Above: Amelia Keene Prentice presents the William B. Prentice Perpetual Trophy to Addy Lambert.
By Joanne Vassallo Jamrosz
U.S. Figure Skating judge and adult skater Amelia Prentice Keene can recall several childhood skating memories. Those memories always included her father, Bill Prentice as her special competition cheerleader by her side.
"My dad was always supportive and used to hide behind pillars at competitions and watch me skate," Keene said. "I was in a novice event once with 78 skaters. I made the final. I warmed up and had a great warm-up, landing all my jumps. I looked up, and he nodded just once. Yes. I felt so confident from his affirmative nod. I won."
Inspired by her father's support, Keene wanted to keep his memory alive. The Las Vegas native, who is a gold singles/pairs judge and silver dance judge created the William B. Prentice Perpetual Trophy in memory of her father and in honor of all the parents and guardians who support their figure skaters.
"I decided the trophy would be awarded to the highest-scoring excel event skater or highest event champion," Keene said. "With excel marks varying a bit at some levels, I wanted to keep both options open for the possibility of, for example, a juvenile excel skater having a higher total score than a junior or senior excel winner."
The first trophy was awarded in Keene's hometown of Las Vegas in August 2021 at the Vegas Golden Knights Center of Excellence Silver Skate Competition. Salt Lake City’s Addy Lambert was the first recipient.
"Addy was the highest-scoring Excel skater and winner of the intermediate ladies excel event," Keene said. "Obviously, Addy didn't know who William Prentice was, but she was very touched and proud to receive the trophy when I told her, her parents and coach who my dad was."
For Keene, establishing an Excel trophy in honor of her father was significant for another reason.
"My dad was a very talented athlete who was tragically struck down with polio during the epidemic when he was 15 years old," Keen said. "He was miraculously not severely handicapped but had a pronounced limp. He walked to the bus and commuted to downtown Toronto every day. Back then, there were no handicapped parking spots or decals for your car."
Keene's father passed away in January 2020 at the age of 96.
"He never once in all his life complained about his leg or his handicap. He truly was the embodiment of ‘Get Up,’" Keene said.
The award was also memorable for Keene's family in Canada.
"The COVID-19 shut down made it impossible for me to travel up to Canada, so my family seeing Addy receive the trophy meant so much to them,” she said. “Yes, I did cry presenting the trophy. Yes, it was very emotional. Happy tears and sad missing my dad tears too."
The award is just a small token of gratitude honoring all skating parents and guardians.
"We're so grateful for their support," she said. "The 5:30 a.m. drives to the rink, the pick up at 8 p.m. to go home. The cost of lessons, outfits, skates, competition fees, traveling, etc. We couldn't do any of this without a parent or supporter helping us reach our goals and fulfill our dreams."
This April, the William B. Prentice Award trophy will be presented again at the Skate Vegas Excel Series competition.
"I still feel he is behind a pillar at the rink and will be there in spirit to see it awarded," Keene said.
