Blind Figure Skater from Philadelphia Will Join 'Champions' at Watson Rink

One winter afternoon in 1969, a woman took her 16-year-old blind nephew to an ice rink in Philadelphia. The teenager surprised everyone by doing a competent job of staying on his feet. The rink's manager gave him a pair of skates and offered to let him use the rink regularly.

This week, six years after what he calls "that almost accidental beginning," Stash Serafin, now a junior at Temple University, is preparing to skate in "An Evening With Champions," a show sponsored by Eliot House to raise money for the Jimmy Fund.

Stash says that skating took hold of him "like a bug." Starting in 1969, he worked with the local pro at the rink. As one would expect, the going was frustrating and the progress was slow. "I probably should have quit, but I really didn't know any better," he says.

The Challenge

But slowly, he made advances in 1971, Stash passed his first preliminary figure test, and skating started to become a larger and larger part of his life. He was drawn on by the challenge, he has concluded. "Skating is something that no one else in my condition has ever really tried. I want to keep at it, trying to find out if there's anything I can't do if I work at it long enough," Stash said.

For the last three years, he has been studying under Uschi-Kessler Baornazian, the former German women's freestyle champion. He generally puts in three or four hours a day, taking Thursday off each week because that's when he has his heaviest class load.

Since he prefers to practice without a whole lot of people around, he often comes into the rink at 2 A.M., continuing to practice until dawn. He realizes that the schedule is "brutal," but he says, "You can get an incredible lot accomplished in those hours."

Gordon McKellan, three-time U.S. Men's skating champion and another participant in "An Evening With Champions," saw Stash skate in an exhibition and recommended him to the Jimmy Fund Committee.

As busy as skating keeps him, it is only one of two major interests which are always, he explains, "in a neck-and-neck race to consume my time." He is majoring in music, and hopes to obtain a masters in the subject, and eventually to teach.

Party Later

Stash seems capable of working hard, though. "I've always been able to tell myself to work now and party later in order to achieve my goals," he says.

Hidden in the back of his mind, however, Stash has an even fonder dream of how he would like to spend the rest of his life. He would like to use skating as therapy for children with poor study attitudes.

Skating, he has come to believe, is more than just a skill. Through the years, it has helped him tremendously with his morale and confidence. Having to master his body has taught him the value of discipline. Relating to his instructor through both ecstatic and frustrating times has helped him to work with people. It is the same valuable experience that he would like to bring to children.

Just as he lets these hopes carry him away, however, he catches himself. "I still have to prove myself before I can suppose to teach anything to another person. I haven't even finished learning myself; there's such a long way still to go."

In addition to Gordon McKellan, Toller Cranston from Canada, the 1973 World Freestyle Champion, and John Curry, the British Men's Champion, will appear.

Also skating will be Jim Milne and Colleen O'Connor, the U.S. Dance Champions who finished second to the Russians in the last Olympics, finishing higher than any other American pair in history.

This pair, along with Canada's Cranston, should play a prominent role in next year's Winter Olympics.