2013 HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES Galindo’s moment is now
1996 Championships help secure his legacy by BARB REICHERT
Seventeen years later, it’s still
considered “a moment.” Not just a skating moment, but an American sports moment. If you close your eyes, you can still picture it: Rudy Galindo, dressed sleekly in black, gliding through the final minute of his Swan Lake free skate to a standing ovation at the 1996 U.S. Figure Skating Champion- ships. At center ice, in his home- town of San Jose, Calif., he brings his hands to his mouth in disbelief. Ten, in a moment of gratitude, he performs the sign of the cross. Be- fore leaving the ice, the underdog nods humbly to a raucous crowd. And then it happens. Te joy-
Standing atop the 1996 U.S. Championships podium, Rudy Galndo was all smiles after accepting his gold medal and trophy.
ous screams in the kiss and cry as the technical scores – ranging from 5.7 to 5.9 – are posted. When the first of two 6.0 presentation scores go up, Galindo leaps into the air,
securing the moment – his moment – with an exuberant celebration un- matched at any U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Now, almost two decades later,
Galindo enters the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame, joined in the Class of 2013 by choreographer Lori Nichol. “I
really can’t believe this,”
Galindo said shortly after learning he was elected. “I feel like I won the Golden Globes, like I won figure skating’s Oscar!
“I mean, the hall of fame…
Getting into the hall of fame for figure skating means making his- tory. It’s unbelievable. One day, I’ll be dead and my history will live on. I’m so giddy, I’m going to bust!” Galindo is a three-time U.S. champion, also winning two U.S. pairs titles (1989, ’90) with Kris- ti Yamaguchi and a World bronze singles medal in 1996.
After their
1990 title, Yamaguchi chose to con- centrate solely on a singles career and later became the 1992 Olympic champion. At that time Galindo, who was the 1987 World Junior champion, also returned to a singles career, but never made the U.S. po- dium until his 1996 victory. It was an unlikely champion-
ship, to say the least. Galindo, who had never placed higher than fifth as a senior at the U.S. Championships, decided to retire from competitive skating in 1995, but changed his mind on a whim.
“I was coaching at San Jose
State [University] and I spotted a poster that said nationals were
At the 2012 U.S. Championships in San Jose, Calif., coach Galindo posed with skaters Nicholas Barsi- Rhyne and Cali Fujimoto and coach Tracy Prussack.
going to be in San Jose. I said, ‘Hmmm. Maybe I shouldn’t retire. Tat way my family and friends can watch.’ Ten he added with a laugh, “I knew I could just do a single Axel and the crowd would go wild.” With only a few months to
train, Galindo said he had nothing to lose. He was riding his bicycle as transportation 20-plus miles a day and spent much of his time on the ice as a coach. “I was in great shape, but I re- ally wanted to look good,” he said. “I trained so hard, but there was no pressure on me. I was the total underdog. I wasn’t even included in the [pre-event] press release.” Besides, Galindo already had lost so much. He was still grieving the deaths of his father, brother and two of his coaches. Standing firm- ly by his side was his sister, Laura Galindo-Black, who helped raise him in their youth due to their mother’s poor health. “In 1996, Laura was paying for my lessons out of her own pocket,” he said. “She was always in the lobby talking to me about my jumps. Finally
Galindo, skating in front of a hometown crowd in 1996 at the then-named San Jose Arena, finished third in the short program.
18 JANUARY 2013
PHOTO BY OTTO GREULE JR. /ALLSPORT, GETTY IMAGES
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