Evening of Champions Benefit Attracts 2600

Olympic skating silver-medalists Nancy Kerrigan and Paul Wylie '91 again performed in the 25th Evening of Champions last night for an audience of 2600.

Sponsored by Eliot House, the exhibition featured a spectrum of local talents and national champions such as 1964 and 1968 Olympic champions Oleg and Ludmila Protopopov.

The event, which has raised $1.5 million in the past to benefit the Jimmy Fund, has especially gained attention this year due to the Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding scandal.

Eliot House organizers of the event noted yesterday that the performance seemed more festive this year because of its silver anniversary.

Marie Hartwell-Walker of Amherst, MA, who has attended the event for the past six years, also said the performance was especially spectacular this year.

"Every year tops the last," Hartwell-Walker said. "What a thrill. It's a wonderful thing the kids put together."

Audience member Joseph Chong '98 emerged in awe of the evening performance. "It's really different being here in person," Chong said. "I just can't believe I saw Nancy Kerrigan."

Skater Michael Weiss said the Evening of Champions is a wonderful opportunity to perform.

"I got to skate with all the great skaters going for such a great cause," Weiss said. "That's why everybody's here."

But some eager spectators were kept from the skating extravaganza. Matthew P. West, a photographer for the Boston Herald, was denied access to the event because he did not obtain an advanced press pass.

"I'm gonna get fired if I don't get in there. I have to get in there," he said, adding that the National Inquirer and other newspapers "might be very interested" in his photographs.