Profile: Lapel Pin – 1990 Skate America, Buffalo, New York By 1990, Buffalo, New York, had not hosted a major figure skating event since the 1971 US Figure Skating Championships were in town, and even then the city was not known as a skating town by any means. But what Buffalo had become known for… Continue reading 1990 Skate America Pin: Upstate New York Skate of Mind.
Category: Skate America – Pins
Pins, medals, and badges from Skate America events.
1989 Skate America Pin: Crossword Puzzle Effect.
Profile: Lapel Pin – 1989 Skate America, Indianapolis, Indiana By 1989, more than seven years had elapsed since a major figure skating championship had been contested in Indianapolis, Indiana. The last was the 1982 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, held in January of that year at the old Market Square Arena (since demolished). But that all… Continue reading 1989 Skate America Pin: Crossword Puzzle Effect.
1988 Skate America Pin: Another Maine Event.
Profile: Lapel Pin – 1988 Skate America, Portland, Maine For the second time in three years, Portland, Maine, was site of the Skate America event, serving as an official kick-off to the post-Olympic season in late 1988. Like its predecessor competitions, the 1988 Skate America event prominently featured the familiar red and blue event pictogram—a… Continue reading 1988 Skate America Pin: Another Maine Event.
In the Beginning. 1981–1982.
In October 1981, a new annual figure skating competition—Skate America—was launched in North America and was contested in Lake Placid, New York. Skate America had officially arrived but had roots going back to the 1979 Flaming Leaves International, which served as the official test event for the new Olympic Field House arena built for the 1980 Olympic Winter Games, also held in Lake Placid. In the same arena that had hosted the hockey and figure skating events during the Olympic Games less than two years earlier, an international roster of figure skaters again assembled. Skate America would return to Lake Placid in 1982.
Olympic Warm-Up. 1979.
Although often referred to as the "first" Skate America, the Flaming Leaves International, held in Lake Placid, New York, in the fall of 1979 would best be referred to as the predecessor of Skate America. With that bit of history lesson, on to the pin that commemorated this important pre-Olympic competition—and a handsome figure skating pin it is. On a gold-color base metal, a fiery orange fills the central flames that burn brightly behind a figure skating pair, in forward crossovers.