to win the 1906 Swedish men's title in younger years and finished third at that year's World Championships in Munich.

His sister hadn't enjoyed the same success as a competitive skater but when they came together as a professional pair it was magic. The pair performed shows in New York City at Madison Square Garden to appreciative audiences and Meyer even penned a book called "Skating With Bror Meyer". He was a staunch advocate for professional competitions, as evidenced in this quote from The New York Times: "Bror Meyer, the professional figure skater, made a plea for professional competition recently at the St. Nicholas Ice Rink. Mr. Meyer contended that standards in skating would be bettered if there were such contests." I couldn't agree with him more and only wish Bror and Emmy would have had the opportunity. Sadly, Bror passed away on May 26, 1956.

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.

The 1898 World Figure Skating Championships

Picture it... February 15, 1898. The third of the ISU's sanctioned World Championships converged on London, England and it wasn't an altogether happy affair for everyone involved. The skating establishment in Great Britain at the time were largely proponents of the rigid English Style of skating and weren't - needless to say - too keen on the competitive side of skating nor on skaters who supported the 'new fangled' Continental and International Styles showing up in town and showing off their less rigid skills. The show went on whether everyone liked it or not.

It wouldn't be until four years later when the event returned to London that Madge Syers would compete against the men and set the ball in motion to offer female skaters opportunities to compete in ISU competitions, so in 1898 it was a 'boy's only' treehouse type affair. As the ISU at the time allowed the federations hosting international events to provide more than one judge if an insufficient number of judges arrived, four of the six judges (W.F. Adams, C.E. Bell, A.F. Jenkin and J.H. Thomson) were from Great Britain. Austria's C. Fillunger and Sweden's Clarence von Rosen (who would disturbingly later play a major role in drumming up support for the Nazis in Sweden) rounded out the panel. The competition was held at the National Skating Palace at Hengler's Circus, Argyll Street, which is now better known as the site of the London Palladium. In attendance were King Edward VII (then Heir Apparent to the crown) and other members of the British royal family. By all accounts, the appreciative crowd was packed like sardines to watch the events of this historic first major international competition in England unfold.

In the first phase of the event, twenty seven year old defending champion Gustav Hügel of Austria amassed a twenty point lead on his closest competitor, Gilbert Fuchs of Germany. Henning Grenander of Sweden sat a distant third, with the lone British entry H.C. Holt finishing a disastrous fourth. A fifth skater, Lars Wiik of Sweden, withdrew. When I say Holt was disastrous, I mean disastrous. Holt was no less than seven hundred and ninety two points behind the leader and seven hundred and eleven points behind Grenander. I do not think even a surprise 1898 triple Axel would have got him out of a bind of that kind. One can deduce that as judges were evaluating based on the International Style as described in the ISU's 'Wettlauf-Ordnung' rulebook, it is quite possible that Holt was stubbornly performing in the vastly contrasting English Style and was marked accordingly. Either that or he bombed... but seven hundred and ninety two points behind on school figures is staggering. I'm including a translation of the ISU's explanation of the International Style below so you can see what the judges were looking for:

Let's move on to the second and final phase of the competition: free skating. In "The Book Of Winter Sports", Olympic Bronze Medallist Edgar Syers offered a review of the 1898 men's event: "The skating of Herren Grenander, Stockholm, Fuchs, Munich, and Hugel, Vienna, introduced the
spectators to what was, to most of them, a new art: it was, in effect, not skating at all, in the sense in which it hitherto had been understood. The three competitors, though demonstrating that the broad principles of international skating are alike and consistent, yet indicated clearly the influence of the
several schools to which they belong. The skating of the Swede was energetic, dashing, full of force and swing, that of the Bavarian large, easy, accurate, and with a suggestion of latent power, while the Austrian excelled in light, graceful, rapid movements, combined with perfect rhythm and timekeeping." Apples, oranges and bananas... the unique international stylings of the three visiting men's skaters opened the eyes of British skating to whole new world of possibilities out there.

Interestingly, in an era when compulsory figures counted for so much, it was the free skating event that won Grenander the title. With a one hundred and thirty point lead on the reigning World Champion Hügel, Grenander managed to move up from third to first to edge the more elegant Viennese skater by a mere 8.1 points. Talk about cutting those counters and choctaws close. Let's take a look at the ordinals from this event as found in the 1967 ISU publication "Seventy-five years of European and world’s championships in figure skating":

Going back to the start of this blog where I mentioned that the competition wasn't an altogether happy affair for a minute, Hügel and Fuchs weren't exactly thrilled about being beat by Grenander. According to ISU rules at the time, skaters or federations had to put up a sum of their own money equalling the entrance fee they had paid just to compete just to PROTEST the results, and the Germans and Austrians did, believing that the Swedish judge and two of the British judges (Adams and Jenkin) had been overly generous in their scoring of Grenander in the free skating. Despite the demands of the silver and bronze medallist for the result to be overturned, the protest was ignored by the ISU. Does anyone else smell Sochi or is it just me? After this scandal, Henning Grenander left competitive skating with his reputation as a superb skater and World title intact.

In addition to the judging scandal, I think one of the most notable aspects of this competition was truly how it exposed Great Britain to a whole new world. There continued to be detractors though. Two days later in The Globe, a member of the London Skating Club remarked that "it would be ungracious to criticize in any adverse tone the style of foreign skaters... But probably no one will feel aggrieved if we so as far as to regret the concession made by Mr. Grenander (of Sweden) to what was once considered the degenerate practice of bending the knees." An article from the February 16, 1898 issue of The Manchester Guardian (sourced from Mary Louise Adams' wonderful book "Artistic Impressions") was much more forgiving: "Indeed it must have been a revelation to the English skaters that with so much swinging of the arms and legs there could yet be an appearance of grace and beauty. [Huegel's] skating was quite free from the jerkiness or stiffness which is so common in Englishmen, who try to conceal every movement as much as possible. If movement is to be allowed... as one thinks it must be, let it be free and open. Properly developed it certainly gives a rhythm and vitality which are very charming to watch."

The actual ISU rules surrounding judging for the 1898 World Championships

Holt ultimately finished the competition in fourth and last place over a thousand points behind Grenander and this had to have shown the proponents of the English Style that they needed to get on board if they didn't want to get trounced again in front of The King four years later, for it was in 1902 that Edgar Syers' own wife Madge took the world to task and won the silver medal behind Ulrich Salchow, competing against the men. After all, it was Edgar Syers and Herbert Ramon Yglesias who were behind lobbying the ISU to hold the 1898 World Championships in London in the first place. I wonder if they ever dreamed where that ball they set in motion in the nineteenth century would take skating in the twenty first century. It almost seems incomprehensible now, but it all started somewhere with someone challenging the status quo.

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.

The 1965 World Figure Skating Championships

Ludmila Belousova, Petra Burka and Oleg Protopopov. Photo courtesy Dutch National Archives.

From March 2 to 7, 1965, the Broadmoor Palace played host to the first World Championships on North American soil since the 1961 Sabena tragedy that claimed the lives of the entire U.S. World team. Incredibly - just four years after the catastrophe - American skaters rose to the occasion, repeating their 1959 achievement of having a medallist in all four disciplines at Worlds. Full of fascinating figures, the 1965 World Championships from start to finish were full of memorable moments. Pour yourself a cup of tea and prepare yourself for a trip down memory lane!

THE ICE DANCE COMPETITION

Eva Romanová and Pavel Roman. Photo courtesy "Miroir-Sprint" magazine.

The ice dance event got off to a rocky start in the compulsories. In her book "Figure Skating History: The Evolution Of Dance On The Ice", Lynn Copley-Graves noted that "the Rocker Foxtrot and Westminster Waltz dragged on for nearly three hours, with lengthy conferences between judges and referees. Judges marched on and off the ice after each dance because they could not sit on the ice, as was custom, in the narrow (85 X 90 feet) rink. One conference concerned marks ranging from 3.0 (Mme. Lysiane Lauret) to 5.4 (Margaret Ridgely) for a Canadian couple. The next night all returned to skate the Blues and Kilian..." In the end, Czechoslovakian siblings Eva Romanová and Pavel Roman retained their lead after the compulsories, winning the free dance and the World title. Having won the previous three years, their win was largely expected. Copley-Graves recorded that "no couple could hope to oust Pavel and Roman in the free dance... With amazing cohesion in their free leg movements, Eva and Pavel amassed a fourth consecutive World title. They did not skate in the exaggerated straight-back position of the British, with the result that came across as more fluid. Their innovative free dance energized the audience." The British team Copley-Graves referred to were none other than Janet Sawbridge and David Hickinbottom, who I bet got teased a lot in school. North American Champions Lorna Dyer and John Carrell, students of World Champion Jean Westwood, claimed the bronze ahead of Diane Towler and Bernard Ford, who made an unprecedented leap in the ice dance standings from fifth in the compulsories to second in their free dance, which received an ovation. In fifth were another team coached by Westwood, American Champions Kristin Fortune and Dennis Sveum. Canada's top ice dance team that year was Carole Forrest of the Upper Canada Skating Club and Kevin Lethbridge of the Lakeshore Figure Skating Club, in eighth.

THE PAIRS COMPETITION

Prior to the pairs event, Frank Hokomo (the head of the USFSA's Judging Committee) was busy talking smack about the competition to reporters. He said that "the Russian pairs are not good skaters by themselves. I realize this is heresy, but I believe any of the top American pairs are better skaters. The difference is that the Russians have more speed, more unison and better ballet precision. But our pairs can do more difficult moves in two minutes than the Russians can do in five."

Ludmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov. Photo courtesy "Miroir-Sprint" magazine.

Despite his criticism, the reigning Olympic Gold Medallists, twenty nine year old Ludmila Belousova and thirty two year old Oleg Protopopov made history at the 1965 World Championships, winning the Soviet Union's first World title in any discipline with ease. Siblings Vivian and Ronald Joseph, representing the Broadmoor Skating Club on home ice, settled for silver. The bronze in the pairs event that year went to another Soviet pair, Tatiana Zhuk and Alexander Gorelik, students of the notorious Stanislav Zhuk. Neither of Canada's teams were able to make the top ten.

THE WOMEN'S COMPETITION

Tides would change for the Canadian team in the women's event. Eighteen year old Petra Burka of Toronto breezed in and took a very solid lead in the school figures over her chief rival, twenty one year old European Champion Regine Heitzer of Austria. In third and fourth places after the figures were two young American skaters, sixteen year old Peggy Fleming of Pasadena, California and seventeen year old Christine Haigler of Colorado Springs, who was recently injured at the time. Though Peggy was from California, she trained alongside Christine at the Broadmoor under Carlo Fassi.

When it came time for free skating, Petra Burka wasn't perfect but she was absolutely exciting. Despite a fall on a double flip, she was the unanimous choice of all nine judges. Her marks all ranged from 5.7 to 5.9 and the top four after the figures remained in their same positions. The March 5, 1965 edition of the Montreal Gazette wrote that "the Canadian star, wearing an emerald-green costume with a green ribbon in her high-piled black hair, rolled a beautiful double lutz and a double axel and excellent height into her spirited performance. Miss Heitzer was expected to give the Canadian girl a strong battle for the title, but her free skating was not up to the standard of Petra's." On the same day, the Jamestown Post-Journal too sang Burka's praises: "Miss Burka had been rated before her victory as the best feminine figure skater in the world, and she put italics to that judgment with her bravura performance. Some experts who watched her said it was one of the most difficult programs of free skating ever attempted by any amateur skater."

However, the men's competition at the Broadmoor in 1965 had to be the most hotly contested. Of the twenty men competing, all but SIX would win a medal at the Olympic, World, European or North American Championships at some point in their career. Think about that for a minute!

THE MEN'S COMPETITION

Twenty four year old pre-medical student at the University Of Paris Alain Calmat, in his eleventh World Championships the oldest competitor, took a strong lead with 1135.2 points and 15.5 ordinals in the school figures. In second with 1112.2 points was Dundas, Ontario's Donald Knight, a lanky seventeen year old redheaded student of Sheldon Galbraith. Third was twenty year old European Champion Emmerich Danzer of Austria with 1110.8 points and in fourth was sixteen year old Scotty Allen of Smoke Rise, New Jersey with 1102.3 points. Taking himself out of the running for a medal was North American Champion Gary Visconti, who finished a disappointing ninth heading into the free skate. In a press conference after the figures, Danzer confidently said  "It should be a hard fight. I am a good free skater. So is Calmat. But I feel sure I will do well." Calmat stated, "I feel quite confident although you never know what might happen in any free-skating performance. You can always fall."

With so many great skaters in contention for medals, a showdown was brewing. There were many surprises. The March 8, 1965 edition of the Toledo Blade noted that twenty three year old Japanese skater "[Nobuo] Sato drew a thunderous ovation from the crowd for an enthusiastic display of bladework, during which he recovered smiling from a fall at one corner of the rink." Visconti delivered a fine free skate to move up to sixth while Danzer faltered, falling on one jump and stepping out of another. If any skater stole the show, however, it was Scotty Allen, who moved up from fourth to take the silver ahead of Knight. Calmat, on the basis of his strong lead in the figures, won his first and only World title. Interviewed in the March 6, 1965 edition of the Gettysburg Times, Knight said, "I skated my best. I did as well as I possibly could. I'm very happy. I feel very proud to have done as well as this after finishing ninth last year. My goal when I came out here was to try to finish among the top five."

Photo courtesy "Miroir-Sprint" magazine.

Alain Calmat, proud of his performance, chose to announce his retirement: "I think now I will quit. I may change my mind later but I've been skating in these championships since I was 14 and now that I've won it, it would be a good time to stop." He was probably right to do so. Over the next two Olympic cycles, his fellow 1965 Worlds competitors like Danzer, Wolfgang Schwarz, Ondrej Nepela, Tim Wood, Sergei Chetverukhin and Patrick Péra would utterly dominate men's figure skating. Sometimes you've get out to get out while the gettin's good, as they say in some twangy country song I'd rather not hear.

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.

Theresa's Mail Bag: A Post-War North American Figure Skating Census

Olympic Bronze Medallist, North American Champion and fifteen time U.S. Champion Theresa Weld Blanchard was not only the grand dame of U.S. ladies and pairs skating in post-World War I America but one of the founding editors of the United States Figure Skating Association's official magazine "Skating". Weld Blanchard and her pairs partner Nathaniel Niles first edited the magazine together until his death in 1931 and then for over thirty years - until 1963 in fact - she produced the magazine out of her own home!

In the last Skate Guard blog, we took an in depth look into this Massachusetts skating legend's life and career. What we didn't cover was an absolutely daunting letter stuffing effort that Weld Blanchard undertook during World War II. In 1940, she actually sent out over six THOUSAND surveys to figure skaters in the United States and Canada asking them a wide variety of questions about their interest and involvement in the sport. She then received all of the respondent's completed surveys back and tabulated, compiled and published the results. I'm sure the post office in Brookline, Massachusetts just loved her. Hell, she probably kept them in business!

I actually kind of love her too, because this is interesting stuff to say the least. Weld Blanchard's findings, republished in the November 7, 1940 edition of the St. Maurice Valley Chronicle were as follows:

EXPENSES

"Last year, these figure-skaters spent approximately $700,000 on their sport; $194,000 on lessons, $155,000 on club dues, $90,000 on skating clothes, $58,000 on skating shoes, $56,000 on skates, and $16,000 on skating books. The total expenditure last winter exceeded that of 1938-39 by $100,000 and it is predicted that the growing interest in the game will cause still an additional $100,000 to be spent this season."

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

"Forty-six per cent of North America's figure skaters live in the northeastern part of the United States; 22 per cent in the U.S. Middle West; 14 per cent in Canada and another 14 per cent on the Pacific Coast. The remaining four per cent are distributed in South and in the Rocky Mountain States."

TRAINING

"Ninety-three per cent are members of private figure-skating clubs. In order of preference they like dancing, free skating and school figures, but admit they require more instruction in school figures, which they like least of all, than in other forms of figure-skating."

PRIORITIES

"Eighty-eight per cent of the skaters canvassed named figure-skating as their favourite game; the remainder designated other sports they liked better."

LIFE OFF THE ICE

"Sixty-one per cent of the figure-skaters questioned work for a living; 28 per cent attend school and eight per cent are house wives."

LENGTH OF CAREERS

"Sixty-four per cent have been skating for more than two years; the average for eight years. All but two per cent will continue skating this winter, while 93 per cent indicated the intention to improve this season."

GENDER

"Fifty-eight per cent of the figure-skaters are women, having an average age of 23. Men figure-skaters are older, their average age being 35, according to information elicited by the survey."

THOUGHTS

While much has certainly changed incrementally in the decades that have followed, I really can't say I'm that surprised by some of the results of Weld Blanchard's survey. Some standout figures in my mind were the sixty one percent of skaters who worked to subsidise their training expenses. It makes absolute sense given the strict amateur restrictions of that era, the fact a war was going on and (surprise, surprise) skating costs a lot of money. Talking strictly about non-skating related income, I think those numbers would certainly be lower among competitive athletes these days. Don't even get me started on the 'house wives' terminology... but again, it was a different time. The fact that the scales tipped with more females than males skating was no shocker to me either nor were the ages having studied that era quite extensively but I do think to those who aren't as familiar, the men's average age of thirty five might be a bit of a startling figure. 

Here's the one fact that I thought was the coolest: the sixteen thousand dollars spent on instructional books. From Irving Brokaw's 1913 book "The Art Of Skating" to Maribel Vinson Owen's wonderful books as well as more classic offerings detailing the International Style like George H. Browne's "A Handbook Of Figure Skating Arranged For Use On The Ice With Over Eight Hundred Diagrams And Illustrations And Suggestions For Nearly Ten Thousand Figures", skaters were serious about READING about the sport back in Weld Blanchard's glory days. It was cool to see the numbers reflect that. Again, sadly I think you'd be hard pressed to find more than a handful of tactile instructional books on the sport on many skater's bookshelves in North America these days. 

At the risk of sounding like some sort of out of touch thirtysomething codger yearning for the 'good old days' of figure skating long before I was born, I think the lesson reflected in these numbers was simply that skaters back in 1940 took their sport every bit as seriously even when there wasn't a cent to be made to be made from it... and they weren't retiring at nineteen or twenty. We absolute owe a debt of posthumous thanks to Theresa Weld Blanchard for the incredible amount work put into this decades old census of North American skaters. It's fascinating looking back at these numbers now and seeing just how much the sport has changed as we look towards all of the excitement at this week's World Figure Skating Championships in Tee's home state.

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.

The Pride Of Brookline: The Theresa Weld Blanchard Story

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

"The skating world carries on." - Theresa 'Tee' Weld Blanchard, "Skating" magazine, October 1943

On August 21, 1893 in Brookline, Massachusetts, twenty year old Theresa (Davis) Weld gave birth to her first child, a daughter she too named Theresa. A year later came a son named Walter. Alfred Winsor Weld and his wife Theresa were affluent members of the community, boasting no less than five Scottish and Irish servants for their family of four. They were active in Boston's burgeoning skating scene, so much so that Alfred Winsor Weld was actually one of the founding members of the Skating Club Of Boston and its second President. This involvement afforded the family a position of privilege in the skating club and starting at the age of twelve, young Theresa would harness and drive her pony and cart three miles from the family's home to the Boston club to skate. Under the tutelage of George and Elsbeth Müller, Theresa honed her craft for several years before she decided to enter the competitive skating scene at the age of twenty one in 1914. Her debut at the U.S. Championships in New Haven, Connecticut that year was a dream start to anyone's career. In addition to winning the ladies title, she won the waltzing competition with Nathaniel Niles and finished second in the pairs event behind Canadians Norman Scott and Jeanne Chevalier.

Photos courtesy "Skating" magazine

With no U.S. Championships held the following three years, Theresa and partner Nathaniel Niles kept busy by giving exhibitions on the lake in Tuxedo Park, New York alongside eminent skaters of the era including Chevalier, Mr. and Mrs. Irving Brokaw, Norval Baptie and Gladys Lamb. One thing to keep in mind about most of the competitions in the U.S. during that era was that they were absolutely not strictly nationalistic affairs. Canadian and even European skaters sometimes entered. Such was the case in 1917, when Theresa won the Hippodrome Challenge Cup in New York. Interestingly, much like in the case of Madge Syers competing against Ulrich Salchow, this particular competition pitted men against women. Although she beat two men (Niles and G.M. Lynes), it was her victory at this event over a British woman living in New York City, Rosemary Beresford, that began an quiet rivalry between the two skaters.

When the U.S. Championships returned the following year at New York City's St. Nicholas Rink, it was Rosemary Beresford who was victorious by building up such a gap in the marking after the school figures that Theresa was unable to bridge with her free skating performance, however lovely. The February 7, 1918 edition of the "New York Sun" praised her effusely: "Regarding Miss Weld in particular last night there was poetry, music and rhythm in each glide, bend and away. For beauteous grace and rhythmic movements Pavlova of the twinkling toes can give no lessons to Theresa of the flashing blades. Her style in the fundamentals, the first part of the programme, was next to faultless. It was finished, studious, typically Bostonian in attention to every detail yet with all so smoothly executed as to belie the effort and study of technique that lay behind it... In the free skating... Miss Weld 'trotted' over the ice with a graceful abandon that delighted the onlookers. She executed the difficult figures of the ice tango with movements devoid of effort or exertion, fading and melting one figure into another as she wove with infinite grace and wondrous skill the separate parts into a harmonious whole. Like a Norse elf she flitted over the ice with effort so craftily hidden as to make her appear wafted along by some unseen air current." Despite Theresa's loss of the ladies title, she and Nathaniel did win that year's pairs competition, defeating Sherwin Badger and Mrs. Clara Frothingham. However, Rosemary Beresford's victory over Theresa only fuelled the rivalry between the two women. According to the February 17, 1918 issue of The New York Tribune, Mrs. Beresford "challenged Miss Weld to skate for the Hippodrome challenge cup, and Miss Weld graciously agreed to skate in the challenger's home city. Early in the contest, Mrs. Beresford's entry was withdrawn, leaving the only competitors Miss Weld and Mr. Niles. Mr. Niles won the cup in the judgment of the three judges, Irving Brokaw, James A. Cruikshank and George H. Browne of Boston, but the contest was a very close one and in several prescribed or school figures the contestants were ranked with the same marks... It was the general opinion of the judges that Mr. Niles' school figures slightly excelled Miss Weld's while Miss Weld slightly excelled Mr. Niles in the free skating. Of this part of her programme one of the judges said: 'There are three classes of skaters, amateurs, professionals - and Miss Weld."

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

No U.S. Championships were held in 1919 and the following year, Theresa married a prominent Boston publisher named Charles Barnes Blanchard. Although her new husband enjoyed recreationally skating with his wife, he encouraged Theresa's on ice partnership with Nathaniel Niles. Bearing in mind that Niles too was married, this would have been a surprisingly liberal attitude among high society... but it was 'the roaring twenties' after all. After giving an exhibition of waltzing on ice in Philadelphia to benefit the Reed Street Neighborhood House, Theresa and Nathaniel won another U.S. pairs title in 1920 at the Iceland Rink in New York and Theresa regained her ladies title, defeating Miss Martha Brown of the Skating Club Of Boston and Mrs. Lillian Cramer of the Skating Club Of New York. According to the March 20, 1920 edition of The Sun And New York Herald, she "displayed all of the grace that earned her high honours in many contests. Her three change three and counters were exceptionally well done."

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

The following month, Theresa bid adieu to her husband and boarded the S.S. Finland with Nathaniel Niles, his wife and fourteen members of the American ice hockey team to go show off her figure skating skills at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. The April 21, 1920 issue of The Ogden Standard-Examiner reported that "Nathaniel W. Niles and Miss Theresa Weld, the American competitors to the Olympic figure skating championship, went to Brussels yesterday for practice as the Antwerp rink is now crowded with hockey players getting into trim. Cornelius Fellow, president of the International Skating Union, who is acting as manager of the American skaters, expressed the opinion today that Mr. Niles and Miss Weld have an excellent change of success. Miss Weld's first test will come on Sunday afternoon, in the women's event. Mr. Niles will compete Sunday and both will appear Monday in the contests for the couples."

Top: Theresa Weld Blanchard. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine. Bottom: Nathaniel Niles, Theresa Weld Blanchard, Beatrix Loughran and Sherwin Badger.

Theresa had her reservations about competing in the Olympic women's event in a comparatively liberal dress, stating "I insisted the result was far too immodest as it was only six inches below my knees and I knew the audience would see my bloomers when I jumped." After finishing fifth of six women competing in the school figures, she rebounded and won the free skate. Although some historical accounts have claimed that the judges were outraged when her skirt flew up when she jumped, I wasn't able to find any primary sources to substantiate these claims. Joe Layden, in his 1997 book "Women In Sports" noted that "she skated wonderfully and athletically, and received a raucous ovation from the crowd, which included hundreds of U.S. soldiers stationed in the region." However, the May 1, 1920 issue of The South Bend News-Times noted that "the Americans displayed considerable disappointment over the awards in the skating competitions for women last night. An examination of the judges' scores this morning showed that on total points made Miss Theresa Weld, of Boston, Mass., should have had second place. Her total was 898 points against Miss [Norén]'s 887 and Miss [Julin]'s 913-1-2. However, by the complicated award system used, each judge picked first, second and third choices in addition to estimating the number of points scored and Miss Weld was put third. Each of the competing nations had a judge except America." They were correct. The Swedish, British and Norwegian skaters entered were all represented by a judge and the other two judges came from France and Belgium. Theresa's bronze medal win however was the first for a U.S. figure skater at the Olympics. The second won was actually by her partner Nathaniel. Despite finishing sixth in the men's event and fourth in pairs with Theresa, Nathaniel also received "a diploma and medallion" from the Olympic Committee in Belgium.

Returning to America, Theresa and Nathaniel headed to Philadelphia in late February 1921 for the U.S. Championships held at the Ice Palace. Before the competition even started, they were winning. A ten step competition was organized as a fundraiser for the city's Broomall Holiday House and of course, the successful Boston duo won the cup donated by Mrs. Joseph N. Snellenburg with ease. When the competition started, Theresa cleaned up. The February 28, 1921 issue of the Norwich Bulletin explained that "Mrs. Blanchard was the individual star of the tournament. During the three days' meet she competed in four events and was awarded four first places. In addition to her victories today, she retained her title as the women's senior figure skating champion." Her victories came in the ladies, pairs, ten step and waltzing competitions. The February 26, 1921 issue of the Evening Public Ledger lauded her for showing "superiority with the exception of her counters. Her execution and style were generally regarded as being smoother, better finished, larger and more accurate."

Suzanne Davis, Maribel Vinson Owen, Theresa Weld Blanchard and Joan Tozzer at the 1939 U.S. Championships. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

The accolades continued. In March 1922 in front of a hometown crowd in Boston, Theresa claimed another ladies title, the pairs and fourteenstep gold medals with Niles and finished second in the waltzing competition to Beatrix Loughran and Edward Howland. In 1923, it was gold in the ladies and pairs and second in the waltz and fourteenstep; in 1924 came another ladies and pairs title, a silver in the fourteenstep behind Sydney Goode and James Greene and a third place finish in the waltz. Together or separately, Theresa and Nathaniel would continue to play a dominant role throughout the twenties and early thirties.

Theresa finished fourth in the ladies event and sixth in the pairs at the International Winter Sports Week in Chamonix, France in 1924, which was later recognized as an Olympic Games. She returned as a solo and pairs competitor in 1928 as well, finishing in the top ten in both disciplines. Despite the fact many of her competitors in both disciplines were upping the ante technically considerably this part, she was holding her own. By the time she last competed at the U.S. Championships in 1934 as part of the winning fours team, Theresa had amassed an incredible six ladies titles, nine pairs titles, six ice dancing titles (waltz, ten step and fourteenstep) and a fours title, in addition to her Olympic medal, two North American titles and over a dozen more medals at the U.S. Championships in ladies, pairs and ice dancing. You want to know the most incredible part of it all though? In her twenty year competitive career, she only trained ten to twelve hours per week total in multiple disciplines... and only had two pairs of boots and blades the whole time... handmade heavy black leather affairs with Salchow blades. She seemed to manage just fine, didn't she?

Theresa and Tenley Albright. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

Theresa's involvement in the figure skating world after her competitive career ended was every bit as incredible. A strong promoter and advocate of the sport in America, she was also a prolific and versatile writer. She was one of the founders of the USFSA's "Skating" Magazine and served as the magazine's editor until 1963, continuing to contribute articles until shortly before her death. She was also a respected judge, organizing the first school for judges in the U.S. and served on the USFSA's executive board for thirteen years. She attended international competitions regularly, wearing her Olympic pins and hobnobbing with a who's who of figure skating. However, in an interview in the March 7, 1956 issue of The Shawinigan Standard, she humbly said, "I hope they will recognize me. There aren't very many who go back that far." Theresa even joined Joseph Savage in judging roller skating competitions during the off season and was a founding member of the New England chapter of a social organization comprised of former U.S. Olympians.

Photos courtesy "Skating" magazine

In 1976, Theresa was inducted in the inaugural class of inductees of the U.S. Figure Skating Hall Of Fame. Sadly, she died two years later at the age of eighty four on Sunday, March 12, 1978; her funeral was held in Brookline, Massachusetts, where she resided her entire life.

In her wonderful book "Figure Skating History: The Evolution Of Dance On The Ice", Lynn Copley-Graves offered these beautiful words in her memory: "Her drive to document skating change makes it possible for present and future generations to trace developments in the sport. Her intent to take ice dancing seriously when it was nothing but a curious pastime and frivolous competitive afterthought helped ice dancing obtain legitimacy... At the death of some people, you wish you could preserve their brain, their memories. Tee was one of those. Her travels throughout the world to skating events made her the one person who knew on a personal level all of the skating personalities - champions, pros, judges, and association officials, young and old alike - and all the issues, changes, controversies, decisions and regulations. She accepted what happened in the sport as part of the growth process. She nourished the seed of skating and thrived off it." Inducted into the International Women's Sport Hall Of Fame in 1989, Theresa's contributions to skating are, simply put, astounding.

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.

The 1941 U.S. Figure Skating Championships

Eugene Turner in action

As bombs dropped overseas in Europe and war efforts ramped up, American skaters couldn't be dragged away from the ice. Some trained in sunny California rinks; others in chilly New York ones. Still others took to the ice in a 80 X 80 cold storage warehouse in Detroit converted into two separate ice rinks.

The show, as it always does in skating, went on when The Skating Club Of Boston played host to nearly one hundred of America's best at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships held from January 31 to February 2, 1941.

Dorothy Goos, Walter Sahlin, Donna Atwood, William Grimditch, Jr., Jane Vaughn and Eugene Turner in Boston at the 1941 U.S. Championships. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

In a three-two split of the judging panel, Walter Sahlin defeated Jack Might to win the novice men's title. Doris Schubach and Walter Noffke, representing the Springfield Ice Birds, were winners in junior pairs. William Grimditch Jr. won the Irving Brokaw Trophy and junior men's title, while Donna Atwood was victorious ahead of thirteen others in the junior women's event.

Eugene Turner and Jane Vaughn. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

Many of the skaters who competed in Boston that year later moved on to successful careers in the professional ranks. Twelve year old novice women's champion Dorothy Goos of the Skating Club of New York was certainly one; she was headlining with Holiday On Ice by the time she was seventeen! Fresh off a win at the Pacific Coast Championships, a twenty one year old certified judge and self-taught sensation named Eugene Turner defended his U.S. senior men's title. The handsome young skater was the toast of Massachusetts that year. The Sunday Morning Star on February 2, 1941 noted that "Eugene Turner of Los Angeles, a scarlet-coated master of the spins, scored a perfect six tonight to successfully defend his men's senior title... The 20-year old Californian concluded a five-minute exhibition with a series of toe and change-foot spins and intricate foot weaving, that won him the unanimous decision of the judges... Turner, wearing a brilliant red jacket, executed a series of back bend spread eagles that brought continuous applause from the gallery." That splash of colour in a sea of grey certainly brightens your spirits to read, doesn't it? Arthur R. Vaughn Jr., a sixteen year old from Philadelphia who wore his glasses while he competed, bettered his fourth place finish from the year previous in Cleveland, Ohio to finish second ahead of Brooklyn, New York's William K. Nagle. Like Goos, Turner moved on to show biz as well. In 1942, he skated with Sonja Henie in "Iceland" and 1943, he partnered Belita in "Silver Skates".

Jane Vaughn

With Joan Tozzer marrying and retiring from competitive skating, the senior women's field was wide open. University Of Pennsylvania student Jane Vaughn of Philadelphia rose to the occasion, defeating Gretchen Merrill of Boston (that year's Eastern Champion) in a three-two split of the judging panel. Charlotte Walther of New York, took the bronze, ahead of Dorothy Glazier of Boston and the Pacific Coast Champion, Ramona Allen of Oakland, California. If the name Jane Vaughn rings a bell, it's because she went on to become The Most Hated Skating Judge In Vienna in 1967.

Donna Atwood and Eugene Turner

After losing to Patty Vaeth and Jack Might in their hometown of Colorado Springs at the Pacific Coast Championships, Donna Atwood and Eugene Turner reversed that result in Boston in the pairs event. Winning the bronze ahead of Mr. and Mrs. William Bruns were Joan Mitchell and Bobby Specht. After the event, Atwood and Specht teamed up and won the following year's national pairs title together before joining the professional ranks and becoming two of the most popular Ice Capades stars of all time.

Sandy MacDonald and Harold Hartshorne won the ice dance event for the third time at the 1941 U.S. Championships in a deep field comprised of fourteen teams. Although many male U.S. skaters were starting to enlist, I'd say fourteen senior ice dance teams during World War II was pretty good, wouldn't you? Lynn Copley-Graves, in her wonderful book "Figure Skating History: The Evolution Of Dance On The Ice" noted that "things were happening so fast [in the development of ice dance in America] that no one had yet passed the Gold Dance Test, so it could not be a prerequisite in the Dance event" in those days. Eugene Turner, who had medalled in both the men's and pairs competitions, incredibly claimed the silver in ice dance as well with partner Elizabeth Kennedy. In third were Edith Whetstone and Alfred Richards, Jr. Due to a lack of entries, the fours competition was cancelled and judges announced that the previous year's winners, Jannette Ahrens, Mary Louise Premer, Robert Uppgren and Lynn W. Wakefield Jr., would continue to hold the title for another year.

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.