Mount Pleasant Ice Rink will have a touch of gold on the ice today.
To kick off U.S. Figure Skating?s Sixth Annual National Skating Month at the rink, 1976 U.S. Olympic gold medalist Dorothy Hamill will make an appearance at 2 p.m. As part of the event, Hamill will spend some time skating and will be available for autographs and photograph opportunities.
Besides her Olympic gold in 1976, Hamill also won three straight world championship medals in 1974-76, including gold the last year, and three straight U.S. national titles during the same span. After winning the Olympics, she skated in Ice Capades for eight years and eventually purchased the production in 1993.
Hamill, who could not be reached for comment, lives in the Baltimore area and regularly trains at Mount Pleasant.
The rink is one of several in the area used by the Baltimore Youth Hockey program, which is hoping to benefit from Hamill?s appearance. BYH, which has more than 400 children in its program, also uses Ice World, DiPietro Ice Rink and Northwest Ice Rink.
BYH president Donna Brust is hoping Hamill?s appearance will translate into more kids becoming interested in hockey.
“Before you can play hockey, you have to know how to ice skate,” Brust said. “Once you learn how to skate, you can go either way. Many of our children got their start at one of the local rinks in their figure-skating program.”
Besides BYH, the Towson University men?s club hockey team plays its home games at Mount Pleasant, and the Baltimore Figure Skating Club also uses the rink. After Hamill?s finishes Saturday, the rink will run a free two-hour how-to-skate session before Towson hosts Delaware in club hockey at 5:15 p.m.
“This month is to promote skating as a healthy and productive activity for children and adults,” said Ruthie Herman, part of the management team at Mount Pleasant. “It is an honor just having somebody of Ms. Hamill?s stature coming into our rink. It elevates the sport.”
