WHERE ARE THEY NOW? by LOIS ELFMAN L
ooking back on her days as a competitive skater, two-time U.S. bronze medalist and World competitor (1974 and ’75) Kath Malmberg LeBeau said she skated
at a great time in the sport. “I skated in the best of times,” said Malm-
berg LeBeau, who excelled in compulsory school figures.
“I took pride in it,” she said. “Tere was nothing better than laying out that perfect figure.” She and her fellow skaters at the Wagon
Wheel Resort in Rockton, Ill., spent hours on the ice each day practicing school figures. It taught her incredible discipline and made her a bit of a perfectionist, which sticks with her to this day. Affirmation for the hard work came at her
first World Championships, which took place in Munich, Germany. Only a handful of spectators came to watch figures, but those who did showed their appreciation for a job well done. “Tey clapped when I finished a figure,” she
recalled. “I thought, ‘Wow! Tat was awesome!’ “I’m really glad I was brought up in that
era,” she added. “Now I adore the game of golf. I kind of relate that game to skating because I’ll get on the putting green and think, ‘OK, where’s that ball going?’ I treat it kind of like I did back in my sport.” Malmberg LeBeau grew up in Rockford, Ill.,
not far from the Wagon Wheel. When the local rink where she initially skated closed, her moth- er asked her if she wanted to summer skate at Wagon Wheel. Once she started training there, she never looked back. Coached by future hall of famer Slavka Kohout, Malmberg LeBeau was able to live at home with her family throughout her amateur career. “I’m a down-to-earth Midwest girl,” said
Malmberg LeBeau, who now lives in Chicago. “Wagon Wheel was a wonderful training facility. Tere were many good skaters who would reach the national level. We were inspired by everyone. You would feed off each other. Slavka would work in such a way that you could learn from others. “What was great about Slavka is she individ-
ualized everyone. Everyone had their own style and their own way of skating.” Malmberg LeBeau’s parents made many sac- rifices for her skating, so she was especially pleased that they got to attend the 1974 World Champi- onships in Munich. It was great that they got to see her compete in person, because in those days there was minimal coverage on television. “I remember when they showed me on
‘Wide World of Sports,’ it was huge,” she re- called. “To be interviewed by Dick Button, it was like, ‘Wow!’ It’s changed so much over the years. Tere was something innocent about it. Tere was a joy and a love to it.” Malmberg LeBeau, 57, has some reel-to-reel tapes of her amateur performances, which she promises to eventually transfer to DVD. One of the performances she wants to savor is her short program at 1975 Worlds, where she earned a
32, and daughter Megan McKellen, now 28, whom she calls the loves of her life. When she found herself a single mom after di-
vorce, she returned to the rink to coach. She taught at rinks in Barrington, Ill., and Crystal Lake, Ill. “My main goal with coaching was to teach
them the same joy and love of the sport that I had,” she said. “I was really lucky to have won- derful students with wonderful parents. I enjoyed those days of teaching.
Being a grandmother to Liam is one of life’s great gifts.
standing ovation. She finished in fifth place over- all.
She still has all of her trophies and medals, but admitted she hasn’t held on to that many cos- tumes, although she does treasure the fact that her mother made all of them. “I never had a professionally made costume
until I went into Te Ice Show,” she said. A fourth-place finish at the 1976 U.S. Championships kept her off the Olympic team in Innsbruck, Austria, but some of her most ex- citing times in skating soon made up for any dis- appointment. She joined Toller Cranston’s Te Ice Show, which was the Stars on Ice of its day. A distinct departure from family-oriented shows like Ice Capades and Holiday on Ice, Te Ice Show featured only elite-level skaters performing dynamic individual and ensemble routines. “Tose were the glory days to me,” Malm-
berg LeBeau said. “We had some awesome times. My skating took a turn where I had so much more freedom. I learned more about myself through that show. I could express myself more through my skating.” After touring for almost two years — in-
cluding eight weeks at Broadway’s Palace Teatre — the show came to an end. Malmberg LeBeau got married and had son Ryan McKellen, now
Malmberg LeBeau uses the same focus in golf that she did in skating.
“I tried to tell my students not everyone is going to get to a high level, but that’s not what it’s about. What I kept trying to instill in them is that so much of the sport will carry over into their everyday life.” She still keeps in contact with some former students, who tell her how her lessons impacted them, which she said warms her heart knowing she did the job she set out to do. Fifteen years ago, she married second hus-
band Mike LeBeau, whom she refers to as her “soul mate.” “He is such a good, true, honest man with
a great sense of humor,” Malmberg LeBeau said. “We have a beautiful life together. We’re a good match.” Unfortunately, there have been challenges.
A breast cancer survivor of more than a decade, Malmberg LeBeau began to experience some odd physical problems with pain and swelling about five years ago. She was diagnosed with scleroderma, a chronic systemic autoimmune disease. Cold weath- er exacerbates her symptoms, so she spends the win- ter months in Florida. Unfortunately, LeBeau can- not be with her full-time because he has a business in Chicago. However, she’s only about an hour’s drive from her parents, who also spend half the year in Florida and half in Illinois, and she greatly enjoys being able to spend time with them. Megan lives in Chicago and Ryan lives in
Dallas. Last year on Mother’s Day, Ryan and his wife made Malmberg LeBeau a grandmother with the birth of son Liam, a role she relishes. She visits when she can and loves checking in via Skype and FaceTime — even pulling over if Ryan and Liam are ready for FaceTime when she’s in the car. Despite her health issues, Malmberg LeBeau stays in good shape and especially loves hitting the golf course, but tries to rein in her competi- tive nature and just enjoy playing. “Because we grew up such competitive peo-
ple, you could get competitive with yourself in this game,” she said. “You have to learn to love it and have fun with it.” While having a chronic illness is a daily battle, she smiles and forges ahead. Although her contact with skating is largely via social me- dia, she does take pleasure in watching it on TV. When there’s a big competition, she’ll prepare a special dinner and then she and LeBeau will settle in and watch. She hopes to get on the ice again soon, but she’s very decisive about what’s most important. “It really is about family,” she said. “It means
everything.” SKATING 9
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