Fifty-one years after he became the first African-American to win a national championship in figure skating, Atoy Wilson remembers how it very nearly slipped away.
It was January 27, 1966 in Berkeley, Calif. Wilson, 14 years old at the time, was in first place in the novice division at the 48th U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Now, as he took the ice for his freestyle routine, he stood four minutes and thirty seconds away from history.
Wilson, 65, still remembers the crescendo of the music as he approached his first jump. He and his coach, Peter Betts, had toiled for months to synchronize everything just so to the high points of his routine.
Dah-nuh-nuh …
"I'm skating, getting ready and the big jump …"
Dah-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh …
"I tore into it, I really ripped into the edge and …"
" DAH-NUH-NUH-NUH-NUH-NUH …
"The effing edge gave out on me," he laughs. "It was a belly flop … right on the music, too!"
Wilson would recover well enough to win the event, as well the championship. Not long afterward, he retired, ahead of his prime and a possible berth in the 1972 Olympics. Yet within the sport, and especially to the African-American skaters who succeeded him, Wilson remains a seminal figure. He demonstrated that victory was achievable to anyone, no matter the circumstances.
Read more on VICE Sports
Advertisement