The 1951 World Figure Skating Championships

Prior to 2018, Italy had only played host to the International Skating Union's most prestigious annual competition three times. The first time was back on February 23 to 25, 1951, when the World Figure Skating Championships were held at the the Palazzo del Ghiaccio in Milan, a small, unheated indoor rink where light streamed in through high windows. 

Luggage label from the Hotel Duomo in Milan

The luxurious six-month old Hotel Duomo played host to the competitors and officials. British guests, who were living on post-War rations of only one egg a week and a tiny portion of meat, reveled in the lunches available at the rink's restaurant. There were competitors from twelve countries, among them Japanese and German skaters appearing for the first time in international competition since World War II. Many American skaters, who were used to being judged under their country's 10.0 system, were marked out of 6.0 for the first time. A lot may have changed in the last sixty seven years, but today we'll take a look back at the skaters and stories of this fascinating competition!

THE PAIRS COMPETITION

Ria Baran and Paul Falk

European Champions Ria Baran and Paul Falk arrived in Milan quite concerned about their chances as Ria had injured her spine while skating in Basel, Switzerland shortly after the European Championships in Zürich. Doctors warned her not to compete at the World Championships but she chose to disregard their orders.

Karol and Peter Kennedy. Photo courtesy H.J. Lutcher Stark Center Archives.

In a four-three split of the judging panel and by only three tenths of a point, the Germans fended off a formidable challenge from Seattle's Karol and Peter Kennedy, known affectionately to American fans as 'The Kennedy Kids'. British siblings Jennifer and John Nicks easily defeated the team that had beaten them at the European Championships - Switzerland's Elyane Steinemann and André Calame - for the bronze. Canadian Champions Jane Kirby and Donald Tobin weren't even sent by the CFSA to participate.

Following the event, T.D. Richardson remarked, "The Kennedy's skated to perfection. They were miles better than last year and although they were beaten by what is probably the greatest pair of all time, I think it was their fine sportsmanship in defeat that raised them to a higher pinnacle than when they won last year."

THE ICE DANCE COMPETITION

Though not recognized as an 'official' World Championships, the International Ice Dance Competition held in conjunction with the 1951 Milan competition was very much the real deal. Twelve teams from six nations (Austria, Belgium, Great Britain, Holland, Switzerland and the United States) participated and the unpopular ISU rule barring judges from judging skaters from their own countries didn't apply because the event was considered unofficial. Thusly, all but the lone Dutch team, Catharina and Jacobus Odink, benefited from representation on the panel of judges. In her February 2015 Skate Guard interview, Jean Westwood recalled, "In 1950, most nations at this time held their Nationals AFTER Worlds and selected their next year's World Team. In England, all their dance couples had retired, split up or turned professional. It was decided to hold a trial and select a team to enter the International Dance Competition, the forerunner of the World Dance Championship in Milan during the World Figure Skating Championships. In October, I was involved in a serious car accident while attending Liverpool University and was hospitalized for a month then had to undergo physiotherapy. The new partnership of Lawrence Demmy and myself was formed and we decided to enter the trials. It was not judged but two couples were selected - ourselves and John Slater (my previous partner!) and Joan Dewhirst. So off we went to Milan where Lawrence and I won the first competition we entered - which just happened to be the equivalent of a World Championship. It was some way to start a career!"

Incredibly, Jean Westwood walked with a cane the entire time she was in Milan. With one first place ordinal apiece, Britons Joan Dewhirst and John Slater and Americans Lois Waring and Michael McGean finished second and third. British judge Len Seagrave was the only judge to place the top seven teams exactly how they ended up finishing.

THE WOMEN'S COMPETITION

Sonya Klopfer, Jeannette Altwegg and Jacqueline du Bief celebrating after winning medals in Milan

France's Jacqueline du Bief arrived in Milan in high spirits after defeating Great Britain's Jeannette Altwegg at the European Championships but found herself incredibly psyched out by the strength of the entire American team, unable to perform even the simplest jump in her first practice. With twenty three entries, the women's school figures took over six hours. Twenty one year old Altwegg took a commanding fifty seven point lead with first place marks from every judge. Canada's Suzanne Morrow followed closely behind, followed by du Bief. A report in "Skating" magazine noted, "Five girls had to skate the final bracket-change-bracket in almost darkness, for the referee explained to Misses [Margaret] Graham, [Tenley] Albright and [Sonya] Klopfer that the fuses had blown!"

Left: Barbara Wyatt, Right: Sonya Klopfer. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

French sensation Jacqueline du Bief dazzled in the free skate, earning first place ordinals from every judge and wowing the crowd with her double Lutz, spins and artistry. However, it wasn't enough for her to take the title from Altwegg, who received ordinals as low as eighth and ninth in the free skate from the Austrian and American judges. American Sonya Klopfer moved up to take the bronze with a strong free skate. Morrow dropped to fourth, ahead of Great Britain's Barbara Wyatt and America's Tenley Albright. Canada's second entry, Elizabeth Hiscock, placed thirteenth, nine spots ahead of Japan's Etsuko Inada. Inada had been the darling of the 1936 Winter Olympics and was considered by some as a medal hopeful for the 1940 Winter Olympics in Japan, which were cancelled by World War II. Her comeback, at age twenty seven, was nothing short of inspiring.

In her book "Thin Ice", Jacqueline du Bief recalled, "I had worked very hard that year and had greatly hoped to win and when I awoke the day following the competition and realized that everything had to be started all over again and that my chances in the Olympic Games the following year were greatly damaged, I felt a very serious temptation, which pursued me for several weeks, to throw it all up. Luckily, Madame Vaudecrane was there. She reinflated me and made me understand how great would be her personal disappointment if I were to stop now, after so many years of hard work and such great effort."

THE MEN'S COMPETITION 

Twenty one year old Dick Button of Englewood, New Jersey might have been the defending Olympic and World Champion entering the 1951 World Championships in Milan, but his third World title win was anything but a walk in the park. In his book "Dick Button On Skates", he recalled, "For me, 1951 was a year I had to keep on my toes. My third year at Harvard found me more immersed in college activities than ever before. Christmas vacation forced me out of a minor role in a Hasty Pudding show that was touring the East Coast and into a stiff ten-day practice session at Lake Placid. But exams and term papers displaced January’s skating session and I had only three days of intensified practice before the National Championships at Seattle started the year’s competition. With Milan and the World Championship only three weeks off, I had to measure up to beating not only European challengers but also the Americans who had done so well at Seattle. It was important for me to do well at Milan in 1951, for if I lost, I would be in a poor position to retain my Olympic championship the following year."

Poster from the 1951 World Championships

By the time Dick Button arrived in Northern Italy via Zürich, he was exhausted. When he checked in at the Duomo Hotel, near Milan's Teatro alla Scala, his temperature was 102 and his "knees felt no stronger than damp spaghetti." Tenley Albright's father gave him a series of penicillin shots and ordered him to bed. Eventually, he started training even though the fever hadn't subsided. He recalled, "the days passed quickly and when the competition began I was once again officially listed as the American champion defend- ing a world crown. The school figures made a long and tedious grind through the first day of competition. I can only repeat the trite axiom that practice pays. Through the years, much as I disliked school figures, I had never slighted practice on the involved etchings which carry 60 per cent of the scoring. Even though I had called on the reserve of knowledge I had acquired through those years, I was wilted when the day was done. But what a relief I felt when I heard my figures were the best in the tournament. I had a margin of 72.1 points over Hellmut Seibt, European champion, and officials told me they believed that to be a record advantage for recent skating. I could only feel a tremendous confidence for free skating; but yet not enough to keep me from heading straight home to bed. Dr. Albright had advised me to eschew practicing my free skating program, and to conserve energy for the one performance I had to do before the judges. I was nervous when I took center ice for the start of the free skating, more nervous perhaps than I have been before or since. I didn’t know when I might run down. My knees shook a little at the start. I told myself angrily that this was just a hang-over from the fever; a competitor after his fourth world title couldn’t be nervous! But everything moved into place as the music started and the program went well. Triple-double-loops, double-Axel-double-loops, and jump-spin combinations followed each other in a secure if not confident program." Among his very few errors was a fall on the second jump in a double loop/double loop/double loop combination.

Dick Button easily won the men's title with first place ordinals from all but Swiss judge Eugene Kirchhofer, who placed him third in that segment behind his teammates Hayes Alan Jenkins and Jimmy Grogan. Nineteen year old Grogan's athletic performance earned him second place ordinals across the board in the free skate, more than enough to overtake Hellmut Seibt for the silver. Jenkins, Dudley Richards and Don Laws placed fourth, fifth and seventh while Italian Champion Carlo Fassi placed an impressive fifth. 1951 Canadian Bronze Medallist William Lewis - Canada's sole entry in the men's event - placed a disappointing ninth in a field of eleven. Hayes Alan Jenkins' performance, which included a double Axel, was hailed as one of the best in the event. Eminent British judge and historian T.D. Richardson raved, "Young Hayes Jenkins skated the fullest free program I have ever seen. There were movements from as far back as [Henning] Grenander woven into the double what-have-yous in a most fascinating matter."

In her book "Thin Ice", Jacqueline du Bief recalled how the audience reacted to the marks of one unnamed contestant in the men's event in Milan thusly: "Everyone shouted, whistled, gesticulated, called his neighbour to witness and in a few seconds a veritable avalanche of cries of 'Banditto!' from hundreds of angry thoughts was hurled at the judges - to the great joy of all the competitors." One has to wonder which skater's performance so moved to the Italian crowd to such a protest.

THE CLOSING CEREMONIES

Following the competition, the Federazione Italiana Sport del Ghiaccio put on a lavish ball at the newly constructed Duomo Hotel to honour the skaters who participated in the first World Championships ever held on Italian soil. The American team won a trophy that was donated by Italian President Luigi Einaudi for the team who accumulated the most points. Trophies were given out and every skater received some sort of reward. Dick Button recalled, "The gift to the two competitors who came in last was a beautiful woolen blanket and a bottle of liquor. The comments of those receiving them were only questioning glances that asked whether their skating needed a shot from the bottle, or their performances had been inert enough to require the warmth of a blanket."

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.

Four Unlikely Ice Queens Of The Sixties

They called them the Swinging Sixties. In the era of peace, love, incense and peppermints, five talented women - Carol Heiss, Sjoukje Dijkstra, Petra Burka, Peggy Fleming and Gaby Seyfert - reigned atop the Olympic and World podiums. In a sea of stories, the tales of many talented young women who competed during the period have been sadly overlooked. Today on the blog, we'll revisit the stories of four talented skaters from four different countries who deserve a place in our memories.

MIWA FUKUHARA

Junko Ueno, Carol Heiss and Miwa Fukuhara at the 1960 Winter Olympics

"Beauty is universal, thus the products which serve beauty should also be universal." - Arinobu Fukuhara

Born December 13, 1944 in the metropolitan ward of Ōta in Tokyo, Japan, Miwa Fukuhara trained under Japanese skating legend and 1936 Olympian Etsuko Inada in her youth. The granddaughter of Arinobu Fukuhara, who founded the Apothecary Shiseidō - yes, that Shiseido - in the late nineteenth century, Miwa medalled thrice at the Japanese Championships in the late fifties before finally winning her country's national title in 1960 at the age of fifteen. 

Miwa placed a disappointing twenty first at the 1960 Winter Olympic Games in Squaw Valley but while attending Waseda University and studying western history, she stepped up her game considerably in a short amount of time. She won the Japanese title five consecutive times from 1962 to 1966 and at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innbsruck, placed an incredible fifth. Her result was the best finish ever by a Japanese skater at the Olympics at the time. Miwa was actually in fourth place after the figures at those Games but a disappointing ninth place effort in free skating was what dropped her a spot in the standings. Still, she placed ahead of Peggy Fleming, Christy (Haigler) Krall, Wendy Griner, Hana Mašková, Gaby Seyfert and many other skaters who would make major impacts on the sport in the years that followed. One particularly interesting footnote regarding Miwa's career is that she excelled moreso in figures than free skating: certainly a debunking of the stereotype of Japanese skaters struggling in that discipline of skating during her era.

After winning the Winter Universiade in 1964 in Špindlerův Mlýn, Czechoslovakia and again in Sestriere, Italy in 1966 and amassing five top ten finishes at the World Championships, Miwa turned professional. She won the World Professional Championships in Great Britain and toured with Holiday On Ice. In the late seventies and early eighties starred in the Viva! Ice World shows alongside Nobuo Sato and Minoru Sano at the Prince Hotel in Tokyo. She has coached a number of top Japanese skaters including Junko Yaginuma and Nozomi Watanabe and has acted as head coach at the Meiji Jingu Skating Rink in Shinjuku. Although her family may be in the business of selling beauty that's only skin deep, Miwa's work in creating beauty has left an impression on the sport that will never fade.

ELENA SCHNEGLOVA

Born August 2, 1950 in Moscow, Elena Lvovna Schneglova was only fourteen years old when she placed third at the Soviet Championships behind none other than Tamara Moskvina in 1965. A product of the demanding Soviet sports program, she trained at the Young Pioneers Stadium in Moscow under the watchful eye of Tatiana Tomalcheva. After Tamara Moskvina shifted her focus entirely to pairs skating, Elena emerged as one of the top female Soviet skaters of the late sixties. She won her country's national title in both 1966 and 1968, the Prize Of Moscow News in both 1968 and 1969 and was a competitor at four European Championships, five World Championships and the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France. In participating at those Games, Elena and Galina Grzhibovskaya were the first two Soviet or Russian women in history to ever compete in women's figure skating at the Olympic Games. After a twelfth place finish at the 1970 World Championships, she faded into obscurity but her confident style and high flying double Axel certainly demanded the attention of audiences at a time when Soviet women's skaters were making their first impressions on the Olympic stage. At a time when talented young women in the Soviet Union were ushered into pairs skating, she was a unlikely star in singles.

RHODE LEE MICHELSON

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

Born March 9, 1943 in Long Beach, California, Rhode Lee Michelson started skating when she was eight years old. After taking lessons from World Champion Jean Westwood, she began working with Jean's ice dance partner Bill Kipp. Rhode Lee was a skater ahead of her time, tackling difficult double Axels and even triple jumps in practice at a time when many of her competitors were quite content skating programs with a much easier degree of difficulty. She also had a reputation as a bit of a 'bad girl'. She mowed down skaters in practice sessions, stayed out late, talked back to her coach and wasn't the least bit shy around the boys: certainly not the typical 'ice princess' of her era. In her wonderful 2010 book "Indelible Tracings", Patricia Shelley Bushman noted, "Club officials rationalized that she would be getting into more trouble if she weren't skating and grudgingly accepted her as a lovable rascal."

Despite not having the typical 'dainty' physique or skating style of many of her contemporaries, there was a certain something about Rhode Lee's style that was majestic in its own way. Though she struggled with school figures, she was a fearless free skater and commanded the attention of audiences and judges alike. After winning the 1958 U.S. novice ladies title, she moved her way up the ranks and placed third and second in the junior women's events at the U.S. Championships in 1959 and 1960. At the 1961 U.S. Championships in Colorado Springs, she climbed all the way from last place to third with a gutsy free skate that featured two double Axel's near the end of her program. After an injury forced her to withdraw from the 1961 North American Championships in Philadelphia, she boarded Sabena Flight 548 enroute to her first World Championships. Along with the rest of the 1961 U.S. Figure Skating Team, her coach Bill Kipp and countless others, she perished on that ill-fated flight. We will never know what trajectory Rhode Lee's career might have taken had she not have boarded that plane, but she lives on in skating's collective memory as one of the most intriguing and exciting young skaters of her era.

SANDRA TEWKESBURY

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

"He won the lottery and died the next day." - Alanis Morissette

Born on Valentine's Day in 1942 in Chatham, Ontario, Sandra Gail Tewksebury joined the Chatham Figure Skating Club when it was formed in 1949 and took from coach Leona Beryl Goodman. A precociously talented young skater, she passed the Canadian and American silver dance tests and the Canadian, British and American gold tests in school figures when she was only a pre-teen. In early 1957, she won the senior women's title at the Niagara Invitational Figure Skating Competition in Detroit and finished third in the junior women's event at the Canadian Championships in Winnipeg. It was clear to anyone who was paying attention that the prodigious youngster from Chatham was going places.

Making the hop, skip and jump into the senior ranks in 1959, she won the Western Ontario Sectional Championships and the bronze medal at the Canadian Figure Skating Championships in Noranda, Quebec behind Carole Jane Pachl and Karen Dixon. At the subsequent North American Championships in Toronto, she placed in the top five in her international debut and was the top Canadian woman at that event. At the World Championships in Colorado Springs, she placed an impressive tenth, again the top finisher among the three Canadian women entered. Not bad for a sixteen year old who hailed from a skating club that had never produced a medallist at the Canadian Championships until she came on the scene.

All seemed lost for Sandra when at the 1960 Canadian Championships in Regina, she finished off the podium in a disappointing fifth place. The "Montreal Gazette" reported that at those Nationals, "Miss Tewkesbury, skating for the last several months with a bandaged foot to support weak ligaments, messed up a high-factor figure in the first part of the program and never recovered." She was not named to the 1960 World team but CFSA officials had faith in the injured young skater and gave her a winning lottery ticket of sorts: a coveted spot on the 1960 Winter Olympic team.

At the Squaw Valley Olympics, seventeen year old Sandra started the school figures in twelfth, worked her way up to eighth and dropped to tenth place after the free skating. Considering her result at the Canadian Championships, being the top Canadian woman in that event, placing in the top ten in one of her first international competitions and defeating sixteen other skaters - including future World Medallists Wendy Griner and Nicole Hassler - was nothing to sneeze at.

Sandra retired at seventeen, married a former newspaper ad man named Gary Ritchie and took a job teaching skating at the Guelph Figure Skating Club. Driving alone on a highway just outside of Guelph on June 5, 1962, her car collided with a vehicle driven by forty seven year old James Nichol of Rockwood. Both were taken to a Guelph hospital: Nichol with minor injuries and Sandra with critical injuries after being pinned in her car. Nichol survived; Sandra and her unborn child were pronounced dead five hours after being admitted. She was only twenty years old at the time of her untimely death. Inducted into Chatham Sports Hall of Fame 1986 and the Skate Canada Western Ontario Section Hall Of Fame in 2015, Sandra's death is a tragedy often forgotten in correlation with the timing of the Sabena Crash that claimed the lives of Rhode Lee Michelson and the entire U.S. Figure Skating team only a year before. In talking about her story, we can keep the memory of a brilliant young star gone far too soon alive.

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.

Australia's Pioneering Pair: The Jackie Mason And Mervyn Bower Story

Australia made its debut at the Winter Olympic Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany in 1936, when Ken Kennedy, a speed skater, formed the country's team of one. He didn't even have a coach with him. It wouldn't be until the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo that Australian figure skaters would make their first appearance. It was an inauspicious debut. Adrian Swan finished in tenth place among the men and neither of the women's competitors that year managed to make the top ten. It wouldn't be until the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, Australia that an Australian pairs team would first compete in the Games and the story of how those two skaters made that happen is truly an incredible one.

Born January 12, 1934 and November 27, 1936 respectively, Mervyn John Bower and his partner Jacqueline 'Jackie' Mason both hailed from Sydney, Australia. They burst on the scene in 1950, winning their first of an incredible twelve Australian national titles. As was the case with many promising Australian skaters at the time, they divided their training time between Australia (where they trained under the watchful eye of Cubby Lyons and Jackie's mother) and Great Britain. While in England, the duo actually became the first Australian couple to earn the National Skating Association's gold test in pairs skating. They also twice earned medals at the British Championships, finishing third behind Jennifer and John Nicks in 1952 and Joyce Coates and Anthony Holles in 1956.

At the 1952 World Figure Skating Championships in Paris, France, Jackie and Mervyn made history once again by becoming the very first Australian pairs team ever to compete at the World Championships. They placed a disappointing ninth, but if eighth place ordinals from the Austrian, German and Swiss judges softened the blow, words of encouragement and praise from none other than Dick Button himself bolstered their resolve to continue.

Balancing their travels between England and Australia and Jackie's studies at the Kambala School in Rose Bay, New South Wales wasn't an easy task but the team stayed together through thick and thin. Jackie even began training as a judge while she was still competing. Fending off challenges year after year from other Australian teams like Gloria Aiken and Bob Watson, they kept their eye on their next goal: being the first pairs team to represent Australia at the Winter Olympic Games.

In early 1956, Jackie and Mervyn sailed from Australia to Italy aboard the S.S. Himalaya. A train ride later, they were Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy and ready to make their Olympic debut on the ice of the Stadio Olimpico Del Ghiaccio. They weren't even on the ice for five minutes when disaster struck. The January 25, 1956 issue of "The Argus" reported, "The two skaters were on the ice... for less than two minutes when Mervyn, on a back glide, crashed into the wooden rim of the rink, fracturing an ankle bone." Doctors advised Mervyn not to skate on his swollen, fractured left ankle for at least ten days and despite initial optimism, four years of hard work and steady improvement went out the window when the team was reluctantly forced to withdraw. Determined to make the most of their trip to Europe, they bravely competed in the 1956 World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen despite Mervyn's injury. They finished eleventh and last, despite the efforts of an obviously patriotic Australian judge who placed them in a tie for sixth with Americans Lucille Ash and Sully Kothman... when no other judge had them higher than ninth.

Rather than give up on their Olympic dream, the pioneering pair from Sydney decided to stick it out for the long haul. At the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, they triumphantly made a return to international competition and earned their rightful place in the history books as the first Australian pairs skaters to compete at the Games. They finished twelfth of thirteen teams competing, right behind future two time Olympic Gold Medallists Ludmila and Oleg Protopopov and Americans Maribel Yerxa Owen and Dudley Richards and Ila Ray and Ray Hadley, who tragically perished in the Sabena Crash the following year.

Ice cream on ice!

In July 1960, Jackie married John Kendall-Baker, the manager of the Prince Alfred Park outdoor rink in Sydney. Mervyn was the couple's usher. After her marriage, she continued to compete with Mervyn for another four years, though not internationally. Mervyn ultimately turned to professional skating, performing in Pat Gregory's shows on The Tivoli Circuit and later opening a gift business called Baskets With Love. Jackie went on to become an international figure skating judge. Among her international assignments were the women's event at the 1979 World Championships and the pairs events at the 1980 Winter Olympics and 1981 World Championships. Both Jackie and Mervyn were among the first group of inductees to Ice Skating Australia's Hall Of Fame in 2004. Jackie's daughter, Simone Moore, was a former national level competitor in the late seventies and early eighties. She grew up to become the youngest Australian judge ever appointed to judge internationally and was a survivor of 2007 Merinda tragedy. Mervyn passed away in 2013; Jacqueline on April 9, 2020. In a March 29, 2007 interview in "The Australian", Jackie spoke about some of the unique challenges of being an Australian skater competing internationally in the fifties and sixties. She lamented that the long sea voyages from Australia to Europe were one of the greatest setbacks, owing to lost training time. "You can't skate on a ship," she aptly noted. Water, water all around and not a drop to skate on... isn't that how the old saying goes?

The time that this team dedicated - over a decade of their lives - to putting Australian pairs skating on the map was simply incredible. Whether they won a medal or not, they deserve our respect for sticking with it and pursuing their dreams. That's what it's all about, isn't it?

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 1967 Canadian Figure Skating Championships

Photo courtesy Cynthia Miller

Lester B. Pearson was Canada's Prime Minister, the cost of a dozen eggs was thirty eight cents and Aretha Franklin was busy rehearsing her soon to be number one hit "Respect". From January 25 to 29 of that year - 1967 - Canada's best figure skaters gathered in Toronto, Ontario to compete for laurels at the Canadian Figure Skating Championships.

A gaggle of great champions at the Varsity Arena. Photo courtesy Valerie (Jones) Bartlett.

The event, which was sponsored by the University, Leaside and Lakeshore Clubs, had been scheduled to be held at the Maple Leaf Gardens, but due to a scheduling conflict was moved to the Varsity Arena and Lakeshore Lions Memorial Arena at the last minute. Judges sat on chairs on the ice throughout the competition and skaters from the B.C. Section cleaned house when it came to medals. Let's take an in-depth look at how things played out!

Photo courtesy Cynthia Miller

THE NOVICE AND JUNIOR EVENTS

Patrick McKilligan

Multiple panel judging was used for the novice and junior singles events. Four foot eight Patrick McKilligan, the younger brother of senior pairs skaters Betty and John McKilligan, might have been the smallest of the eleven novice men's competitors, but what he lacked in size, he made up for in strength. Capitalizing on the mistakes of the two young men placed above him in figures, he moved up to claim the gold medal with a free program that featured Axels in both directions, a double flip and Lutz.

Sandra and Val Bezic (left) and Louise (Lind) and Barry Soper (right). Photo courtesy "Skating magazine.

Louise (Lind) and Barry Soper, students at the University Of British Columbia who had only been skating together for three months, were unanimously first in novice dance. Also unanimously first were novice pairs champions Sandra and Val Bezic. At ten and fourteen, Sandra and Val dreamed representing Canada at the World Championships in both singles and pairs like another famous Canadian sibling team, Constance and Bud Wilson. Despite a fall in her free skate, Mary McCaffrey took the gold in the novice women's event, ahead of Cynthia Miller and Diane Hall. Another McCaffrey - Jill of the Burnaby Skating Club - was the winner of the free skate, but was only able to move up to fifth after placing an unlucky thirteenth in figures.

Mary Jane Oke and Victor Irving (left) and Donna Taylor and Bruce Lennie (right). Photo courtesy "Skating magazine.

With first place ordinals with five of the seven judges, Mary Jane Oke and Victor Irving topped Mary Petrie and Bob McAvoy in junior pairs. The junior dance title went to Donna Taylor and Bruce Lennie. Bob Emerson moved up from second after figures to claim the junior men's title, besting early leader David Coffin - who landed two double Axels - four judges to one. Only three ordinals separated the top four skaters in the junior women's event. With a dazzling free skate that included a double flip and Lutz, Heather Fraser of the Victoria Figure Skating Club managed to close the gap on Diana Williams' thirty point lead over her in figures to clinch the title.

THE PAIRS COMPETITION

Betty and John McKilligan. Photo courtesy Toronto Public Library, from Toronto Star Photographic Archive. Reproduced for educational purposes under license permission.

In a practice prior to the compulsory pairs program, siblings Betty and John McKilligan got their skates tangled following a lift, with Betty severing a tendon in her right toe. Though she was walking with a limp and grimacing in pain, the talented pair managed to soldier through both of their programs in Toronto. Though Betty struggled on some of the side-by-side jumping passes, the talented twosome was still ranked first by six of the seven judges. Another sibling team, Alexis and Chris Shields, were disappointed to be placed second after being in the runner-up position to the retired Susan and Paul Huehnergard the previous two years. They took solace in the fact that no less a skating authority than Donald B. Cruikshank had them ranked first. Anna Forder and Richard Stephens rounded out the three pair field, impressing the audience with a reverse overhead lift and showing great improvement.

Valerie (Jones) Merrick recalled an important historical footnote that related to the pairs event: "Mr. [Sheldon] Galbraith brought his video replay equipment to these Championships. This was the first time there was instant replay equipment. This was perhaps an indication of what future judging would include with the current judging system... Up until the summer of 1966, Mr. Galbraith used 8mm and 16mm films that took time to be developed before we could analyse and study our work.  Mr. Galbraith was so happy when we were able to analyse an element instantly. His first video equipment was an Ampex 3/4 inch reel to reel recorded.  The recording unit was very heavy and had to be carried by two people, usually two of Mr. Galbraith's pair skaters. This equipment travelled with us to our practices at Canadians and North Americans in 1967. During the figure event in Canadians I had the opportunity to watch my skate as soon as the marks were given.  This was truly the beginning of a very electronic based IJS that we watch today. There was a controversy regarding a circular step in the senior pairs event. After the marks were awarded, he was asked to replay that portion to the referee of the event to clarify if the circular step performed was indeed a complete 360 degree circle. It did not affect the scores."

THE ICE DANCE COMPETITION

Joni Graham and Don Phillips. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

After the compulsory dances, the four teams who competed were separated by only nine points. In the absence of the previous year's champions Carole Forrest and Kevin Lethbridge, the leaders were 1966 junior champions Joni Graham and Don Phillips, who represented the Kerrisdale Figure Skating Club in British Columbia. With a showy free dance, Graham and Phillips managed to defeat the previous year's bronze medallists, Judy Henderson and John Bailey of the Weston Skating Club, five judges to two. Wayne Palmer, who'd finished second the year prior with Gail Snyder, took the bronze with his new partner Maureen Peever in another five-two split with fourth place finishers Dale Newmarch and Bryce Swetnam of the Capilano Winter Club.

THE MEN'S COMPETITION

Donald Knight

1967 marked the fourth year in a row that Donald Knight, Dr. Charles Snelling and Jay Humphry stood on the podium together at the Canadian Championships. Though the faces were the same, the skating the fourth time around was a little bit different. Previously, Knight (who'd won the previous two years) had been regarded as somewhat of a figure specialist who relied heavily on his early leads to coast to victory... a male Trixi Schuba if you will. Things were much the same in that regard at this particular event. Knight won the school figures, some eighty five points ahead of Humphry and one hundred and thirty three ahead of Snelling. However, his free skate in Toronto showed a remarkable improvement over the ones he'd given the three previous years. He wisely chose to leave the triple Salchow out of his program and landed two double Axels and two double Lutzes in his clean and confident performance. He earned a huge ovation from the six thousand spectators and unanimous first place marks from the seven judges. Not only did Knight win his third consecutive Canadian title, but he won the free skate for the first time. Humphry missed a triple toe-loop early in his free skate but managed to retain second position ahead of Snelling, who received his lone second place vote from judge William Lewis, one of his earliest rivals. David McGillvray, who finished fourth due to his placement in figures, landed a triple toe-loop in his free skate. Toller Cranston, Steve Hutchinson and Joey Summerfield rounded out the seven man field.

THE WOMEN'S COMPETITION

Valerie Jones and Donald Knight receiving the Minto and Devonshire Cups from Bert Penfold. Photo courtesy Cynthia Miller.

"There are so many things I still have to learn," Petra Burka told reporter Margaret Phillips. She was referring to her evolution as a skater since turning professional and leaving the Canadian women's crown up for grabs. Burka's logical successor was Valerie Jones, who had been her runner-up at the Championships the two previous years in Calgary and Peterborough. Though Jones surprised no one when she took a strong lead in the figures, she faced considerable competition in the free skate from fourteen year old Karen Magnussen, who had almost beaten Burka in the free skate the year prior in Peterborough when she made her senior debut.

Women's medallists. Photo courtesy Valerie (Jones) Bartlett.

Jones landed two double Lutzes and flips but omitted her double Axel in the free skate. She recalled, "I skated a free program that included a vocal at the end, which was the first time a vocal was used for a competitive program. There was no rule other than the time requirements for programs at that time. I think everyone was very surprised. I didn't really hear any great concern at Canadians... I think Mr. Galbraith was held in high regard here. There were more questions about the vocal in Montreal [at the North American Championships] with the Americans. I remember Tina Noyes saying to me at the first practice 'you aren’t really skating to a vocal are you?'. There was a quite a bit more discussion when we got to Europe.  The only rule was that Ladies had to skate to four minutes of music plus or minus ten seconds. There was no specification as to what form of music. The normal program selection for skaters at that time was classical music that began with fast music, then a slower tempo/lyrical piece and then a quicker tempo for the last piece. Mr. Galbraith decided to be a bit radical with me and chose a very slow opening that began to build in tempo in the middle and then end with the vocal.  His strategy was perhaps not the best!  I didn't help by making mistakes during my skate in Vienna. The ISU made a clear statement when they created the rule forbidding vocals in competition after Vienna. I must add that I was quite protected during the events from hearing any negative remarks about my music. I guess my little bit of history was that I was responsible for a rule that lasted almost fifty years and it was the last free skate in a World competition outdoors. I drew last to skate and the ladies were the last event."\

Left: Karen Magnussen. Right: Valerie Jones. Photos courtesy Toronto Public Library, from Toronto Star Photographic Archive. Reproduced for educational purposes under license permission.

Karen Magnussen again electrified the crowd in Toronto, landing three double Axels before skipping a fourth when she came too close to the boards and earning four 5.9's for her effort. She won the free skate, but when the marks from figures were factored in, Jones was the unanimous winner. The bronze medal went to Roberta Laurent of the Cricket Club, who faltered on both a double Axel and double Lutz. She was beaten in the free skate by Linda Carbonetto, who skated a performance that rivalled Magnussen's and featured the competition's only triple jump - a Salchow. 

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.

Acting And Axels: The Thornton Coolidge Story

The son of Dr. Algernon and Amy (Lothrop Peabody) Coolidge, Jr. and Amy (Lothrop) Peabody Coolidge, Thornton Kirkland Lothrop Coolidge was born October 11, 1906 in Boston, Massachusetts.
His father was a highly respected laryngologist who served as the Dean of Harvard University's Graduate School Of Medicine and the Chief of the Department Of Laryngology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Thornton and his two older siblings in a Victorian brownstone home on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, in the affluent Back Bay neighborhood. The family's needs were attended to by a live-in cook, waitress and chambermaid. The Coolidge's were devout Episcopals and parishioners at Boston's historic Trinity Church.

Thornton's father, Dr. Algernon Coolidge

Educated privately at Milton Academy, Thornton was first encouraged to pursue figure skating seriously by George Henry Browne, the headmaster at Browne and Nichols School. He joined both the Skating Club Of Boston and Cambridge Skating Club and began taking lessons from Willie Frick. In the mid twenties, Mr. Frick paired Thornton with Maribel Vinson, a talented skater five years younger than him. Thornton was Maribel's first partner... and his only pairs partner.

Together, the talented duo won the Cambridge Skating Club's pairs title and U.S. junior pairs title in 1927. The following two years, they were America's senior pairs champions and in 1929, Maribel and Thornton claimed the bronze medal at the North American Championships ahead of Dorothy Weld and Richard L. Hapgood, losing out to Canadian siblings Constance and Bud Wilson and their training mates, Theresa Weld Blanchard and Nathaniel Niles. When Thornton and Maribel won their second U.S. title that same winter, one Associated Press reporter wrote, "This pair, repeating their victory of last year, excelled in speed, executed their figures in perfect unison and then produced a number of rhythmic movements that were judged [to be the best]."

Maribel Vinson and Thornton Coolidge

Unlike Maribel, who of course went on to dedicate her entire life to figure skating, Thornton hung up his skates "for good" in 1929. He'd graduated with a Bachelor Of Arts from Harvard University the previous year, devoting much of his free time to the  Pierian Sodality, Harvard Glee Club and Harvard Musical Club while attending the ivy league school. His true aspirations centered around acting and singing, and he went to Europe to study theater abroad. He happened to be in London in 1931 when Maribel came over to visit the Richmond and Park Lane rinks. She wrote in "Skating" magazine, "Unfortunately he had to be out of town during most of my time here, but we skated at Park Lane one day and gave an impromptu exhibition of our old pair, which we had not skated for two years. We were so amazed at our nerve that we nearly perished of laughter, but outside of that and a couple of complete lapses of memory, it really wasn't so bad, considering! Thornton seems to be skating quite well and certainly is amazingly adaptable. I hope to see him at St. Moritz for a week, unless his singing duties are too pressing."

Thornton ultimately returned to America and began acting in a series of plays at the Henry Street Theatre and Carmel Summer Theatre in New York. In 1933, he appeared at The Rockridge Indoor Theatre, acting alongside a then up-and-coming Tyrone Power. In 1934, he played Beau Brummell in the play "Mad Lover", based on the life of Lord Byron, at the Punch and Judy Theatre in Chicago. In 1935, he acted alongside Noël Coward in the Millbrook Theatre's presentation of "The Vortex", a controversial three-act play about sex and drugs in England during World War I. His final effort, in January 1936, was an English adaptation of Georges Berr and Louis Verneuil's French play "Mon crime".

Photo courtesy Boston Public Library

Less than three months later, Thornton returned to Boston, where he passed away on April 8, 1936 at his parents home at the age of twenty nine after a three week illness. His older brother had died in his twenties as well, and we can only speculate as to what the future might have held for this ambitious and talented young man whose life was cut short.

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.

Figurno Pŭrzalyane: Exploring Bulgaria's Fascinating Skating History

During his reign as Prince Of Bulgaria from 1879 to 1886, Alexander of Battenburg opened an ice rink on a frozen marsh outside of Sofia. A nephew of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, he learned to skate as a child with the instruction of a private tutor and developed a lifelong affection for the exercise. When he officially opened the rink, he purportedly declared, "Long live our skating rink!"

Alexander of Battenburg, Prince Of Bulgaria

In 1901, an instructional book was penned offering instructions to Bulgarian skaters and following World War I, the sport enjoyed a boom of popularity in the country in the roaring twenties. One of the earliest documented skaters of great talent in the country was a lawyer named Miloslav Bogdanov, who went by the pseudonym Dr. Diodono when travelling abroad. In the Bulgarian newspaper "24 Chasa", George Kanazirski-Verin recalled him as "tall, skinny, always unshaven [and] extremely nervous... The lawyer felt safe only on the ice. He is the first Bulgarian who tried to bring together skating and art... He tried jumps, pirouettes and loops. On the ice at Eagle Bridge he slithered tirelessly from early morning to late night, made some dangerous figures, [and] though they lacked grace, [he] still raised eyebrows among numerous audiences around the lake."

A month after a skating society was formed in Sofia in January 1929, the country held its first figure skating competition a lake in the Knyaz-Borisova gradina park in Sofia by the light of kerosene lanterns. Visits from a troupe of touring ice acrobats and Olympic Gold Medallist Nikolay Panin helped further boost interest in the sport in the years that followed. Although thousands took to the ice in the Bulgarian capital prior to World War II, like in Yugoslavia a lack of artificial ice rinks and expert instruction ultimately slowed the development of the sport to a snail's pace during and after the War.

However, on September 6, 1949, the Bulgarian Skating Federation was established as part of the Bulgarian Committee of Physical Culture And Sports and five years later, the first Bulgarian Figure Skating Championships were held on a frozen cycling track in Sofia. In 1960, the country's first artificial rink was constructed at the Druzhba Stadium in Dobrich. A meeting between Bulgarian and Yugoslavian authorities in 1965 led to the development of the country's first international competition, the Sofia Cup. Two years later, the Bulgarian Skating Federation became a member of the International Skating Union.

Commemorative pin from the 1991 European Championships in Sofia

Although Bulgarian skaters did participate in international competitions in the late sixties, it wouldn't be until 1979 when Margarita Dimitrova would become the first skater from Bulgaria to compete at the European Championships. She placed an unceremonious twenty eighth of twenty nine competitors. In 1984, ice dancers Hristina Boyanova and Yavor Ivanov became the country's first skaters to compete at the World Championships and Winter Olympics. Their results were sadly equally disappointing.

By the nineties, Bulgaria was marking its mark on the skating world. It played host to both the 1991 and 1996 European Championships and Ivan Dinev, the late Viktoria Dimitrova, Zvetelina Abrasheva, Sofia Penkova and Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviyski gave the country representation in the figure skating competitions at three consecutive Olympic Games. At the 1999 World Championships, Ivan Dinev became the first Bulgarian skater to land a quadruple jump in international competition.

Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviyski at the Bulgarian Federation's fiftieth anniversary in 1999

In 2003, Denkova and Staviyski became the first skaters from Bulgaria to medal at both the European and World Championships. In 2006, they again made history as the country's first - and to date, only - World Champions. Although Bulgaria may be a relative 'new kid on the block' as compared to many other European countries in the skating world, the country's skating history is nothing short of fascinating.

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.

Demorest The Drunk Skater

The date was February 9, 1869, the place the Brooklyn Rink in New York and the event in question the Championships Of America. E.T. Goodrich and Frank Swift were both scheduled to compete, and in the days preceding the competition, weather and ice conditions had been favourable... but on the morning of the ninth, a wicked rain storm kicked up and a decision was reached to postpone the competition. Unfortunately, as there were no phone tree's or Twitter back in those days, not everyone was aware of the event's cancellation .So in the cold February rain, hundreds of Brooklyn residents flocked to the rink anyway. They took their skating seriously back in those days, didn't they?

Goodrich and Swift had both made the damp trek to the Brooklyn Rink despite the competition's cancellation, so they gave short exhibitions of their specialities... figures with names like grapevines, Mercury scuds and locomotives. Afterwards, the soggy ice was opened for skating to the general public, which included members of both the New York and Brooklyn Clubs. While many troupers took to the ice, others were content to continue to watch the best skaters from the sidelines.

An 1860's skating carnival in Brooklyn. Photo courtesy Museum Of The City Of New York.

Among those in attendance was a nineteenth century ice comedian named Jimmy Demorest who took it upon himself to lighten up a rather dreary situation. The February 20, 1869 issue of the "New York Clipper" explained how it all went down: "Apropos of Jimmy, an amusing incident occurred during the evening, of which he was the hero. Demorest's abilities as a comic skater coming to the ears of Mr. M. Chichester, superintendent of the rink, that gentleman procured an old suit of clothes for our hero, and proposed that he should go on the ice as a drunken man. To carry out the joke, it was determined to let no one in the secret, not even the policemen who had been detailed to preserve order on that particular evening. Accordingly, Jimmy rigged himself in a private room, got out of the window, and was let into the rink by a back door. Swift had just left the ice, the music had ceased, when a little stir at the lower end of the rink and several voices in angry dispute attracted attention to that direction. Presently a loaferish looking, half tipsy sort of chap tumbled on the ice, and commenced to gyrate in the most comical manner. The spectators laughed at the antics of the stranger, while others cried 'Put him out!' Superintendent Chichester, who was conveniently at hand, started after the intruder, but the fellow was too spry for him, and after several ineffectual attempts to lay hands on him, which were provocative of much merriment, Chichester called on the police officers to remove him. The metropolitans advanced on the chap with an air which seemed to convey that they had an easy job on hand. Demorest had, in the meantime, been 'wobbling' round, part of the time in the water and again trying to preserve his balance, his amusements all the time being of the most amusing character. As the over-vigilant guardians of the peace advanced with drawn clubs, Demorest dodged them very successfully, much to their chagrin. Finally, the farce being played out, Jimmy left the ice, and much to the surprise of the spectators and greatly to the disgust of the officers, slipped his coat and hat off and proceeded to the gentlemen's room. As he passed through the crowd and the people began to realize the fact that they had been sold, Demorest was greeted with applause."

This wasn't the only 'sell' back in those days. Back in 2015, we explored the story of how Callie C. Curtis donned his finest drag and successfully pulled the wool over the eyes of audiences and judges alike by entering women's skating competitions. Early American skating history in particular is peppered with many accounts of confidence tricksters such as these - rink owners and event organizers working with skaters - to manufacture publicity stunts which drew in spectators. In this particular case, it seemed to work!

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.