THE GREATER MILWAUKEE FIGURE SKATING CLUB
15450 West Glenora Court
New Berlin, Wisconsin 53151
262.786.7196 // 262.844.8227*cell
Tulsa, Oklahoma – The date was the first week in February, 1970. The place was the Assembly Arena in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The event was the 1970 United States National Figure Skating Championships televised live on ABC’s Wide World of Sports. This yearly event would pit two rival figure skating coaches prized athletes against each other.
The premier figure skating coaches of the day were Carlo Fassi of the Artic Blades Figure Skating Club and Slavka Kohout of the Wagon Wheel Figure Skating Club. Months earlier the Wagon Wheel group had, for the first time ever, won the team trophy at the Midwestern Championships. Seven skaters from “the wheel” would compete at “mids” and five would qualify for the United States National Championships.
Earlier, the home-based Rockton, Illinois contingent had pulled up stakes and traveled to Colorado to train in high altitude. Practices were held at the famed Broadmoor World Arena and the U.S. Air Force Academy, both in Colorado Springs. Everything that could be done was being done to prepare. Slavka Kohout had Carlo Fassi squarely in her sights and she would leave no training stone unturned.
The top two female figure skaters who would go head-to-head were Julie Lynn Holmes of Arctic Blades and Janet Lynn from the Wagon Wheel. Lynn was returning to defend her U.S. Senior Ladies title won in 1969. Olympic Gold Medalist, Peggy Fleming, the National and Olympic Champion from 1964 to 1968 had retired from amateur competition allowing new blood to emerge. The question as to who would skate through the door of opportunity would soon be decided.
The battle through lower divisions between Holmes and Lynn had been fiercely competitive. Julie Lynn Holmes had won the 1965 Novice and 1967 Junior National Championships. Janet Lynn had won the 1966 Junior Ladies and 1969 Senior Ladies titles. The preparation by each young woman had been intense. One of the biggest skating battles club to club, skater to skater, coach to coach was about to commence.
As the competition neared, Carlo Fassi was standing at rinkside for the start of the dreaded compulsory figures. A man of fairly calm demeanor, Carlo Fassi was uncharacteristically pacing. He knew that much of the end result of the senior ladies division would depend on the results of the figures portion of the contest. Fassi was watching, waiting and focused on Slavka Kohout’s first skater to do figures. A lovely young brunette would take the ice to begin the competition. Standing in the way of the national title for Holmes and Lynn was Slavka Kohout’s number two skater, Susanne Susic (Ervin).
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Sue Susic was a school figures specialist. No one in the country could do consistent circles and tracings like Kohout’s young number two skater. Back then, figures were the disciplined portion of figure skating. This is how the name figure skating received its original wording origin. Sue Susic was a very disciplined skater. The number of hours put in by competitive skaters trying to master figures traced is legendary. Figures required a high level of concentration and hard work. Slavka Kohout had no harder worker in figures or freestyle than Sue Susic. Carlo Fassi would watch Sue Susic perform at rinkside and promptly announced after each figure skated, “that’s the figure to beat!” Carlo Fassi himself was an extremely disciplined man and he had a high regard for Slavka Kohout’s number two skater. Carlo Fassi was starting to worry.
The competition moved out of the figures portion and into the freestyle portion. The figures specialist had done her job “log-jamming” the event. Any distant chance of a major upset, however, ended for Susic when she severely sprained her ankle in practice. The ankle sprain was so severe that doctors strongly recommended her not continuing in the competition. Determined to finish what she had been working on all her life, Sue Susic would persevere. She might not win the championships, but the team trophy was in sight and she could not and would not let teammates Janet Lynn, Roger Glenn and others down by not skating.
One of the most exciting U.S. National Championships is now distant history. Janet Lynn would defeat Julie Lynn Holmes for the senior ladies title. Fassi’s Arctic Blades club would win the coveted Harned Trophy awarded to the club earning the most points in the championships. And Sue Susic would be carried off the ice after skating one of the gutsiest programs ever witnessed at a national championships. Carlo Fassi would never forget Susic’s performance.
Some twenty years later a proud husband would meet Carlo Fassi at a midwestern championships. An older, and wiser coach would tell the story of the 1970 National Skating Championships. His parting comment would be, paraphrased because of broken English, “If Janet Lynn would have had Sue’s figures, or if Sue could have freeskated at well as Janet…” Carlo stopped talking and just looked deep into his listener’s eyes. Fassi continued, “…now that would have been a skater!”
*Carlo Fassi was the coach of Olympic Gold Medalists*
Peggy Fleming * Dorothy Hamill * John Curry * Robin Cousins
In September, 1970 Susanne Susic retired from amateur skating* as one of the top competitive figure skaters in the United States. Turning to professional coaching, Sue would enroll at Carroll College and begin instructing young competitive skaters in Wisconsin, a state more well known for hockey and speed skating excellence.
In September 2011, Sue Susic Ervin will begin her 41st year of coaching.
Ervin’s coaching efforts have put Wisconsin on the map as she has received international recognition for her work with high-level competitive skaters.
Eighteen former athletes have turned professional and included in this impressive list are Kelly Szmurlo, 3-time undefeated United States National “Figures” Champion, national competitor (6th nationally) and international gold medalist.
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Additionally, Peggy Schlater became the 1992 Italian National Champion and competed in the World Figure Skating Championships skating against Olympians from all over the world.
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Sue Susic Ervin coaches Nanoha Sato (Diana Glenn Ronayne & Tom Dixon coached Nanoha for 4 years as well)
2005 Japanese National Novice Silver Medalist
Four-time International Gold Medalist (Australia, Finland, Croatia & Mexico)
AMATEUR RECORD HIGHLIGHTS
1970 Upper Great Lakes Senior Ladies Champion (8 states)
1970 Midwesterns Senior Ladies Silver Medalist (22 states)
1970 United States National Championships (placed in top 10)
*Sue Susic Ervin began skating in 1957
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