Retrospective Looking Back -- World Professional Championships --

Do you remember the World Professional Figure Skating Championships that were televised in December, usually from the Capitol Centre in Landover Maryland? The first of these competitions, I believe, was televised around 1980, and then remained a staple of NBC sports for nearly a decade. Some of the finest champion skaters - turned pro- competed - a virtual "who's who" of the skating world. Some of these wonderful skaters were - Dorothy Hamill, Linda Fratianne, Ludmilla & Oleg Protopopov, Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini, Brian Boitano, Brian Orser, Robin Cousins, Scott Hamilton, Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner, Kitty & Peter Carruthers, etc. So many GREAT performances!! Every time the judges awarded '10', the crowd roared its approval.

I never did attend any of these events in person, and I'd love to hear from anyone who was fortunate enough to have attended them.

The first of these events included two group skates - the 'all stars' (newly turned pro skaters who turned pro after the 1980 season) and 'pro stars' (pro skaters who were a bit older and still sharp and great performers).

It's perhaps a bit wierd to reply to my own post....but I forgot to mention Robin Cousin's absolutely terrific "The Devil Takes a Holiday" performance that won him the World Pro title one year back in the 1980s. His choreography was outstanding, and he tap-danced and clicked his skates together throughout the routine. What a genius on ice he was!!

Thanks for starting this Silverpond. You sparked such great memories for me. I grew up in the Washington DC area (still live here) and Landover is just outside the city limits. I was fortunate enough to go this wonderful event multiple times in 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1998 and 1999. Because of its placement on the calendar just before Christmas, my tickets to the event were given to me as gifts from my mother and my late grandmother. In retrospect I was sooo completely spoiled for a decade. It was wonderful, from Uncle Dick leading the whole show to the total seriousness with which the pros approached the event. For years these skaters proved they could still compete with their amateur counterparts and frequently their individual performances were of national or even world championship quality at the eligible level. I have to think that this event among others helped the ISU reconsider its rules and allow pros to reinstate in 94. There was also such creativity exercised that you just sat back and marveled at the skating.

I got to see some of the the great pros of that era: Kristi Yamaguchi, Midori Ito, Yuka Sato, Brian Boitano (who was thoroughly untouchable in the late 80s and early 90s), Brian Orser (his tribute to Rob McCall was a classic and had everyone feeling a little misty), Robin Cousins, the Carruthers, Debi Thomas (my grandmother's all-time fave and a much better pro than amateur), Kurt Browning, Scott Hamilton, Paul Wylie, the delightfully quirky Denise Beillmann whom we loved but never quite understood, Karyn Cadavy, Gordeeva and Grinkov, Underhill and Martini, Valova and Vasiliev, Torvill and Dean, Klimova and Ponomarenko, Bestemianova and Bukin, Tracy and Wilson and Rob McCall, Natalia Annenko and Genrich Sretinski, Tara Lipinski, Alexeir Urmanov, Punsalan and Swallow, Pasha Grishuk and Alexander Zhulin, and Maia Usova and Yevgeni Platov (BTW the crowd was sooooo in Maia's corner when she competed with Platov). They all contributed something special and memorable and the crowd loved them for it. Those who came back year after year were like old friends. People lived for Boitano's triple axel, 'tano lutz and especially his massive deathdrop and glorious spread eagle. Paul Wylie's passion and insane edges were mesmerizing (my mom adored him). I could go on and on. What a wonderful event that was. I still hope it can be revived one day here or elsewhere.

There's a treasure trove of clips on various video sites. Some of my favorite performances are below.

Denise Beillmann
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKYQxRteuis (one of her most conventional skates but look at that speed, height on her jumps, strong edges and of course her spins)

G&G
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Luiowsm1r5E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc2tKx5fnxs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKNmneKrcmg

Klimova and Ponomarenko
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roIjwsfWnP0

The Protopopovs (I was not there for this but I've seen it many times. It's GORGEOUS.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amlhlyKN9QE

Paul Wylie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC1ucqEJTiY

Brian Boitano (he was usually so far ahead after the TP that he was almost unreachable in the AP)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKNmneKrcmg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g16LfG5Eo60&feature=related

Kurt Browning (Again I missed this one, but it's a complete masterpiece)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48HQwU-VhyE

jcoates -- WOW!!! -- You could write a book about this fabulous decade of pro championships! How fortunate you were to have attended so many of them. I had to satisfy myself with television and taping the programs, which was great, but of course not in the same league as actually being there.

I agree totally that the pros of that area took great pride in their technnical and artistic abilities, and they trained seriously for this event. The legendary Protopopovs trained all year for this event, and it was the only competitive event on their calendar. The last time they competed, they were in their 50s or 60s, I believe, and they still looked fabulous and skated beautifully.

Thank you so much for sharing your memories for for posting the clips.

I loved this event! A late friend of mine and I would watch it on Saturday and call each other up during commercial breaks. The pros really tried to push the boundaries of artistic skating. Once, Yuka Sato skated to "Afternoon of a Faun" while Janet Lynn was in the audience. At first she was hesitant, because that music was Lynn's signature piece, but I think Yuka more than did it justice, and it was a truly immortal moment made even better by Lynn's presence. This was the event that made Underhill and Martini the skating giants they became as pros. I remember people waiting with bated breath every year to see what they would come up with. The year they skated to "Unchained Melody," an "aaahhh" went up in the crowd the minute the music started. I especially loved watching Browning and Wylie, and they never disappointed. I think Midori Ito once competed, and she did a triple axel, as I recall. It was amazing to watch...as if she was climbing up the air. Even Michelle competed once or twice, didn't she? But she was born a bit too late to be a fixture at Landover. She was still in the middle of her long career as an eligible skater.

And sigh, Klimova/Ponomarenko. Their Romeo and Juliet was sublime, and they also did a heartbreakingly beautiful program to a section from Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. They were so poetic and romantic, and beautiful--as if they were another species of being, maybe elves from Tolkien's Middle-Earth. No wonder the next Olympic champs, Grischuk and Platov, left me cold with that frenzied free dance they did to "Rock Around the Clock" in 1994.

I wish I had time to watch all the video links right now. Many delights await me. Silverpond, thanks so much for opening this thread! And jcoates, thanks deeply for assembling all those links.

And don't forget Janet Lynn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsb4TEDHhJs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrR6nOXaXgA

Silverpond and Olympia, I'm glad you liked my last post. I forgot to add this clip. Kazakova and Dmitriev attempted a throw quad toe loop and came darn close to making it. They performed it almost directly in front of my section. Sandra Bezic is correct in the clip in saying that we just did not get what we had seen attempted. Quads were still rare even in singles back then and virtually non-existent in pairs at the time. It just did not compute to any of us. It wasn't until I saw the event on TV a few weeks later that I understood what had happened. Amazing that pros like this were still willing to push the envelope.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbw9mjVD72U

Now that I've started, I can't seem to stop looking up these great old clips. That's what insomnia will do to you. Here's Midori winning her only World Pro title in 1993. I still say to this day that she had the best triple axel in history, male or female. Mao's best 3a does not even approach this jump, wrapped free leg or not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Dg3jlLS9W4

Here's Kristi's AP from the same year. Even though she was second, this has always been one of my favorite programs from her.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZOPMxMAfKY

Here's Kristi's winning TP from the previous year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrEngQEWh18

Finally, here's Yuka's first title of four, won in 1995. Technical Program.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOcSjJ-bfCQ

Toller Cranston - 1980 AP - with appreciative commentary by John Misha Petkevitch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otH4Ed1IjUQ

I've always wondered what it must have been like to see this live.

One of the greatest of all performances at the World Pro, John Curry's AP from 1981, "Sunset" is no longer available on YouTube.

During the Christmas season of 1988 (OK, we’re all dating ourselves a little, but that’s OK), NBC television aired a wonderful retrospective program of the World Professional Figure Skating Championships. 1960 Olympic champion Carol Heiss was one of the hosts, and the program was hosted from Sun Valley, Idaho – a gorgeous winter resort.

Some of the highlights included:
Peggy Fleming – skating to “Some Enchanted Evening” – beautiful, as always.

Dorothy Hamill – Three programs:
“Sugar Plum Fairy” from “Nutcracker”. Dorothy wore a costume with lots of feathers around her arms. The commentators said Dorothy skated this number on tour with a much smaller ice surface, and she ‘re-programmed’ the number so that it expanded to cover the entire rink.

“Music of the Night” from “Phantom of the Opera”. Hamill wore a gorgeous blue velvet dress and skated like a dream.

“One Rock ‘n Roll Too Many”. Dorothy wore a costume that was a bit different from her usual attire. She said she knew this outfit might shock some of the audience, who were used to seeing her “trying to look pretty”. It was a short, jazzy costume, and it fit perfectly to the routine. Dorothy skated with great speed, landed several jumps, and packed the program with choreography. She won the title with this routine.

Linda Fratianne – Skated to a medley from “ET” and “Chariots of Fire”. The commentators said Fratianne always appeared at the championships well trained, and always turned in a lovely performance.

Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini – skated a steamy, emotional program to the Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody”. Wow!

Also – Robin Cousins, Scott Hamilton, Brian Boitano, Brian Orser, Rosalyn Sumners, Kitty and Peter Carruthers.

One of the nicest aspects of these championships, IMHO, was the public announcer, whose resonant baritone voice boomed out with “10!”, “10!”, “10!”.

I would LOVE to see such a championships reinstated, if at all possible.

I'm so glad to hear that are others out there who have similar happy memories of this championships.

silverpond said:

I'm so glad to hear that are others out there who have similar happy memories of this championships.

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Its a fun topic for many of us and it brings back some nice memories.
Thanks to all who posted clips.

Whenever I see Toller skate I marvel at his originality.

Here is a clip of the Duchesnay's - was this from the Professional championships?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4zXCnxE7W8&playnext=1&list=PLE06268AFFB4E38ED

Can anyone possibly watch G&G without getting a lump in their throat? Just exquisite.

Yeah, Kitt, G & G still make me tear up. They were without parallel.

Like many of you, I love Toller, and am so glad he had a long career. His skating technique was of a very high order despite his innovations--wonderful edges and jumps. He and his rival John Curry made skating new when they showed up. It was skating for grownups.

Hernando said:

Its a fun topic for many of us and it brings back some nice memories.
Thanks to all who posted clips.

Whenever I see Toller skate I marvel at his originality.

Here is a clip of the Duchesnay's - was this from the Professional championships?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4zXCnxE7W8&playnext=1&list=PLE06268AFFB4E38ED

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No, this was one of their programs for the 1994 COI tour; released on video as "Artistry on Ice"
It, and that entire show; was amazing, in person.

1998 World Pro

Kwan's only appearance at the championships (when the ISU sanctioned it)

http://youtu.be/777YeHmR1C8

Yagudin

http://youtu.be/qrTePtXZu9k

I like the world pros because not only does it give established skaters a place to continue skating after their eligible careers, but it gives rise to new pairs/dance teams:

Usova/Platov
http://youtu.be/t4uXiUWlNgE

Wynne/Witherby
http://youtu.be/KYpRh0pMTvE

I couldn't find a video of Leonova/Khvalko, but they were also another team that shone in Landover.

Thank you for those beautiful G & G performances. Reverie should go down as one of the best examples of pair skating ever. The chemistry there and the line and grace and the fluidity of movement is unmatched. The Nutcracker was perfect too, amazing how convincing Katia was as young Maria when she was a mother herself!

Kitt said:

Can anyone possibly watch G&G without getting a lump in their throat? Just exquisite.

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I agree with you, Kitt. Katya and Sergei were a magical pair, and they brought us so many lovely memories. It's still a bit hard to believe Sergei passed away at the age of 28. He and Katya had a beautiful life and the promise of many more years of great skating to share with all of us.

Those were great competitions. One I remember was one of the last ones. Yuka Sato won for the ladies, over Kristi Yamaguchi , and the very next afternnon Sato was scheduled for a cheesefest in Detroit. She rushed to the airport after the world pro (I think it was in Wsahington). and jumped on the red eye for Detroit, arriving in the middle of the night. As good as she was the night before, she was so worn out that she finished last at the cheesefest.

I especially loved watching Yuka. What a charming personality, and what meticulous, buoyant skating. When she took up pairs skating, she excelled at that. And now coaching, and she has Alissa's lovely performance this year to her credit. Everything she touches in skating seems to glow.

I think the World Pro competition was my absolute favorite. Always loved seeing the established pro's vs the newbie pro's adjusting to different rules.

As much as I love Kwan, I think it was a mistake to allow 'amateurs' to compete. IMHO, it took away the meaning of World 'Pro'. I think that occurred after Dick Button sold his stake in it.