Jimmy Fund Iceskating Gala Marks Anniversary

The star-studded "Evening with Champions" last night began its 20th year on ice with the first of three performances at the Bright Hockey Center.

The program, run by the Eliot House Jimmy Fund, brought 25 nationally and internationally ranked skaters to Harvard to raise money for children's cancer research.

Appearances included routines by national champions pair figure skaters Kristi Yamaguchi and Rudy Galindo, 1989 Canadian silver medalist Michael Slipchuk and two time Olympic and five time world champion skating legends Oleg and Ludmila Protopopov. Celebrity co-hosts 1979 World Champions and five-time national figure skating champions TaiBabilonia and Randy Gardner also appeared.

"This year's [guest list of skaters] is thestrongest skater line-up ever," said Eliot HouseJimmy Fund co-chair Jessica L. Deysach '90. "It'shard to find people with high name appeal."

But even though this year's guests are not asuniversally known as 1988 Olympic gold medalistBrian Boitano, who appeared last year, Jimmy Fundofficials said they expected to raise more moneythan before.

Seats are already sold out for today's showing,with only a few left for tomorrow's exhibition.

"We hope to maintain the $150,000 mark thisyear. There's no doubt in my mind, actually, thatwe passed it," said Deysach.

"An Evening With Champions is the longestcontinuous event the Jimmy Fund has. It is [our]most visible event. It is nationwide: PBS isairing it. This helps extend the Jimmy Fund beyondthe New England boundary," said Mark T. Cummings,the Jimmy Fund's director of operations.

All proceeds will go to the Dana Farber CancerResearch Institute in Boston, said Jimmy FundDirector Michael Andrews.

Run mostly by volunteers and Eliot Housestudents, "An Evening with Champions" wasconceived in 1970 by Eliot resident and 1970 U.S.Men's skating silver medalist John M. Petkevich'71-73. Officials said the event is the secondlargest contributor to the Jimmy Fund.

"It was a fun thing for us to do," said 1989U.S. National bronze medalist Paul S. Wylie '90,adding that the event is "one of the few times wecan contribute.