Late in
1954, the first permanent artificially frozen ice skating rink in
Rochester opened in Genesee Valley Park. Twenty-six dedicated figure
skaters persuaded the City Park`s Department to allocate two hours twice
a week to figure skating sessions. The Genesee Figure Skating Club was
born.
On December 16, 1955, the Genesee Figure Skating Club moved
into the newly completed rink in the Ritter-Clark Building at RIT. Late
in January 1956, barely a month after the new Club had started skating
at their new "home", the rink in Baltimore, where the Eastern
Championships were to be held in three weeks, burned to the ground.
Three days later arrangements had been completed to move the competition
to the Genesee Figure Skating Club. The 1956 Easterns were a huge
success and overnight, the Genesee Figure Skating Club gained a great
reputation for hospitality, efficiency and excellence.
In May
1956, the United States Figure Skating Association invited the Club to
host what was then the most prestigious of figure skating competitions
in the Western Hemisphere, the 1957 North American Championships. Again,
the Club rose to the occasion. The largest crowd that had ever
witnessed this event, 7200 people, turned out for the finals in the
relatively new Rochester War Memorial. It was the largest crowd to use
the War Memorial up to that time. National Championships were held in
Rochester in 1959, followed by other Sectional and Regional
Championships, including the 1980 Eastern Championship held at the new
Frank Ritter Memorial Rink on RIT`s Henrietta campus. For when RIT moved
to its new campus in Henrietta in 1968, the Genesee Figure Skating Club
moved too. The RIT rink is the Club`s "home" rink, but Club members are
still able to skate weekday mornings at the old downtown rink, renamed
the Skating Institute of Rochester (SIR). In October of 1983 Skate
America was held at the Rochester War Memorial, adding a major
international competition to the long list of events sponsored by the
Club.
In subsequent years the Club has continued to hold and
sponsor major competitions and events that have held us in both national
and international esteem, and made our name synonymous with efficiency,
integrity and hospitality. The Genesee Figure Skating Club continues to
grow and prove itself over and over again.
The Club`s "Skating
Spectacular" shows were the first amateur productions of their kind to
be televised nationally over 285 Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
Stations. "Skating Spectacular" has proven to be a showcase for
virtually all United States National and International champions.
From the original 26 founding members, the Genesee Figure Skating Club has grown to hundreds of members.
Over
the years, the Genesee Figure Skating Club has produced many talented
skaters who have gone on to compete at the National and International
levels. They include: Jim Sladky, five time National Champion from 1968
to 1972 and inventor of the Yankee Polka; Richard Callaghan, best known
as coach of Todd Eldredge and Tara Lipinski; Terri Slater, 1980 Junior
Dance Champion; Scott Gregory, two time National Dance Champion in 1987
and 1988; Renee Roca, three time National Dance Champion in 1986, 1993,
and 1995; and, most recently, Stacey Pensgen, Championship Ladies
competitor and Silver medalist at the 2000 Four Continents ISU
competition.
FOUNDERS OF THE GENESEE FIGURE SKATING CLUB
Nancy Baker
Roger Cash
Milfred Craft
Winifred Eisler
Marcia Ellingson
Barbara Grotzinger
Mary Gundry
D. Wilson Hess
Samuel Hubbard
Benjamin Lull
James Marsh
Robert McCormack
Edna Muntz
Rex Rial
Sarah Rial
Mary Scheffy
Alfred Sertl
F. Ritter Shumway
William Sillick
David Thurber
M. Everett Toomey
William F. Wegner
Paul B. White
Jasper Willsea
Irma Woods
Raymond Yaeger