Mabel Fairbanks - Figure Skater

Courtesy of Harlick

She was born in New York City. As a young girl in the 1930s, Fairbanks discovered her lifetime passion watching a Sonia Henje movie. She then saw a pair of black skates in a pawnshop window and talked the guy down to $1.50. They were two sizes too big, but that didn't stop Fairbanks. She stuffed them with cotton, found her balance on blades by going up and down the stairs in her building, and took to the nearby frozen lake. It wasn't long before Fairbanks was sailing across the ice. When a passerby suggested she try out the rink in Central Park, she was soon skating and attaining solid 6.0 judging, but the pro clubs wouldn't have her because of her race.


"I remember they said to me, 'we don't have Negroes in ice shows.' "But I didn't let that get in my way, because I loved to skate."


Fairbanks continued to refine her skill and returned to the rink again and again. Then one day, the manager noted her persistence and the shiny pair of new skates her uncle bought her from the Macy's basement, and he let her inside. From then on, Fairbanks' ability and sparkle shattered the race barrier at that pivotal rink, and professional skaters started giving her free lessons. In the 1940s, Fairbanks came to Los Angeles and performed in nightclubs like Cyro's.


When Fairbanks was invited to skate on the road with the Rhapsody On Ice show, she jumped at the chance, even though they said they needed her as "someone to skate in the dark countries." She wowed international audiences, returning to Los Angeles only to find it still blind to her talent but not to her color. "They had a sign at the Pasadena Winter Gardens that read "Colored Trade Not Solicited," she remembers. "But it was a public place, so my uncle had newspaper articles written about it and passed them out everywhere until they finally let me in."


She landed a role on KTLA television's Frosty Follies show and continued to perform at local showrooms, yet Fairbanks still wasn't allowed to join professional skating clubs. She got herself and other Blacks in by sending for individual memberships from the United States Professional Skating Association (USPSA), without letting them know they were black.


Fairbanks opened the door for other young Blacks to compete in skating, but her pro years had passed, so she became a teacher and coach in Culver City and the Hollywood Polar Palace. Famed Olympic medalist Scott Hamilton learned from Fairbanks when he was just a young beginner, and she gave free lessons to those too poor to pay.


While at the Polar Palace, her students included many celebrities and their children, like Natalie Cole, Ricky Nelson, Danny Kaye, and Jimmy Durante. It was Fairbanks who paired the Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner while watching them skate. Many of her Black skating students went on to be Olympic gold medallists because she skated over, around and through walls of racism. Fairbanks' ability to do and teach has helped cultivate some of the finest skaters of the century. "If I had been allowed to go in to the Olympics or Ice Capades like I wanted to then, I may not have helped other Blacks like I did, and coached such wonderful skaters, and I think all that has been just as important and meaningful."


You could find Fairbanks rink side, coaching pro skaters at Iceland in Van Nuys. While the "official" skating world denied Fairbanks’ contributions, world-renowned skaters sought her out as a coach. Her students include the United States and World Champions Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner, Kristi Yamaguchi, Rudy Galindo, and Tiffany Chin. In 1998, Fairbanks was honored with the Silver Achievement Award, Sports Category, at the YWCA's Leader Luncheon at the Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles.


She taught and coached on the ice until she was 79 years old and was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis, a disease that weakens the muscles. Mabel Fairbanks died at 85 in September 2001 in Los Angeles.  "Lyman, Darryl. AfricanAmericanRegistry.com.  African American Registry, n.p. Web. 03 Mar 2011."

Mabel Fairbanks: Breaking Down Barriers

Since the 1940s, much of the progress made in breaking down the color barrier in U.S. figure skating can be directly attributed to Mabel Fairbanks. Prevented from skating competitively herself, Fairbanks nonetheless excelled as a professional performer and coach during her 60-year career.

In 1938, using a pair of skates that she purchased for a dollar in a pawnshop, Fairbanks began teaching herself on a small piece of ice in Harlem. She soon progressed to the local ice rink, although racial prejudice forced her to practice before the rink opened for the day. It was here that she caught the attention of nine-time national champion Maribel Vinson, who agreed to train her in secret and for free. By the mid-1940s, she had taken and passed all of the required competition tests, but, unable to join any of the clubs that sponsored figure skaters because of her color, she was ineligible for national or international competition. She turned instead to ice shows, but again found that, as an African-American, she was not welcome. Refusing to be defeated, she created her own shows and spent the 1940s and 1950s touring the United States and abroad as the principal skater.

During the 1950s and 1960s, she turned to coaching, and her students included many who subsequently went on to world and national competition success. Fairbanks saw the potential in partnering Tai Babalonia with Randy Gardner, and they later went on to win five national titles and the world pairs championship in 1979. She also was involved in shaping the early careers of Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamagucci; as well as Atoy Wilson, who became the first African-American to win a national title in 1966; and Richard Ewell and Michelle McCladdie, who together were the first African-Americans to win a national pairs title in 1972.

The racism that she encountered served only to make her more determined to carve out a skating career for herself. In this previously white-dominated sport, her legacy made it possible for today's minority skaters to be judged on their skill and performance alone. This was acknowledged in 1997 when Fairbanks became the first African-American to be inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame. She was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, a muscular degenerative disease. Fairbanks passed away in October, just days before she would be inducted into The Women's Sports Foundation Hall of Fame at the 2001 Annual Salute to Women in Sports Awards Dinner. She will be remembered forever as a woman of remarkable strength and determination whose contribution to the sport has eased the path for today's African-American figure skaters. "n.p. Women's Sports Foundation.org. Women's Sports Foundation, n.d. Web. 03 Mar 2011."

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