U.S. Figure Skating History
Although skating was born in Europe, Americans can be proud of the fact that figure skating, as we know it today, traces
its origins directly back to an American - Jackson Haines - who was born in New York in 1840 and died in...
More
U.S. Figure Skating History
Although skating was born in Europe, Americans can be proud of the fact that figure skating, as we know it today, traces
its origins directly back to an American - Jackson Haines - who was born in New York in 1840 and died in 1875 in
Finland (popular folklore holds that he caught pneumonia during a raging blizzard he encountered while traveling by sled
from St. Petersburg to Stockholm; in reality his death was attributed to tuberculosis).
Just before the Civil War, a skating craze, accompanied by a dancing craze, swept America, and during this time, Haines
leapt into the limelight with his daring combination of both skating and dance. He was a true revolutionary, for in a
country where figure skating had laboriously developed a stiff and rigid style, the free and expressive movements of his
virtuoso performances were frowned on, if not actually condemned.
Haines claimed to be the champion of America in 1863; however, at that time many self-proclaime
Less
