Queens of Figure Skating

Mabel Fairbanks - Tai Babilonia - Debra “Debi” Thomas - Surya Bonaly - Tiffani Tucker - Megan Williams - Stewart

Mabel Fairbanks

First African American Inducted into the US Figure Skating Hall of Fame

Mabel Fairbanks, born November 14, 1916, was an African American figure skater and coach.

She fell in love with figure skating in the 1930s, when she saw Sonya Henie in movies. She could not skate in the 1930s because she was not allowed to join a skating club due to being African American. She was secretly coached by Maribel Vinson Owen at night when African Americans were allowed admission to ice rinks. She eventually left the United States and became a show skater.

After relocating from New York to Los Angeles, she developed and skated in her own act throughout the late 1940s, and toured internationally throughout the 1950s. She became the skating teacher to the children of many notable celebrities during that same period.

After retiring from skating, she started a skating club and coached students of all races. She paired up Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner, as well as Kristi Yamaguchi and Rudy Galindo.

She coached pairs skaters Leslie Robinson and Michelle McCladdie, as well as individual skater Atoy Wilson for their entire careers.

In 1977, Fairbanks was the first African American inducted into the US Figure Skating Hall of Fame. She died in October 2001.

Tai Babilonia

First Figure Skater of Partial African-American Descent to Win U.S.

and World Titles

Tai Reina Babilonia was born September 22, 1959. As an American figure skater, she partnered with Randy Gardner. They began skating together when Babilonia was only eight years old and Gardner was ten. Their coach was John Nicks. The pair were five-time Gold Medalists at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and won the Gold Medal at the 1979 World Figure Skating Championships. They were medal favorites at the 1980 Olympics, but were forced to withdraw due to an injury to Gardner.

Babilonia was the first figure skater of partial African-American descent to win U.S. and World Titles. She is also part Filipino on her father’s side and part Native American. In the late 70s and early 80s, however, her mixed ethnic ancestry was rarely discussed by the media.

Babilonia appeared in the 2006 FOX television program “Skating with Celebrities.” She was partnered with Olympic Gold Medalist Bruce Jenner (Decathlon).

In 2008, Babilonia and Gardner announced their retirement from professional figure skating due to a neck injury suffered by Gardner and their advancing ages. In retirement, she is living in Ashland, Oregon.

Debra “Debi” Thomas

First Black Athlete to Win a World Championship and a Bronze Medal at the Winter Olympic Games

Debi Thomas was born March 25, 1967. She is an American medical doctor best known as a former World and Olympic figure skater. She won the World Championships in 1986, and a Bronze Medal at the 1988 Winter Games, becoming the first Black athlete from any nation to achieve these accomplishments.

Debi now practices orthopedic surgery and specializes in hip and knee replacement.

Debi won both the 1986 U.S. National Ladies’ Figure Skating Title and the Ladies’ Title at the 1986 World Figure Skating Championships. Those achievements earned Debi the ABC’s Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year Award that year. She was the first female athlete to win those titles while attending college fulltime since Tenley Albright in the 1950s. She represented the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club from 1983 on, which launched her career. She was coached by Alex McGowan from age ten until she retired from amateur competition at age 21. In 1987, Debi was injured with Achilles tendinitis in both ankles and struggled at the U.S. Nationals, placing second to Jill Trenary. She rebounded at the World Championships, finishing a close second to East German skater Katarina Witt. Debi was a pre-med student at Stanford University during this time, and she became the only African American to hold U.S. National Titles in ladies’ singles figure skating.

In January 1988, Debi reclaimed the U.S. National Title. At the 1988 Winter Olympics held in Calgary, she and Katarina Witt engaged in a rivalry that the media dubbed the “Battle of the Carmens,” as both women skated their long programs to the music of Bizet’s opera Carmen. Debi skated strong compulsory figures and performed well in the short program to an instrumental version of “Something in My House” by Dead or Alive, but performed poorly in the long program, but well enough to finish third, and win the bronze medal behind Witt and Canadian skater Elizabeth Manley. Debi won the Bronze Medal at the 1988 World Figure Skating Championships and then retired from amateur skating.

After her figure skating career, Debi went back to school to become an orthopedic surgeon. She graduated from Stanford University in 1991 with a degree in engineering and from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in 1997. Debi followed this with a surgical residency at the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences Hospital and an orthopedic surgery residency at the Martin Luther King Jr./Charles Drew University Medical Center in South Central Los Angeles.

In June 2005, Debi graduated from the Orthopaedic Residency Program at Charles R. Drew University in Los Angeles. She spent the next year preparing for Step I of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgeons’ exam and working at King-Drew Medical Center as a junior attending physician specialist. In July 2006, she began a one-year fellowship at the Dorr Arthritis Institute at Centinela Hospital in Inglewood, California for sub-specialty training in adult reconstructive surgery. In September 2007, Debi joined the orthopedic staff at Carle Clinic in Urbana, Illinois.

Debi was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2000. She was also selected by President George W. Bush to be part of the U.S. Delegation for the Opening Ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, along with other former Olympians Dorothy Hamill, Eric Heiden, Kerri Strug, and Herschel Walker .

Surya Bonaly

Famous for Her Backflip, Landing on only One Blade and Her Quadruple

Toe Loop Jump

Surya Bonaly is a French-American professional figure skater. She was born in Nice, France in 1973. Her figure skating started when she was ten years of age. When she was a child, her skating heroes were Midori Ito and Brian Boitano.

When Surya first began to compete at the international level, her coach at the time, Didier Gailhaguet, fabricated a story that she had been born on Reunion Island before being adopted by the Bonalys in France. This was widely reported by the international media (including, for example, a lengthy feature during the CBS television broadcast of the 1989 World Championships) before the story was finally debunked. Surya now lists her birthplace as Nice. Later in her career, she was coached by her adoptive mother, Suzanne, a former physical education teacher.

Surya went on to become a nine-time winner of the French National Championships (1989 - 1997). She won the European Figure Skating Championships five times (1991 - 1995). She was a three-time Silver Medalist at the World Figure Skating Championships (1993 - 1995), but she never managed to win a World Title, despite her strong jumping ability. Nor did she ever win a Medal in the Winter Olympics, placing 5th in 1992 in Albertville, 4th in 1994 at Lillehammer, and 10th in 1998 at Nagano.

Formerly a competitive gymnast, Surya is famous for her backflip, landing on only one blade. She is considered the only skater in the world capable of this move. She is also known for having attempted and apparently landed a quadruple toe loop jump at the 1991 World Figure Skating Championships, the first and only female skater to have done so. She was never credited with successfully landing the jump by the International Skating Union.

Surya is just as famous for her defiant, saucy attitude. This attitude was on display during the 1994 World Figure Skating Championships in Chiba, Japan. With Nancy Kerrigan, Oksana Baiul and Chen Lu out, it was an open field for the championship. Surya skated a clean performance, but, according to the judges, home country favorite Yuka Sato had a better skate. Surya thought she was robbed and defiantly stood beside the medals platform rather than on it.

Although she was coaxed into standing on the platform, Surya took off her Silver Medal after it was presented to her and was immediately booed by the crowd. After the medals presentation, a crying Surya was greeted by reporters. She believed she was robbed of Gold in 1993 as well, as she thought she should have beaten Oksana Baiul at that particular World Championship competition. Baiul narrowly won the World Title, having been out-jumped and out-spun by Surya, but received higher artistic impression scores.

Surya suffered a very serious injury, rupturing her achilles tendon in the summer of 1996, that caused her to miss much of the following season. Although she returned to competition for the 1997-98 season, her jumping never returned to its previous level.

Having lost any chance for a medal during the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, due to a fall on a triple Salchow jump, Surya decided to end her amateur career with a symbolic gesture. With nothing left to lose, she performed her signature back flip, an illegal move under International Skating Union rules, in front of the judges. She then proceeded to finish her program with her back facing the judges.

Surya resides in Las Vegas, Nevada, She became an American citizen in June 2004. She toured with the Champions on Ice Skating Show for several years until they went out of business after the 2007 season. Surya also recently completed shows in Russia with Evgeni Plushenko and was a guest skater at the Ice Theatre of New York’s 2008 gala in New York City.

Tiffani Tucker

With Her Partner, Became the First African-American National

Ice Dance Team

Tiffani has dedicated more than 15 years to ice skating. Cleveland, Ohio is where she and her skating partner, Franklyn Singley, first tried out, leaving her with fond memories of the city. A short time later, the pair made history becoming the first African-American National Ice Dance Team. The two won a Bronze Medal at the U.S. National Championships.

Tiffani is a graduate of Long Beach State in California, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech Communications.

She got her start in Southern California near her hometown, Palos Verdes. She left sunny California and packed her winter gear to work at WNDU in South Bend, Indiana. There, she was recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists for Best Education Coverage. Her next move took her to the “Sunshine State” (Florida), where she jumped right into action covering the historical 2000 Presidential Election. While at WPEC in West Palm Beach, Tiffani anchored the weekend newscasts. She headed south to Miami, covering breaking news stories at WSVN that made headlines across the country.

Tiffani Tucker is the morning & noon news anchor for WOIO (CBS) 19 Action News. Tiffani joined the 19 Action News Team as the Morning and Noon co-anchor in October 2007, alongside news veteran Jeff Eliasoph.

Megan Williams-Stewart

African American Figure Skater Represents Puerto Rico Internationally

Megan Williams-Stewart was born June 27, 1987, in Takoma Park, Maryland. As an African American figure skater, she began representing Puerto Rico internationally in the 2008-2009 season.

Megan’s mother was a speed-skater and was a five-time competitor at the U.S. Speedskating Championships. She won a Medal at the North American Speedskating Championships.

Megan first qualified for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in the 2002-2003 season. Skating on the junior level, she finished 13th at the 2003 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

In the 2004-2005 season, she qualified for the 2005 U.S. Figure Skating Championships on the senior level and placed 10th. Because of that placement, she was given a Junior Grand Prix assignment the following season.

In the 2005-2006 season, Megan competed at the 2005-2006 ISU Junior Grand Prix event in Andorra and finished 5th. At the 2006 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, she repeated her 10th place finish from the previous year.

In the 2006-2007 season, having aged out of Juniors, Megan was no longer eligible to compete on the Junior Grand Prix. She was sent to the Ondrej Nepela Memorial, a senior international competition, and won the event ahead of former European Champion Júlia Sebestyén. At the 2007 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, she placed 13th.

In the 2007-2008 season, Megan was assigned to another senior international competition, the Nebelhorn Trophy. There, she won the Silver Medal behind reigning European Champion Carolina Kostner and ahead of Finnish skater Laura Lepistö, who would go on to win the Bronze Medal at the 2008 European Championships. At the 2008 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Megan repeated her 13th place finish of the previous year.

Following the 2007-2008 season, Megan switched to compete representing Puerto Rico. She was released by the U.S. Figure Skating Association in the summer of 2008, and began representing Puerto Rico in club competitions over the summer. (Reprint permission, articles and photos courtesy of www.bstmllc.com)