From Black And White To Technicolor: A Bobby Specht-acular

Photo courtesy City Of Toronto Archives

The son of Oscar and Agnes Mae Specht, Robert 'Bobby' Specht was born October 22, 1921 in Superior, Wisconsin. His grandparents immigrated to America from four different countries. His father was a successful dentist with his own private practice; his mother an aspiring actress. Bobby and his two brothers had a comfortable childhood, enjoying meals prepared by a live-in maid when he wasn't attending classes at McCaskill Junior High School.

Top photo courtesy "Skating Through The Years"

Though he often whirled around the old Curling Club rink at Belknap and Oakes, Bobby didn't start skating seriously until he was thirteen years old, when he caught the attention of coach Frank Sullivan. Under Sullivan's tutelage, young Bobby became the sixteenth person to pass the U.S. eighth figure test. In 1938, he won the bronze medal in the novice men's event at the U.S. Championships in Philadelphia, earning an unprecedented 6.0 from one judge in free skating. The following year he captured the novice title with improved figures. In 1940, he took on double duty, winning the U.S. junior title and teaming up with Chicago skater Joan Mitchell in pairs. 

Joan Mitchell and Bobby Specht. Photos courtesy "Skating" magazine.

Despite a rocky first year of competition as a pair, by 1941 it seemed the duo were hitting their stride as a team. Bobby and Joan won the 1941 Midwestern Championships but an infected ankle kept Bobby off the podium in his senior debut at the 1941 U.S. Championships in Boston. He did, however, claim the bronze in the pairs event.

Joan Mitchell and Bobby Specht. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

Patricia Alber's book "Joan Mitchell: Lady Painter" recalled Joan and Bobby's free skate at that event thusly: "The Chicagoans hit the ice like a wildfire and, with Bobby skating through the pain and the crowd roaring, put in a performance blazing with daring and fight - yet slightly off. They left town bearing third-place trophies." The winners that year were Eugene Turner and Donna Atwood. Remember the name Donna Atwood... we'll be hearing more about her later.

Donna Atwood and Bobby Specht

A  knee injury ended Joan Mitchell's career and Bobby turned his attention back to singles skating. He began working with Vivi-Anne Hultén and won the 1942 Midwestern senior men's title ahead of Minnesotans Arthur F. Preusch II and Robert Premer. At the 1942 U.S. Championships in Chicago, he completed his triple crown to win a senior title to go along with his novice and junior ones. Even more impressive is that through all of this, he was at university studying architecture.

With the World Championships put on hold by the ISU in the height of World War II, Bobby opted to turn professional, tour with the Ice Capades and join the military. The November 2, 1942 edition of "The Pittsburgh Press" talked of his enlistment in the U.S. military: "While appearing here with 'Ice Capades of 1943', Bobby enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps, and was sworn in. He was told that he wouldn't be called to report for duty for four or five months, so in the interim he will continue to appear with Ice Capades in its cross-country tour." During this period, he and his mother moved in with professional skating star Belita Jepson-Turner, whom the newspapers reported he was dating... although that wasn't exactly the case.

Left: Bobby Specht in his military uniform. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine. Right: Donna Atwood and Bobby Specht crowned as King and Queen of the St. Paul Winter Carnival in 1946.

As was so often the case at the time, Bobby wasn't open about his sexuality publicly during his amateur career. A biography in "Skating" magazine from 1942 stated, "Although he has little time for them, he likes swimming and golf. One interest for which he does find time is (by his own admission) women." In the forties, being gay just wasn't something that was talked about publicly. In a March 2016 interview, Bob Turk recalled, "Bobby was very, very gay and never tried to hide it. He and Alan Konrad were sort of lovers for a time, but he never really had a lover until the end of his life." 

After being discharged in the army in November of 1943 due to rheumatic fever and a heart murmur, Bobby returned to the Ice Capades and again did double duty, headlining both by himself and with a new pairs partner... his former competitor Donna Atwood, who turned professional at the ripe old age of sixteen at the onset of the war.

Donna and Bobby were paired by tour owner John H. Harris and starred together in ice ballets adapted from "The Sleeping Beauty" and Sigmund Romberg's "The Student Prince" as well as a famous interpretation of the Antony and Cleopatra story.

Photo courtesy "World Ice Skating Guide"

Donna and Bobby made the cover of "Life" Magazine and appeared on "The Colgate Comedy Hour", "The Ed Sullivan Show" and "The Steve Allen Show". Bobby even lent his visage to a newspaper advertisement by The Thomas Scalp Specialists on men's hair loss.

During this period, Bobby was known as the host with the most. Whenever Ice Capades would come to Beverly Hills, he'd rent a house and throw lavish parties, attended by a who's who of the figure skating world. They'd often last until three or four in the morning.

Left: Bobby Specht and Sandy Culbertson in John H. Harris' production of "Snow White". Right: Autographed photo of Bobby Specht.

In short, Bobby was kind of a big deal in skating in the fifties. When Donna Atwood retired from professional skating to raise her children in 1956, Bobby soldiered on and continued to skate with Ice Capades and club carnivals until 1964, when he broke his foot. He remained with the tour for a time, taking on the roles of the producer and publicity director.

In these capacities, Bobby worked with Bob Turk, who was once his understudy. Turk recalled, "Bobby didn't have any delusions of grandeur... nothing. He was the sweetest guy. When we were younger, he and I used to act like crazy fools. He called me Turkey."

Photo courtesy "Ice Skating" magazine

Bobby also coached skating for a time but later turned to the bottle heavily and lost his vision. Bob Turk recalled, "He could have had eye surgery and he didn't and they just found him down on the floor." Bobby's death at the age of seventy-seven on January 11, 1999 in Palm Springs, California devastated many in the skating community. His legacy lives on through the work he did in giving back to professional skating, which had given him so much during his career as an Ice Capades star.

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.

Czech Please!: A Triple Bill Of Czechoslovakian Skating Pioneers

Czechoslovakian skating ticket from 1951. Courtesy Czech Library of the Ministry of National Security.

From Ondrej Nepela, Jozef Sabovčík and Petr Barna to Ája Vrzáňová and Radka Kovaříková and René Novotný, there's absolutely no question that skaters from the former country of Czechoslovakia have left important footprints on figure skating history. We've explored the stories of many great Czech skaters on Skate Guard previously, and today we'll meet three more Czechoslovakian skating pioneers, each with their own fascinating tales. Pour yourself a frosty mug of Pilsner Urquell and hop in the time machine as we meet these three compelling characters!

JOSEF SLÍVA

The son of Anton and Anna (Rožnovská) Slíva, Josef Slíva was born in the town of Třinec along the Olza River on November 28, 1898. His family were German immigrants to Czechoslovakia, and thus he studied at a German elementary school and German gymnasium in Cieszyn. As a young man, he partnered in a construction company with his brothers Anton and Alois and took on an instrumental role in the founding of his local skating club.

Though his brothers were also talented skaters, Josef proved to the most skilled skating Slíva. At the age of twenty five, he entered his first major international competition - the 1924 Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix, France - and almost medalled! His ordinals at those games ranged from first through seventh and his result proved to be Czechoslovakia's best finish at those Games. Stronger in school figures than freestyle, Slíva never quite managed to rise enough in the standings to win a medal at a major ISU competition. He placed fifth at the 1925 World Championships in Vienna, behind four Austrians... with a judging panel consisting of three Austrian and two Hungarian judges. Fifth place finishes followed at the 1926 World Championships and 1928 Winter Olympics.

Photo courtesy National Museum, Prague

Josef found himself at the center of controversy in 1930, when he shockingly defeated reigning European Champion Karl Schäfer at the European Championships in Štrbské Pleso based on a win in the figures supported by a bloc of judges from Czechoslovakia, France and Yugoslavia. It was soon discovered that the Yugoslavian judge listed (Ivo Kavsek) was switched with a non-ISU judge from Yugoslavia (Victor Vadisek) who judged under his name. The scandal made the front page of the "Wiener Sport-Tagblatt" and the ISU Council declared the results of the competition null and void. The event was reskated in Berlin, with Schäfer again winning and Josef withdrawing after the fourth figure, over twenty points behind. Interestingly, Josef placed a dismal twelfth of thirteen competitors at his final major international competition, the 1931 World Championships, also in Berlin. In an obvious instance of insane national bias, the Czechoslovakian judge had him first. No other judge had him higher than tenth overall.

Photo courtesy National Museum, Prague

Josef left the competitive skating world in some disgrace because of what happened at the 1930 European Championships, but he remained active behind the scenes as an administrator with the Czechoslovakian Skating Union and a judge. He judged the pairs events at the 1937 European Championships in Prague, the 1937 World Championships in London and 1939 European Championships in Zakopane. With his brothers, he constructed his own model of skates and even penned a manual on skating technique comprised of articles previously published in Berlin Eissport magazine. In 1947, his brother Anton was sentenced in Ostrava to twenty years in prison for his ties to the German Nazi Party and Josef faded into obscurity, the rest of his story obfuscated behind the Iron Curtain.

VLADISLAV ČÁP

Born April 13, 1926, Vladislav Čáp was identified as one of Czechoslovakia's most promising young skaters in the thirties and spent much of World War II training in England under the watchful eye of famed Swiss coach Arnold Gerschwiler. When major international competitions resumed following the War, he shocked everyone by placing a surprising second at the 1947 European Championships in Davos behind Arnold's nephew Hans. At the World Championships that followed, he was third after figures, but dropped to fourth overall behind Hans, Dick Button and Arthur Apfel.

Then Čáp's bad luck started... At the 1948 European Championships in Prague, he placed a disastrous eighth in a field of nine skaters. At the 1948 Winter Olympics, he dropped to tenth. In his book "Dick Button On Skates", Dick Button recalled, "Vladislav Čáp, the Czech, returned to the dressing room considerably let down. He had been a victim of hard luck. After the first minute his record broke and he had to finish without music, a serious handicap. The referee had offered him the choice of being marked as he had skated, or of repeating his program to different music. Čáp elected the former, because it would be no simple matter to substitute another selection for one which, through months of rehearsal had provided the timing for his program. Vladislav had everyone's sympathy, and his accident was a reminder to all his rivals that luck, despite infinite preparations, could intrude to disastrous effect." At the World Championships that followed, he again placed tenth and at his final international event, the 1949 European Championships, he finished fifth in a field of six. The poor Czech just couldn't seem to catch a break. However, after his retirement from the competitive skating world, things appeared to look up for Čáp for a time. He graduated from České vysoké učení technické v Praze (Czech Technical University in Prague) with a degree in electrical engineering and worked as an international referee and ISU committee member. He also served as the Czechoslavakian Federation's Secretary from 1954 to 1957.

In 1956 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, he was even the first official ISU technical delegate to serve at an Olympic Games. However, later that same year, the Czechoslovakian government denied him the right to travel abroad and started monitoring his communication with figure skating officials who lived abroad. He wrote the book "Interpretation Of The Rules Of Figure Skating" and contributed to the Encyclopedia of Physical Education, but his communist bosses had his name removed as one of the authors. In 1959, he was arrested under communist regime for alleged spying and sentenced to five years in the slammer. He served three and a half. While in prison, a book he'd co authored with Josef Dědič called "Figure Skating For Referees And Coaches" was published. After his release, Čáp began to design artistic lighting for buildings, including the Czech National Bank, a casino in Saarbrücken and Prague's main post office. He became an authority on stage lighting and worked at the Scenography Institute and for Československá televize (ČST), a state sponsored television station. He also lectured on stage lighting at the Prague Academy Of Performing Arts and penned several scholarly books on lighting technology. Čáp left ČST in the early nineties and continued to work implementing interior and exterior lighting at home and abroad until his retirement in 1995. He passed away on December 30, 2001 in Prague.

EVA NYKLOVÁ

Although she skated in the shadow of her more famous Czechoslovakian teammate Vera Hrubá Ralston for much of her early career, Eva Nyklová was widely respected as one of the finest free skaters of her era, and had it not have been for the cancellation of major figure skating competitions during World War II, she very well could have medalled on the international stage. Prior to the War, she trained in England and became an NSA Gold Medallist. T.D. Richardson called her "a young skater of very considerable promise who has a good command of the school figures and skates a difficult free programme with great charm and assurance."

During Eva's reign as Czechoslovakian Champion, she placed eighth at the 1937 and 1938 European Championships and seventh in 1939 in London. At the 1939 World Championships in Prague, she moved up to fifth behind Megan Taylor, Hedy Stenuf, Daphne Walker and Lydia Veicht. Rather than wait out the War, she instead turned professional and enjoyed success in several of Tom Arnold's productions. She appeared in "Ice Follies" in Belgium and starred in "Cinderella on Ice" in 1949 and 1950 and "Stars On Ice" in London. By the fifties, she was a senior figure skating instructor in Nottingham, England. She married Robert Evans in Harrow, Middlesex in 1954 and devoted countless hours to teaching young skaters to excel at the sport that was in her blood.

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 First Tom Collins Tour

Whether it be inflated PCS marks or the cringeworthy aesthetics of many of today's spin combinations, figure skating can often leave us dying for a drink... perhaps the delicious concoction of gin, lemon juice, sugar and soda water concoction the world knows as a Tom Collins. 

It was a beloved man of the same name who organized the first ever star-centered North American figure skating tour back in 1969. For decades, Tom Collins' tour packed some of the biggest venues in North America and offered skaters from around the world wonderful opportunities. It went by many names over the years - the USFSA/CFSA/ISU World Champions Figure Skating Exhibition, the Tour Of Champions, the World Figure Skating Tour, the Olympic Figure Skating Tour, the Tour Of Olympic And World Figure Skating Champions, the Tour Of World Champions and finally, Champions On Ice - but what really made Collins' tour unique was the fact it was the first in North America to bring together eligible and ineligible skaters and to focus largely on solo work instead of group or ensemble pieces. Showgirls and polar bear costumes the Tom Collins tour was not; many of the tour's performers were gifted amateur athletes at the peak of their careers.

Janet Lynn

After the 1969 World Figure Skating Championships held at the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs, Tom Collins (who was then Holiday On Ice's vice president and general manager) teamed up with Holiday On Ice's founder Morris Chalfen to present the USFSA/CFSA/ISU World Champions Figure Skating Exhibition tour. In order to retain the eligibility of the skaters who participated, they received sanctions from the International Skating Union, Canadian Figure Skating Association and United States Figure Skating Association. A 2008 Jay Weiner article from the "Minnesota Post" aptly described what made that initial tour unique: "A concept was born. Tour with the planet's best skaters, not as a night-clubby, lounge-acty, circuslike ice show, but as a serious skating, performance show. Let the world champs show their competition routines in person to the folks at home. Sure, add pizzazz, but show the athleticism."

The cast was eclectic, featuring some of the top skaters of the era but also some lesser known stars. Among the big names were Irina Rodnina and Alexei Ulanov, Ludmila and Oleg Protopopov, Ondrej Nepela, Janet Lynn, Karen Magnussen, Tim Wood, Gaby Seyfert, Jojo Starbuck and Ken Shelley, Diane Towler and Bernard Ford, Hana Mašková, Tamara Moskvina and Alexei Mishin, Patrick Pera and John Misha Petkevich. The United States was further represented with Ron and Cynthia Kauffman, Julie Lynn Holmes, Melissa and Mark Militano, Judy Schwomeyer and James Sladky and Gary Visconti. Canada additionally contributed the talents of Anna Forder and Richard Stephens, Jay Humphry, Donna Taylor and Bruce Lennie and Linda (Carbonetto) Villella. Rounding out the impressive cast were some lesser known names to North American audiences: four time British Champions Linda Bernard and Raymond Wilson, three time British Champion Patricia Dodd, West German Pairs Champions Gudrun Hauss and Walter Häfner, Australian Champion Janet Schwarz, East German Champions Heidemarie Steiner and Heinz-Ulrich Walther and four time Japanese Champion Kazumi Onishi (Yamashita).

Rising stars also joined the cast in select locations. Among the cast of the tour's 'grand finale' on March 30, 1969 at Madison Square Garden were a young Dorothy Hamill and a duo of precision teams - The Precisionettes from the Skating Club of Riverdale and The Hockettes from Ann Arbor. The latter team fundraised much of their own way to New York City to participate, selling over two thousand dollars worth of chocolate bars.

The musical selections of the skaters on the 1969 tour were diverse, to say the very least. Janet Lynn skated to Simon and Garfunkel; the Kauffman's to The Beatles. Gaby Seyfert performed to the "Pas de deux" from "The Nutcracker", while Diane Towler and Bernard Ford danced their way through the Broadway standard "Mame".

Melissa and Mark Militano

Although the 1969 tour would mark one of only two occasions where Collins didn't travel along with the cast, his earliest effort would have been quite the novelty for the skaters participating as previous post-Worlds ISU organized tours had been centered almost entirely in Europe. Although skaters visited an incredible fifteen cities that spring (eight in Canada and seven in the U.S.) and their efforts were well received, the enterprising duo of Collins and Chalfen lost money to the tune of twenty five to thirty thousand dollars. Ouch! Although the management of Ice Capades organized another similar tour featuring top amateur skaters in 1972, Collins wouldn't revive the tour that cost him a small fortune until 1975. It all started somewhere though - with a vision - and if you think about how huge that tour was in the eighties and nineties especially, it's just incredible.

Cynthia and Ron Kauffman on the 1969 Tom Collins tour

Lynn Thomas, who wrote a review of the initial tour in "Skating" magazine, remarked, "Perhaps the most important thing about the tour was not the exposure of American audiences to such excellent skating, but the international relations among skaters. All the club members who so generously entertained the champions noted an amazing rapport among them regardless of their nationalities."
Reflecting on his experience putting on this beloved tour in a 2008 interview with ESPN, Collins said "I had a great run." He most certainly did... and reflecting back on how it all started for Collins is a wonderful reminder of something that we all seem to need to be reminded of sometimes... if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

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 Fifth Annual Skate Guard Hallowe'en Spooktacular

It's the ghost wonderful time of the year! Hallowe'en has once again fallen upon us and all of you loyal Skate Guard readers know that means. It's time for a yearly Skate Guard tradition... The Annual Skate Guard Hallowe'en Spooktacular! Dim the lights enjoy this creepy collection of darker stories that have peppered skating's history through the years!

THE MIRROR LAKE GHOST

For decades, Ohio State University's Pomerene Hall in Columbus has reportedly played host to an unwelcome resident: a ghostly lady in pink who reportedly haunts Room 213. However, long before the legend of the lady in pink worked its way into dorm room ghost stories, students were telling the tale of a ghost that haunts a small pond on campus known as Mirror Lake. The ghost is said to appear as a female skater, garbed in clothing of another era, warming her hands in a muff. An article in the October 26, 1990 issue of "The Ohio State Lantern" noted, "It is hard to find people willing to talk about the sighting because many do not believe what they saw. Interestingly, most of the sightings of the skater are by witnesses standing on a Pomerene Hall balcony overlooking the lake, while the lady in pink can be seen when looking across the north side of Mirror Lake towards Pomerene Hall. No one has ever linked the two ghosts, but it is curious that the lady in pink chooses to walk to a window overlooking the lake. The two women are also dressed in clothing which could be from the same period." In 1990, the university asserted that no deaths were documented in either Room 213 or the Mirror Lake pond since the university has been in existence but since then more than one student has tragically died in Mirror Lake. Did the skating ghost or the lady in pink play a hand? You be the judge.

Anita Hartshorn and Frank Sweiding performing to Enigma's "Mea Culpa" at the 1994 Miko Masters

A SALEM WITCH?

The infamous Salem Witch Trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. In the mass hysteria and religious fervour, more than two hundred people were accused of practicing witchcraft, and two hundred were executed. You'd think the good people of Massachusetts would have learned their lesson, but apparently not. Over a century later, a school teacher in Salem had her 'virtue' and character called into question - and was even accused of witchcraft - for teaching her female students how to do something as 'undignified' as ice skating. Jennie Holliman was one of the first to recall the story in the twentieth century in her 1939 book "Amusements And Sports In American Life". She noted, "In 1801, at Salem, Massachusetts, it was reported that a teacher of that place had instructed her pupils in the art of skating. The virtue of this woman and that of the girls was vindicated, however, when it was proved through the columns of the local newspapers that the report was an absolute falsehood." One primary source that verifies the story is the diary of William Bentley, the Pastor of the East Church in Salem. On December 1, 1801, Pastor Bentley recalled, "The vile slanders propogated last year to injure a school mistress* [Mrs. Rogers] in this town, have been echoed from other parts of the Continent, and the writer under the name of the Hindu, has dared to report that a teacher in Salem instructed her female pupils in the art of skaiting. A proper notice of this absolute falsehood is taken in the Imp. Register of this day." Through the help of Jen Ratliff, The Salem Historical Society and the Boston Public Library I was able to track down a clipping from the December 3, 1801 edition of the "Salem Impartial Register" that corroborates the story,

While far from spooky, this tale goes to show you just how far skating has come. What is now a pursuit dominated largely by females was once in some parts considered something worth burning over.

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA HOUSE 

The site of the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in London has a long, fascinating history. The present venue which occupies the site is actually the third theatre in the space. The first two were destroyed in fires in 1808 and 1856. When the theatre underwent construction in the summer of 1999, workers reported having bricks, nuts, bolts and metal plating hurled at them from above while they toiled away. The workers laughed off the incidents, referring to their unseen attacker as 'The Phantom Of the Opera'. Security was beefed up, a reward even offered if someone could prove the attacks weren't otherworldly in nature, but nothing ever came of it. Did the phantom have a skating connection? It's possible. In 1937, Claude Langdon's "Rhapsody On Ice", a lavish skating production in two parts comprised of two ice ballets - "Enchanted Night" and "The Brahman's Daughter". Ten thousand pounds alone was spent on installing ice on the theatre's fifty five by seventy foot stage. A cast of one hundred and twenty professional skaters were employed, including two time Olympic Gold Medallists Andrée and Pierre Brunet, barrel jumper Phil Taylor and no less a legend that Belita Jepson-Turner herself. The show was largely panned by critics. Choreographer Alfred Mégroz was blamed by some for the production's failure and Langdon took a huge financial loss. In his 1953 book "Earl's Court", Langdon wrote, "To this day I confess I do not know all the reasons why this show was such a disappointment, while ice at the Stoll [Theatre] was such a success. Perhaps the regular 'Garden' enthusiasts resented the intrusion of ice entertainment and were slow to see the advantages of ballet on ice. Perhaps it is always an uphill task to present a show, of any sort, in a setting and background which is startlingly different. Gordon Jackson devised a perfect portable ice floor for the Covent Garden stage, the show was artistic, musical and colourful. In fact all our troubles were centred on the other side of the footlights, where there was (after the first few opening days) almost no audience. I was bitterly disappointed." Was a resentful Langdon the mystery phantom, lashing out at workers at a venue that cost him a pretty penny? Heaven (or hell) only knows.

THE HICKLING SKATER

The legend of The Hickling Skater first appeared in Ernest Richard Suffling's 1890 book "History and Legends of the Broad District". As the story goes, one cold winter in the early nineteenth century around the time of the Battle Of Waterloo, a young soldier was on a month's leave from duty and came to visit his sweetheart, who lived across the Hickling Broad near the village of Potter Heigham, England. His sweetheart's father didn't approve of the young man, so the couple had to meet in secret. On one secret rendezvous, the couple decided to go skating on Hickling Broad, when the soldier fell through the ice and drowned. His body wasn't found for several days. For decades, locals claimed to have seen his ghost on Hickling Broad around seven o'clock at night on cold February evenings, zooming around the ice looking for his beloved. The ghost was said to have been seen beating a drum and whistling along to gather his lover's attention.  Did Suffling encounter The Hickling Skater himself? Perhaps. In his 1887 book "The Land of the Broads: A Practical and Illustrated Guide to the Extensive but Little-Know District of the Boards of Norfolk and Suffolk", he stated, "I have sometimes been on the beautiful crystal surface of Hickling Broad, about a square mile in area, with perhaps only a dozen other persons on it besides myself; no fear of being knocked down by the crowded state of the ice here! In very cold weather, one may skate for miles and miles along the rivers; or if the skater be nervous, he may try his fortune on the glassy covering of ice which surmounts the flooded marshes, with a depth of only about a foot of water; so that, if he should happen to go through, he can step quietly out again." It's certainly possible that a chance encounter with The Hickling Skater inspired Suffling to write about the legend, but he made no mention of such an encounter. Instead, he claimed in 1890, "this 'poor ghost' appears to have been exorcised, for it is now a number of years since he has been seen, in fact, not since the advent of the superstition-destroying School Board". Did The Hickling Skater really pass over to the other side? If you decide to head out to Hickling Broad on a cold February night to find out for yourself, you might want to stay off the ice.

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.

#Unearthed: The Crystal Ball

When you dig through skating history, you never know what you will unearth. In the spirit of cataloguing fascinating tales from skating history, #Unearthed is a once a month 'special occasion' on Skate Guard where fascinating writings by others that are of interest to skating history buffs are excavated, dusted off and shared for your reading pleasure. From forgotten fiction to long lost interviews to tales that have never been shared publicly, each #Unearthed is a fascinating journey through time.

This month's 'buried treasures' require us to scry into an imaginary crystal ball to see the future from the past. With an open mind, we consider two alternate futures that skaters from decades past envisioned for the figure skating world. Provided by Sandra Bezic and shared with the permission of the U.S. Figure Skating Association, both of these pieces first appeared in "Skating" magazine. The first, a poem by Jane Maletz called "Nineteen Skatey-Four", was written in 1968 and imagines what skating would be like in 1984. The second, an article by Dr. Irwin J. Polk called "1991: Skating Odyssey", is a prediction penned in 1972 of what a regional skating competition in the U.S. would be like 1991. These prophecies may not have turned out to be entirely accurate, but how they foretold technology - cell phones, computerized scoring, instant replay - is just plain eerie. If you try to look at these writings through the eyes of the authors at the time they wrote them, there's almost a spooky element to them .

"NINETEEN SKATEY-FOUR" (JANE MALETZ, 1968)

Right next door to the psychedelicatessan
Across from the nuclear pizzeria
There's a futuristic, flipped out ice rink
                                                  just think
Of a minute's wait
   on an escalate-
or, heading straight for
heated bleachers with rocking chair seats
each in reach
of its own thermostat!
(No more sittin'
wearin' mittens)
And as your rocking toasting toes
switch on very
                 stere-O
ampliphonic armchair earphones.

Down below on coloured ice
Chicks will sport the shortest sort
of paper shift
Tossing minis after use
                       in refuse.

Skating moms who gush with love
Will pamper precious progeny
And pros can rant and rave full time
Cajoling small celebrities
Using teensy walky-talkits
Carried in a skater's pocket!

Zippy jet skates will have 4 speed blade traction
And dual lift thrusts for rocket jump action.

Tots who find their trousers thinning
From mixing up their 'sits' and 'spinning'
Will fit well polished derrieres
Into inflatable underwear
To cushion each flop with an ounce
                                           of bounce!

Wearing a flexible plastic belt
To special cameras sensitized
You'll skate
           and rate
A sharp-eyed lens
trained on each curve of your swoops and bends.

Time lapse cold pills swallowed just once
Will take away the itch to sniff
At patch
or catch-ing
judges smudges,
A runny nose
Won't impose.

The population will explode-
A relocation
Under ocean
And folks will skate on flippered feet
When Lutzing under briny deep.

And think
of a shrink-ing
universe
traversed
at worst
in a minute's
       limits.
You'll trot
To the spot
of games that include
Olympics skated on the moon!
The Mars World Champions feature a crew
Of three legged cheesemen of delicate hue
Their green bodies flash
past the chartreuse spectators
On ice that's the shade
Of an unripe tomater.

Imagine the Kilian changed
                               to arrange
The three legged contortions
Of ice dancing Martians!

Or Saturn plant people
Nasturtium and Rose
Gliding on leaves
To the Viennese...

The scene will be groovy-
There's no debate
You may hold your partner's antennae to skate.

But be not beguiled
Though the future be wild
Ye old FSA
Will be there all the way
scoring the stroking of jet propelled eights!

Kelly Colman and Commander Robot in the 1969 Ice Follies tour. Photo courtesy Ingrid Hunnewell.

"1991: SKATING ODYSSEY" (DR. IRWIN J. POLK, 1972)

A Brief Note To Cynics:

According to author Polk, his conceptualization of future techniques in skating has a firm basis in reality. He states, 'Should you think this article too fanciful, let me suggest to you that this procedure has already been tested in part of Canada. According to my knowledge, several years ago taped presentations were used for grading."

Scene: 1991. New York City. A Regional Competition.

The first skater moves onto the ice to do her compulsory figures. She skates over to the referee who asks her to select her ice and put down the first figure. He smiles at her and reminds her that the figure is number 28 A, the RFOI-LFIO change double three.

The room is completely silent as the competitor begins and, little wonder, for she and the referee are the only ones in the room. There are no judges visible anywhere nor any audience.

The skater selects her ice. As she does so, the judge checks the light fixed to the front and back of each skate as well as the signal light on the overhead television camera. When the skater is ready, the referee signifies that she lay out her figure. At the completion of the figure, she moves on to another patch of ice and lays out her next figure. At the completion of the test, she skates off the ice and goes about changing her equipment for the freestyle competition.

Meanwhile a computer is preparing her marks for the figures. This particular computer has been programmed to accept the patterns drawn for the television camera by the lights on the skater's boots. It judges each figure for size, shape, and symmetry. It credits extra points for improvement of faulty figures as well as adjusting for those parts of the figures which have been skated identically, while subtracting points for scatter in the tracings. This particular computer has been programmed to do this for all of the figures. The televised patterns are transmitted to the computer by telephone. This part of the service is the same as that which doctors use at the bedside to get instant, accurate readings of cardiograph tracings.

The computer is prepared to print out a numerical figure grade for each figure almost instantaneously. Comparing the tracing that the skater made with standards in its memory, the computer prints a numerical grade from 001 to 999. However, to conserve computer time, all the TV tapes for the competition are saved until the end and fed into the computer. Within minutes, a typewritten listing is presented at the rinkside. Only those skaters whose figures return grades which are better than preassigned levels are permitted to go on to the freestyle competition.

Freestyle competition is much the same as it was back in the 1970's. The panel of judges grades the contestants as they always have. But now the judges have help from the ever-present television camera. A tape is made for each skater, and where the competition is close, the judges can use the tape for instant replay, even in slow motion. They can check and re-check the flow of each skater as well as the synchronism of the skating and the program music which has also been recorded. Slow motion helps to detect imperfect jumps and turns. Finally, at the end of the computer-assisted judging, a winner is selected more easily than in the past.

Should any question arise in the future, the tapes of both the figures and the freestyle are available in the USFSA library for replay. In this fashion, the development of the skaters over the years is followed. New technique can be developed by observing the way various skaters do their jumps.

Teaching will also have benefited from the use of electronic techniques. The pros all have available a library of programs and figures to study. They have access to a gold mine of recent skating history.

Perhaps the greatest benefit is to the skaters. They take to the ice secure in the knowledge that the impartial computer is judging the figures and that, win, lose or draw, they have the best judging that modern society and technology can provide.

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 1986 Skate Canada International Competition

Held from October 30 to November 2, 1986 in Regina, Saskatchewan, the 1986 Skate Canada International competition was a star-studded event that featured over fifty skaters from thirteen countries. Notably absent were Brian Orser and Tracy Wilson and Rob McCall, who instead opted to compete at the Novarat Trophy in Budapest to get a feel for the rink that was to be used for the 1988 World Championships. The creaky, dimly-lit Exhibition Stadium was the venue for the men's and women's school figures, with all other events held at the nine year old Regina Agridome. Many skaters complained about the stuffy, dry air in the arena. Quoted in the November 3, 1986 issue of the "Leader Post", Yugoslavia's Zeljka Cizmesija complained, "I found it hard to breathe." Elizabeth Manley added, "The air is extremely dry here... that and the scent from the flowers and the popcorn from the concessions made it hard on all of us."

Attendance was down from the 1984 Canadian Championships in Regina, with about eighteen thousand of the twenty seven thousand seats in the Regina Agridome filled during most sessions. However, the three hundred and ninety four thousand dollar event net a profit of approximately thirty five thousand dollars. Quoted in the November 3, 1986 issue of the "Leader Post", event co-chairman Gerry Walsh remarked, "The compliments from the competitors and officials have been so positive. A judge told me that she has never witnessed a better run event than this one. That makes me feel good." Media attention was ample, though not extensive. "The Globe And Mail", The Canadian Press in Edmonton, "The Saskatoon Star-Phoenix", CKCK Radio, CBC Radio and the "Leader Post" covered the event on a daily basis, and Johnny Esaw, Brian Pockar and Debbi Wilkes commentated television coverage on CTV. Television crews from ABC and TSN also covered the event. Thanks to Alice Frederick of the Regina Public Library, I'm able to shed a great deal of light on this exciting competition. Bundle up and hop in the time machine as we take a look back at this fascinating event!

THE PAIRS COMPETITION

Sixteen year old Ekaterina Gordeeva and nineteen year old Sergei Grinkov were the heavy favourites to take the gold in the pairs event in Regina. Winning the short program with first place marks from every judge, they appeared well on their way to what should have been an easy win. That's not exactly how things played out.

In the free skate, Gordeeva tumbled three times and Canada's Cynthia Coull and Mark Rowsom managed to defeat Gordeeva and Grinkov with first place marks from six of the seven judges. Canadians Denise Benning and Lyndon Johnston dropped to fifth and American siblings Natalie and Wayne Seybold moved up to take the bronze.

Quoted in the November 4, 1986 issue of the "Windsor Star", Rowsom admitted, "I was the most surprised person in the building when we discovered we had won. We didn't see Gordeeva and Grinkov skate so we didn't know they didn't skate well. We really didn't think we had a chance of catching them because we never thought they'd have as much trouble as they did. We knew we were skating well Saturday but there was no reason for us to expect they'd skate below their usual level. They were great in practices and we weren't so the way things turned out was a tremendous surprise." In reality, Gordeeva was suffering from a bad cold at the event. In her book "My Sergei", she admitted that they "weren't well prepared". This was around the time where they made the coaching switch from Stanislav Zhuk to Stanislav Leonovich and would prove to be one of the legendary G and G's only losses in international competition.

THE ICE DANCE COMPETITION

Karyn and Rod Garossino

Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay, who had left Canada to represent France, felt snubbed by CFSA officials when they were left off the invite list. Reigning U.S. Champions Renee Roca and Donald Adair were initially slated to appear, but were replaced pre-competition due to Roca's tendon injury by Suzanne Semanick and Scott Gregory. Soviets Natalia Annenko and Genrikh Sretenski took a commanding lead in the compulsory dances ahead of Semanick and Gregory and Canadian siblings Karyn and Rod Garossino. A low mark of 4.4 for the Canadians from the Soviet judge on the first compulsory drew a chorus of loud boos from the revved up Regina crowd. Quoted in the October 31, 1986 issue of the "Toronto Star", Rod Garossino lamented, "The placings were a little bit predictable, given the World ranking. We would have liked to have been closer in the markings... perhaps we were not aggressive enough in the first dance." The Soviets only expanded their lead in the OSP, the Viennese Waltz. Prior to the free dance, Austrians Kathrin and Christoff Beck withdrew due to injury. Speaking of injury, Karyn Garossino took a nasty fall on a lift in the free dance and had to go to the hospital before receiving her bronze medal. Semanick and Gregory's silver medal winning free dance to "Waiting for Robert E. Lee" and "Duellin' Banjos" was a hit with the audience and Annenko and Sretenski's Tchaikovsky's "Romeo And Juliet" a bigger hit with the judges. Great Britain's Sharon Jones and Paul Askham placed fourth, ahead of France's Corinne Paliard and Didier Courtois, Canada's Michelle McDonald and Michael Farrington and America's Dorothi Rodek and Robert Nardozza. After the free dance, the judges met to "discuss" whether or not Annenko and Sretenski's non-rhythmic free dance music was illegal, despite the fact not a single one marked it down.

THE MEN'S COMPETITION

Prior to the event, East Germany's Joachim Edel withdrew due to injury. The Soviet Union opted to replace Vladimir Petrenko, who had initially been slated to compete, with Vitali Egorov. Twenty year old Grzegorz Filipowski of Poland opted to compete despite the fact he was suffering from a groin injury. Escorted by a Skate Canada volunteer to Regina's Polish Club, he reluctantly accepted a small donation towards his training costs raised by a collection of the club's members. Egorov took a commanding lead in the school figures, ahead of Filipowski and France's Frédéric Harpagès. Young American Christopher Bowman won the short program with a clean and stylized performance, but was only able to pull up to fourth after a disapponting sixth place showing in the figures.

Despite being upstaged by Bowman, Filipowski and Czechoslovakia's Petr Barna in the latter phases of the event, Egorov turned in a clean but utterly uninspired five-triple free skate to take the gold. Commentating for CTV, Debbi Wilkes remarked, "He's got the good tricks, but it's very boring to me." Brian Pockar added, "It's absolutely frustrating for me to watch this program, because I have absolutely nothing to comment on besides putting checkmarks beside the number of triples that he's landed." Bowman moved up to take the silver ahead of Bowman, Filipowski and Canada's Neil Paterson. Canada's second entry, Michael Slipchuk of Edmonton, placed ninth.

THE WOMEN'S COMPETITION

Elizabeth Manley warming up backstage

Prior to the event, Japan's Juri Osada and Finland's Elise Ahohen withdrew due to injury, as did Rosemarie Sakic of Burnaby, British Columbia, who broke her foot trying to land a triple loop. America's Tiffany Chin also pulled out at the last minute and was replaced by Tracey Damigella. The USFSA didn't volunteer a reason for Chin's withdrawal and predictably, rumours swirled that the reason was because they didn't want to pit her against Elizabeth Manley. In reality, she'd been a replacement for Debi Thomas at Skate America only two weeks prior. Manley was coming off a win the month prior at St. Ivel in Richmond, England was heavily favoured to take the gold. She won the first two figures, but lost the change loop to sixteen year old Joanne Conway of Great Britain. The overall lead in figures was only Manley's second ever at an international competition. Quoted in the October 31, 1986 issue of the "Montreal Gazette", she remarked, "I was a little disappointed in the counter but maybe it made me better, I came back fighting. If I skate figures boldly, I usually do them very good. I didn't have that boldness in the first figure... I was about third or fourth... but that put the boldness back in me. The second figure was one of the best I've ever done." Third after figures, Natalia Lebedeva of the Soviet Union won the short program ahead of West Germany's Claudia Leistner and Manley, who two-footed in the required double toe-loop in her triple toe-loop/double toe-loop combination. Joanne Conway dropped to fourth overall with a fifth place showing in the short program and Manley maintained the overall lead.

Rallying back in the free skate, Manley earned a standing ovation for a gutsy performance that earned marks ranging from 5.5 to 5.8. She took the gold over Leistner, Conway, Damigella and America's Kelly Szmurlo but admitted, "It wasn't how I wanted to win."

Natalia Lebedeva

What she meant by that statement was the fact her chief competition, Natalia Lebedeva, was forced to withdraw after twisting her knee on a bad mid-program fall on a triple Salchow. Taken to the hospital for treatment after leaving the ice with the assistance of her coach and medical staff, Lebedeva watched the Exhibition Of Champions from the stands. Manley skated over and presented her with a bouquet of flowers in a touching display of good sportsmanship.

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.

Hana Mašková, Prague's Ice Queen

Today's blog comes as a request from 'suki' on the Figure Skating Universe forum, and I'm not going to lie... tackling this particular biography was a bit of a challenge, to say the least. A lot of the sources I was able to find relating to Hana Mašková were contemporary articles in Czech or blogs in Russian - not primary sources  - and there were some really conflicting stories out there relating to two major parts of her story: her mother and her tragic death. After sifting through a lot of the 'he said, she said' and contradictory information out there, I decided to give her story the old college try... and believe me, it's fascinating stuff!

Born September 26, 1949 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Hana Mašková was the daughter of Joseph Mašek, a hotel waiter, and Marie Mašková, who worked as a cook at a kindergarten. She started skating at the age of five in 1955 at the Štvanice Stadium. A year later, she began taking lessons from a former pairs skater named Karel Glogar, who had previously worked with Ája Vrzáňová and Dagmar Lerchová.

From the get-go, her mother Marie was always rinkside. She soon developed a reputation as a bit of a stage mother and taskmaster. In a 2006 article, journalist Martina Bittnerová claimed, "The lady was something abnormal. Indeed, in the last years of her life she was plagued by severe mental illness." However, other accounts paint Hana's mother as a woman who (understandably) suffered from severe depression after her first husband, a technical officer named John Kubata, murdered two of her children and then committed suicide. Whatever the case may have been, no one can accuse Marie of being an absentee skating parent.

Hana idolized Sjoukje Dijkstra and took training very seriously, getting up at four in the morning every day before school. More interested in free skating than spending time toiling away at school figures, she was constantly trying difficult jumps in practice but was often painted as a talented jumper who struggled with self-confidence when it came down to competing. Through work with coaches Jaroslav Sadílek, Míla Nováková (Doe) and Dr. Vladimir Koudelka, she soon developed into quite the little athlete. She competed in her first competition at the age of eight and won her first title at the age of ten.

At the age of fourteen, Hana competed in her first major international competition, the 1963 European Championships in Budapest. Though she finished fifteenth, she landed a double Lutz and double Axel and the Dutch, Polish and Soviet judges had her in the top four in free skating. What really hurt her in Budapest was a less than stellar showing in school figures and the fact she didn't skate with the panache and artistry of her competitors. To improve the artistic side of her skating, Hana was sent to study ballet from one Madame Aubrechtové, who had a home studio at Wenceslas Square. She also studied piano to gain a better appreciation of music and began creating new programs every year to try her hand at a variety of styles of music. This was unique in that many of her competitors would often rework the same free skating program for at least two seasons rather than create new programs every season. Her efforts didn't go unrecognized. Czechoslovakian news sources began comparing her 'new style' to that of Ája Vrzáňová.

In the years that followed, Hana made a progressive rise in the standings. After placing out of the top ten at both the 1964 Winter Olympic Games and World Championships, she finished fifth at the 1965 European Championships in Moscow, defeating all three of the medallists in free skating. After an unlucky thirteenth place finish at the 1965 World Championships in Colorado Springs, she finished just off the podium in fourth at the 1966 European Championships in Bratislava and sixth at the 1966 World Championships in Davos. However, her most impressive accomplishment during this period was undoubtedly her win at the 1966 Czechoslovakian Championships... with a cast on her arm after breaking her hand.

Hana on the podium with Gaby Seyfert and Zsuzsa Almássy at the 1967 European Championships

At the 1967 European Championships in Ljubljana, Hana won the silver medal behind Gaby Seyfert, soundly defeating the East German skater in the free skate. At the World Championships in Vienna that followed, she won the bronze medal. At that event, the Canadian and Czechoslovakian judges had her first in free skating, ahead of Peggy Fleming and Gaby Seyfert. With three of her five Czechoslovakian national titles under her belt at that point, it appeared she had a legitimate chance at a medal at the 1968 Winter Olympic Games in Innsbruck.

Left: Hana Mašková and Jiri Štaidl . Right: Hana Mašková 

Then Hana began dating lyricist, screenwriter and musician Jiri Štaidl, much to her mother's shagrin. By accounts, it was quite the rocky relationship. Her coach Míla Nováková recalled, "In the year that they were dating, she seemed to have aged ten years. But she could not escape from the captivity of that relationship." While her mother and coach seemed to point fingers at her boyfriend, Štaidl's friends had a different perspective. In an interview for the 2000 publication "Unexplained Deaths VI", one wrote, "Jiri changed. He became more serious, more responsible, restricted [his] benders and pranks and his lyrics began to return to depth and poetry." As if the outside influences on her relationship weren't enough, it didn't help that when Hana went to competitions she had to contend with the well-documented mind games of Jutta Müller, Gaby Seyfert and friends. 

Gaby Seyfert, Peggy Fleming and Hana Mašková at the 1968 Winter Olympic Games

At the 1968 European Championships in Västerås, Sweden, Hana soundly defeated Gaby Seyfert and Trixi Schuba. At first it seemed that she was carrying that momentum into the Winter Olympic Games. She was actually the leader after the first three figures in Grenoble but floundered in the latter trio, finding herself in fourth entering the free skate. She rebounded to snatch the bronze from Trixi Schuba and followed her medal win in France up with a bronze at the 1968 World Championships in Geneva. Then came an offer from Ája Vrzáňová to turn professional, which she soundly declined. With Peggy Fleming out of the picture, Hana wanted to take one final stab at a World title.

Whether it was self-confidence or the distraction of her relationship with Jiri, things started to unravel for Hana in 1969. At the European Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, she told her coach before she got on the ice that she couldn't feel her legs. Urged on to compete anyway, she landed two double Axels and a double Lutz, then just stopped her program. Her coach yelled at her to finish. She did, finishing second and leaving the rink in tears. She arrived in Colorado Springs for the 1969 World Championships injured after a nasty fall in an exhibition in Winterthur, Switzerland. After skating the figures in excruciating pain, she opted to withdraw after doctors refused to give her further sedative injections. Míla Nováková claimed by that point, Hana was just drained physically and psychologically. A la Toller Cranston years later, legend goes that she threw the skates she used for figures in a river.... and that was the end of Hana's amateur career.

Hana went on the ISU's 1969 World Champions Figure Skating Exhibition tour of North America then joined Holiday On Ice and the Vienna Ice Revue. Bittnerová wrote, "In the beginning she felt satisfied, she had time for a lot of others, and for most normal and common hobbies. Love blossomed with Štaidl... However, this period did not last a long time [as] it seemed performances in ice revues were tiring." Life wasn't all doom and gloom from the Czechoslovakian ice queen though. She relished her independence and told one Czechoslovakian reporter, "I am happy that [I can] finally [read] books, which I have for years had [not been able to]... The packages that I get from Prague, contain the books and sometimes, of course, apple pie from Mom. My hotel room is like a library." She won the World Professional title at Wembley and depending on which Czechoslovakian source you read, she either broke up with Jiri or she didn't. 

On the night of March 31, 1972, Hana was on her way from Paris to Poitiers, France with her dog and fellow skater Kveta Celflová. They stopped at a party thrown by a fellow skater. She had a drink or two (as one does) and her friend Milena Kladrubská tried to convince Hana and Kveta to stay the night and sleep it off, but they refused. On her drive to Poitiers, they stopped and picked up a French soldier who was hitchhiking. In the village of Vouvray, Hana lost control of her vehicle going around a sharp bend at at least one hundred kilometers an hour and collided with a truck with a trailer attached. The soldier and dog were killed instantly. Kveta was badly injured but survived after several operations. She said Hana died in great pain, with severe chest injuries and both of her feet crushed. She breathed her last breath in a French ambulance and was buried in the Vyšehrad cemetery. A beautiful statue designed by Jan Štursa decorates her final resting place. 

Jiri took Hana's death very hard and started drinking and driving himself. On October 9, 1973, he was on his way to his parents home near Prague and wanted to dazzle his newest female companion with his 'fancy driving skills'. What did he end up doing? Crashing into a truck. She survived; he didn't. Following Hana's death, there was a whole decade of debate and speculation about the crash between the police, insurance companies, Milena Kladrubská and Hana's mother. The whole matter fizzled out by 1981 but rumours persisted that someone cut her break line. Hana Havránková of the National Museum of Czechoslovakia claimed, "When the Treasury Department ordered to vacate [Hana's] apartment, they found [the] bronze medal [from] Grenoble. That got to us."

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

The conflicting accounts that exist out there surrounding Hana's mother, relationship with  Jiri, mental state and the crash itself serve as wonderful examples of how there are always fifteen sides to every story. Wherever the truth may lie, the fact remains that one of skating's most talented and underappreciated skaters was lost far too soon and I think it is important that she is remembered for the contributions she made to the sport and not primarily for her untimely premature death. All too often in this world people are reduced to headlines, and Hana's story is so much more complex than that.

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.