"An Evening with Champions"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Evening_with_Champions

Here's a link to a "wiki" write-up on the wonderful "Evening with Champions" figure skating gala presented at Harvard University to benefit the Jimmy Fund. This outstanding show has featured some of the greatest skaters of all time, as well as up-and-coming competitors and local skaters. It is all for a great cause, and the event plays to packed houses.

I haven't seen this program on television for a few years, but then again, perhaps I missed seeing it. I'm assuming it's still televised on one of the cable stations.

Paul Wylie has often been the host - as a Harvard graduate and Olympic silver medalist - it doesn't much better than that!

Has anyone attended this program? If so, would you kindly share your impressions with us? Thank you in advance.

yuna will skate at this event...

They hide this show, often on a public television station at an odd hour. No wonder it doesn't get enough of an audience. I'd watch it if I could find it. One year they had Katherine Healy, and when Wylie introduced her, he mentioned that she had attended Princeton. Then he said, "Please folks, no booing." The Harvard audience cracked up.

I have special feelings about this show, because it introduced me to skating eons ago. In the stone age, they had very few televised skating programs--pretty much just Nationals, Worlds, and Olympics...and "An Evening of Championship Skating." I think it was this one that showed John Curry and Toller Cranston skating. One look, and I knew I had found my sport. I would never have to cultivate an interest in football or golf or >ugh< auto racing (so noisy). I've never looked back.

Well as if skating couldn't get any more high browed, Harvard would do it

Has there been any other US university to put on similar charity shows for figure skating?

Now that you mention it, I don't think there's another college with such a skating connection, though one possibility would be whichever Colorado university is close to the Broadmoor rink, a longtime center of skating in this country.

I suspect that Harvard became involved with skating because in the postwar years, Boston was such a huge skating nexus. Many of the best coaches worked there, and many of our best skaters came out of that skating club, including I believe Tenley Albright, our first female OGM winner. Frank Carroll trained there, and Maribel Vinson (who died in the 1961 plane crash; earlier she was the premier American skating champ--nine times the U.S. ladies' singles champion, sharing that record with Michelle) was a coach there for years. Paul Wylie wasn't the first skater to attend Harvard, in fact. John Misha Petkevich (a top skater from around 1972) attended. Dick Button went to Harvard as an undergraduate and I believe Harvard Law School as well. In the days before technological progress, I'm sure most skating rinks were in areas that had cold winters, so the whole California skating orbit didn't even exist. (In fact, many competitions including the Olympics were held on outdoor rinks.)

I just looked up the Boston Skating Club. It's one of the oldest skating clubs in the country. Even Theresa Weld Blanchard was a member. That's going back a good long way!

Olympia said:

They hide this show, often on a public television station at an odd hour. No wonder it doesn't get enough of an audience. I'd watch it if I could find it. One year they had Katherine Healy, and when Wylie introduced her, he mentioned that she had attended Princeton. Then he said, "Please folks, no booing." The Harvard audience cracked up.

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Do you know they only show it on public television in the Boston area? I would honestly spend hours looking through the schedules of every public channel I have to find this, haha

Olympia said:

Now that you mention it, I don't think there's another college with such a skating connection, though one possibility would be whichever Colorado university is close to the Broadmoor rink, a longtime center of skating in this country.

I suspect that Harvard became involved with skating because in the postwar years, Boston was such a huge skating nexus. Many of the best coaches worked there, and many of our best skaters came out of that skating club, including I believe Tenley Albright, our first female OGM winner. Frank Carroll trained there, and Maribel Vinson (who died in the 1961 plane crash; earlier she was the premier American skating champ--nine-timethe U.S. ladies' singles champion) was a coach there for years. Paul Wylie wasn't the first skater to attend Harvard, in fact. John Misha Petkevich (a top skater from around 1972) attended. Dick Button went to Harvard as an undergraduate and I believe Harvard Law School as well. In the days before technological progress, I'm sure most skating rinks were in areas that had cold winters, so the whole California skating orbit didn't even exist. (In fact, many competitions including the Olympics were held on outdoor rinks.)

I just looked up the Boston Skating Club. It's one of the oldest skating clubs in the country. Even Theresa Weld Blanchard was a member. That's going back a good long way!

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Thanks for the info Olympia. It is amazing to read so many wonderful american skaters / coaches were so closely tied to Harvard and its vicinity. May be we shouldn't be so surprised that a noble and difficult sport like figure skating is adapted by the elites, like Polo and Rowing.

I definitely look forward to my visit there this October, to feel the vibe of the place and being part of this grand old tradition. I wonder if Dick Button will be attending. He's like the granddaddy of the sports to be in awed (and teased with fondness once in a while.)

I've been to Evening with Champions a few times. It's always a lot of fun. The show is held in a small college hockey arena on the Harvard campus, which makes for a rather intimate atmosphere. It usually features a couple of well-known stars and a mix of lesser-known and up-and-coming U.S. skaters. I've seen some great performances there. One year, the show featured Katherine Healy and Karen Kwan, both of whom were wonderfully balletic, graceful, and lovely to watch--every bit as good as much bigger-name skaters. Then another year, I saw Kimmie Meissner when she was just coming up from juniors. I remember being impressed with her speed, ice coverage, and energy. The show really gives younger skaters a great opportunity to shine. Another nice thing is the ticket prices are very affordable, only about $25 a ticket.

Yes, I have tickets for this year's show and am extremely excited about it! I never thought I'd get a chance to see Yu-Na live; now I will! Plus, this year's show includes the Shibutanis, one of my favorite dance teams! Can't wait.

Eyria, you lucky duck! Please take notes so you can tell us all about it.

I will! My pleasure.

Thanks, Eyria! We look forward to reading about the event! Enjoy!!

I remember watching "An Evening With Champions" on television when the legandary Protopopovs were among the featured skaters. They were in their 50s or 60s at the time, and they still skated with speed, elegance, and great technique. Talk about being ageless - they were the masters.

John Misha Petkevich, the 1971 US men's champion and Harvard graduate, was one of the founders of this event.

As our esteemed posters have noted, the Boston area was once THE mecca of US figure skating, with a bevy of US, World, and Olympic champions.