A Hometown Olympic Dream

Ruth Eldredge knew her young son had skating talent, but she also realized that she and her husband, John, couldn’t keep up with the sport’s expenses.

World-class ice skater Todd Eldredge never really knew how close his parents came to cutting his budding career short.

Ruth Eldredge knew her young son had skating talent, but she also realized that she and her husband, John, couldn’t keep up with the sport’s expenses.

“I was two weeks away from bringing him home when he was training in Philadelphia,’’ Ruth says. “He was about 10 then, and we just couldn’t afford it anymore. I never really told Todd about it because we didn’t want him to worry about it.

“To this day, he really has no idea what we went through.’’

Or how much his hometown of Chatham, Mass., helped get him where he is now—a skater with multiple national titles and considered a contender for a medal in the 2002 Winter Olympics now under way in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Eldredge, 30, who won his sixth national title last month and captured the bronze medal at the 2001 World Championships in Vancouver last March, now lives and trains in suburban Detroit. But if not for a group of supporters and friends back home in Chatham, he might not have achieved his dreams.

“Who knows where I would’ve been?’’ speculates Eldredge, who won the 1996 world title and was hoping to earn his first Olympic medal in Salt Lake.

Chatham, a quiet town on Cape Cod, is home to 1,667 people, though that number swells during the summer with tourism and summer residents. Two decades ago, as Eldredge was beginning his pursuit of Olympic gold, virtually everyone there knew he was a competitive skater.

“Almost everyone went to the same school,’’ he says.

Chatham is the kind of close-knit hometown where the grocer and mail carrier are known by their first names, and everyone knows everyone else’s business.

So when the Eldredges started struggling to pay for young Todd’s skating lessons, costumes, and travel, many in Chatham knew—and they wanted to help. Initially, they weren’t sure how, but everyone was determined to help a young boy realize his dream.

Helping its own

Judy Hoyt, Norman Howes, and Susie Beck were among the first to aid the young skater and his family. Hoyt had a particular interest in Eldredge’s Olympic dreams: She and her late husband, Pete Hoyt, a trustee of the U.S. Ski Association (now known as the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association) befriended Olympic skater Dorothy Hamill and helped finance her career.

Howes, a real estate broker, had known the Eldredge family for years. Beck’s family owned the Chatham Bars Inn, where several fund-raisers for Todd would be held.

“We met in Judy’s living room one night and thought, ‘How can we get a tax-free way to help them out?’’’ Howes recalls. “We looked into a local youth hockey group and decided to add a Todd Eldredge fund. My wife became the treasurer.’’

The group began planning a variety of fund-raisers, from afternoon teas and cocktail parties to clambakes. Hamill, who captured the Olympic gold medal for figure skating in 1976, appeared at a benefit. And one Christmas, Chatham raised $10,000 through a holiday dance.

“In the beginning, nobody thought we could do it,’’ Howes says. “But as we grew, people who started out giving $5 then started giving $50. We would get calls from parents of skaters from around the country. They’d ask us, ‘How do you do it?’ I’d tell them, ‘You have to have a community that’s small enough to focus and help one of its own.’ ’’

Chatham did, indeed, help—to the tune of about $250,000 raised during the next 12 years, Howes says.

“I couldn’t believe that would happen,’’ Ruth Eldredge says. “I thought maybe they’d do this for a year or so.’’

But the money didn’t come pouring in right away—not until the young skater began having success. In the beginning, times were difficult, and although Chatham residents wanted to help, many needed to hold on to their hard-earned money.

The Eldredges also knew thrift firsthand. Though amateur skaters can now earn money through tours and endorsements, that was not the case 20 years ago. Skaters had to cover the cost of everything—a tall order on John Eldredge’s income as a commercial fisherman.

So many times during the winter, with fishing out of season, young Todd would go for weeks without a skating lesson. He had an inkling finances were a struggle, but he never knew the extent of the struggle.

“My parents just wanted me to focus on skating,’’ Eldredge says. “They didn’t really clue me in on things.’’

Some things, though, couldn’t help but be noticed. During competitions, Ruth often took a toaster or a hot pot to their hotel; restaurants were out of the question.

“I remember being at nationals once, and (somebody) dropped my bag with the toaster and broke it,’’ Ruth says. “I thought, ‘Oh my God, we’re not going to eat for a week.’’’

The Chatham consortium initially encouraged Ruth to put their skating expenses on her credit card with the promise to reimburse her. So she did, out of blind faith. Somehow, some way, the people of Chatham came through with the money.

“There were times when we would say, ‘Okay, he needs two pairs of skates, a sport coat, and costumes,’” Beck says. “And we’d have trouble raising funds. We knew we couldn’t give up, so we’d try and plan something else, and from time to time, we’d get a private donation.’’

Hometown hero

Many youngsters with Olympic dreams show signs of talent but rarely make it to the top. Eldredge, however, continually showed signs of improvement. With help from Richard Callaghan, one of the nation’s top coaches, Eldredge captured novice and junior national titles.

By 1988, he captured the world junior title and two years later, he became the U.S. men’s champion. He has six national titles—more than either Brian Boitano or Scott Hamilton, both giants in the world of figure skating.

Every skating season, people in Chatham would gather in their living rooms to watch their hometown athlete perform on television. A few even travel to events to watch him skate.

“Chatham is a very small town, and he was our hometown hero,’’ says Beck, who now lives in Williamsburg, Va. “Probably the most exciting for me was in the beginning when he started winning.’’

The goal always was to get Eldredge to the Olympics. But in 1992, back problems forced him to withdraw from nationals. He was given a bye to compete in Albertville, France, however, where he finished 10th. In 1994, at the next Winter Games, he finished fourth at nationals and didn’t make the Olympic cut. He won the national title in 1998 and qualified to compete in Nagano, Japan, finishing fourth and barely missing a medal.

Todd hasn’t fully realized his personal goals—an Olympic medal—but Chatham, whose baseball park bears his name, couldn’t be any more proud of him.

“It’s been a tremendous experience for the town,’’ Howes says. “He has far, far exceeded our expectations. Every now and then we need a lesson in working together and showing what small towns can do.’’

“I think the whole town loves him,’’ Hoyt says.

That feeling is mutual.

“The town did a lot for me that was really beneficial over the years,” Eldredge says. “Chatham has a nice, small-town atmosphere, and the people there really helped my career and family when we needed it.”

And now that endorsements, tours, and competitions are paying off, Eldredge reciprocates the generosity that Chatham showed his family. He’s given $20,000 to support his hometown’s skating program to help other young skaters realize their dreams, and he goes home for autograph appearances and Fourth of July parades.

“It was his idea,’’ Howes says. “He didn’t have to do that.’’

But to Eldredge, there is no question but to do that. He always will remember, and appreciate, the way Chatham supported him.

“Unfortunately, I don’t get back there as often as I’d like or my parents would like,’’ he says. “But it’s great to know they still follow my career back there.’’

And should he take a medal in Salt Lake City, Eldredge will know that a seaside community clear across the country will rejoice as if he was their own.

Because, after all, he is.

Amy Rosewater, a former skater and Olympics reporter, is a Baltimore freelance writer.

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