Skating and Partying With the Stars

Havard skating enthusiasts have something to cheer about once again because it's time for the 19th annual "Evening with Champions" skating exhibition.

The event, which will take place on November 4 and 5 at 8 p.m., and November 6 at 1 p.m., combines the talents of international and national champion skaters, Harvard skaters and skaters from the Cambridge area. All the seats have been sold, but some standing room tickets are available.

The list of champion skaters who will be appearing include Brian Boitano, the 1988 World and Olympic Men's Champion, Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini, the 1987 World Professional Pairs Champions, and Harvard's own Paul S. Wylie '90-91, 1988 U.S. Silver Medalist. For the 16th time, the Public Broadcasting network will run an hour-long special on the benefit. This year's television show is tentatively scheduled to air in December.

The event, sponsored by Eliot House, will donate all proceeds to the Jimmy Fund of the Dana Farber Research Institute. The fund is used to pay for the treatment and research of children's cancer. The show also donates 76 tickets to the Dana Farber Institute so that patients can see the show.

This year for the first time, 43 children and 28 undergraduates and adults who are involved with the Phillips Brooks House Big Brother, Big Sister Program, will get to see the show at a reduced rate.

Eliot House started its work with the Jimmy Fund when John M. Petkevich '71, a skater, injured himself while he was a junior. During his stay in the hospital, Petkevich, an Eliot resident, encountered some children who were being treated for leukemia. He then decided to help the Dana Farber Institute by organizing a show where his skating friends would perform to raise money for the research center.

Since 1971, the show has grown enormously from its humble beginnings. The exhibition generated $15,000 for the Dana Farber Institute in the first year and about $850,000 over the last 19 years. Jimmy Fund Co-Chairperson Mihail S. Lari '89 says that organizers hope to reach the $1 million mark with this year's show. Ticket sales contribute more than 50 percent of the show's profits, but exhibition t-shirts and mailed donations also make up a part of the show's proceeds.

In the past, the Jimmy Fund Committee has been exclusively made up of Eliot House members. Recently, however, committee co-chairpersons have tried to increase the numbers of outsiders on the committee. This year two graphics subcommittee chairpersons are from other houses.

Jimmy Fund Co-Chairman James M. Frates '89 says that he hopes house members will increase the numbers of non-Eliot residents involved in future versions of the show by telling their friends about it and encouraging them to see the exhibition.

"I think the best way to encourage people is to have them see the show," Frates says. "Public service is a personal thing and motivating people to come and do it is easier when you know the people. Because then you can encourage people to come out and have a good time with their friends while they're doing service."

Many of the skaters who will be appearing at Bright Arena this weekend have won prestigious competitions. But Lari says he and the other organizers look for more that a winning record when inviting skaters to participate. "Just because a person won a competition doesn't mean we'll invite him," Lari says.

The skaters who perform in the Jimmy Fund exhibition, Frates says, are definitely different from skaters in other shows. He says that the skaters who come to the exhibition are fun and care about other people.

"They [the skaters who perform in "An Evening With Champions"] have an interest in the people they're helping, the kids from the Jimmy Fund. Ninety-nine percent of the skaters visit the Dana Farber Institute on Friday afternoon," Frates says. "They're also fun to be with; they're really personable even early in morning."

The skaters who perform do not receive any fees for appearing in the show. Nonetheless, Lari says, the lack of compensation does not deter skaters from participating in the event. "Since this is probably the best skating exhibition in the country, a lot of people want to be invited," Lari says.

"Besides, we could never compete with the money that other competitions offer the skaters. And the money is really better used towards the Jimmy Fund," the Eliot house resident adds.

"An Evening With Champions," formerly "An Evening of Champions," has showcased many famous skaters over its 19-year history. Past participants include Dorothy Hamill, Debi Thomas, and Tai Babalonia and Randy Gardner. Lari says that many of the top-notch skaters come back year after year because of the show's relaxed atmosphere and because they have so much fun.

Unlike most skating events, the Jimmy Fund is purely an exhibition show. There are no judges, so the skaters can relax and enjoy performing. "It's one of the few times they get to go on vacation. We have parties for them, not blow-outs or anything, but they have fun," Frates says.

Frates adds, "It sound's corny, but it's magic. There is a sense of electricity between the skaters and the audience. The skaters are there just for fun and so they can just perform and please the crowd."

He says that the show also provides these skaters an opportunity to experience, for a brief time, what college life is like. Several of the famous skaters are of college age but do not attend school because they devote all their time to the sport.

"It's very infrequent that they get to go outside of the skater's world. When they come here they get to see what it's like to live in a college dorm and be with college students. Many of them don't get the opportunity before that because they're practicing 5-8 hours a day," Frates, a three-year veteran of the show, says.

But not all of the skaters have forgone a college education. Both Kathaleen A. Kelly '89, the 1987 National Collegiate Women's Champion, and Wylie agree that although skating is important it should not prevent athletes from receiving an education. "People should be going to school," says Kelly. "They shouldn't be sacrificing everything for the sport because only one or two people can be that Olympic champion."

Wylie, who participated in the Winter Games of this year's Olympics and placed ninth in his event, also realizes the value of a solid education. "I just don't think that skating is a long term deal. If there's an endowment in you of a brain you shouldn't waste it," he says.

But the Eliot House resident sees his time in Calgary as one of the high points of his life. "It was exciting to think my performance was reaching so many people so instantly," says Wylie. "There was a part of me that wanted to live for the moment, and then there was a part of me that wanted to play by the rules and finish my program. It was like the ultimate experience. The most amount of people, the most amount of TV coverage and the most amount of hype."

Now that Wylie has won the silver medal for the men's singles in the 1988 Nationals, he looks forward to competing in the 1992 Olympics and future national and world competitions. With all of these skating achievements under his belt, he still will participate, for the sixth time, in this weekend's Jimmy Fund show. And apparently he is as excited for this show as he was the first time he performed in it.

"It's one of the few times that all my friends at Harvard can see me skate. It's definitely one of the best shows to do in the country. I mean all the money goes to the Jimmy Fund. It's not like [the show] gets old or anything," Wylie says.

Headline performers like Boitano, Martini and Underhill, and Angelo D'Agostino, who placed fifth in last year's men's singles national competition, will appear in all three shows. Accomplished undergraduate skaters including Princeton undergrad Katherine Healy and, of course, Wylie will skate in all of the performances.

Kelly, who ranked 16th in the US Senior Nationals, is one of the people who will skate on all three nights. Kelly, who has participated in the show since her freshman year, started skating when she was five years old and attended her first national competition last year after placing second in both the North Atlantic Regionals and Eastern Sectionals.

Another three-night participant Tracie L. Brown '92 competed in her first national skating competition last year and currently ranks 17th in the nation and third on the East Coast in the women's singles senior division. Brown says her premiere with Nationals was a tense time. "It was very traumatic because I had never been outside my region before. And there were judges at every practice," Brown says.

Brown is appearing in "An Evening With Champions" for the second time. She says that what she likes best about the show is that she can participate in an event that includes so many wonderful skaters. "It was different from other shows because the people are so incredible. It's an honor to be around really awesome skaters, but it's also really nerve-racking," Brown says.

Brown adds, "First it was really exciting to be with all these skaters that I looked up to, but at the same time it was very intimidating."

In contrast, Kelly says the atmosphere for her on performance nights is more relaxed. "I'm kind of used to it [meeting the famous skaters] because I have competed a lot," she says. "Brian Boitano and Underhill and Martini are great, but I know a lot of the others already."

While big name skaters receive most of the attention, less well-known Harvard skaters will also participate in the benefit show. Most of them appear in only one performance, but this year they will get a little more exposure. For the first time ever, the opening and the finale will include all the skaters involved with the show. In the past, only the headline skaters appeared in the first and last numbers.

Speaking of her performance last year, Christine M. Lukacs '91 says, "I was expecting to be really freaking out nervous, but I wasn't. And this year, I'm doing the matinee, and so I'm just really mellow about it."

Amy H. Kaji '91 agrees. "I'm obviously not good enough to skate for a large crowd of people, but really I'm just performing for my small group of friends."