Above: Patrice Hutton (back row, middle), her sister, Tara Hutton (white-striped top, on left), and friends Kara Mietlicki and Dakota Hauserman (in gold and black jackets) spend the day at the Wichita Ice Center in 2003.
By Patrice Hutton
As a child, I yearned to skate. I got my chance on trips to Kansas City and then Paris, where I circled outdoor rinks until night fell and my parents dragged me home. I knew that when I stepped off the ice, it might be years until I skated again.
My childhood coincided with the 13 years during which Wichita did not have a permanent indoor ice rink. When the Frontier Ice Arena closed in 1983, 80 local figure skaters had nowhere to skate. Members of the Wichita Figure Skating Club had to drive three hours to St. Joseph, Missouri, or Oklahoma City for ice time.
The rich world of televised skating in the 1990s taunted me. When Kristi Yamaguchi spun, I twirled too, stopped short by the living room carpet. I yearned to return to the ice. But skating happened in California and Michigan and Colorado — seemingly everywhere but my home. Here in Wichita, I was landlocked without a rink.
When the Wichita Ice Center opened in 1996, I couldn’t believe my luck.
Today, I can’t believe my luck in welcoming you to Wichita, Kansas — my skating home — for the 2025 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
Once the rink opened, I wasted no time. I had a skating birthday party and tagged along for lessons with my sister’s Girl Scout troop. Soon, we signed up for Learn to Skate, and those lessons coincided with the Nagano Olympics.
That winter was filled with skating, Tara Lipinski and Michelle Kwan on the TV and Tuesday evenings at the rink. My sister and I — longtime ballet dancers — showed off our spirals in blue rental skates. By summer, we had joined the Wichita Figure Skating Club. Club sessions met on Monday nights and Saturday mornings, and we proudly wore our black and gold club jackets at competitions.
Over the years, the Wichita FSC hosted Southwestern Regionals, Midwestern Sectionals and the Midwestern Synchronized Skating Championships. As a kid, I got to watch Alissa Czisny, Ryan Bradley and Ann Patrice McDonough climb the ranks. In 2001, at Sectionals, it was wild to see the already two-time (and soon-to-be three-time) Olympian Todd Eldredge compete on the same ice I skated on every day after school.
The Wichita Figure Skating Club was founded in 1932 and became a member of U.S. Figure Skating in 1941. As the club approaches its centennial, I’d like to recognize two members whose tireless work helped sustain a club that endured multiple stretches without a rink.
The late Maribel “Mickey” Leiter founded Kansas on Ice, Inc., which successfully lobbied the city of Wichita to donate land for the Wichita Ice Center. Leiter was the first national-level judge from Kansas, and in 2017, she was honored by U.S. Figure Skating for 55 years as a judge.
Robert “Bob” Boroughs has long served on the Wichita FSC’s board of directors and was honored by U.S. Figure Skating as a 50-year judge in 2022. (And when I returned to skating as an adult, Boroughs patiently taught me the preliminary dances that I had no patience for as a child).
I moved away for college in 2004, bringing my time with the Wichita FSC to a close. I’ve returned to skating as an adult and now represent the Baltimore FSC. But every trip back to Wichita, my skates ride in my carry-on. And when I step on the ice at the Wichita Ice Center, I know that I’m home.
