Richard Ewell was the first African American to win a national title in both pair skating and single skating.
Richard Manley Ewell III was born on November 18, 1949 in Los Angeles, California. Richard was born in Los Angeles, grew up in Los Angeles, and lives in the Los Angeles area today.
Richard Ewell's parents, Betty and Richard Ewell, moved to Los Angeles in the 1940s. They left Kansas City, Missouri for a better life in Los Angeles. Richard has one younger sister named Lynn.
One Saturday morning in early 1963, Richard's sister, Lynn, complained about how cold it was in Los Angeles. Richard's mother, Betty, explained to her daughter that they needed to go to an ice rink to experience really being cold. So, the family decided to go to the Polar Palace Ice Rink in Los Angeles.
On that day, an African American figure skating coach named Mabel Fairbanks was at the arena. Richard's mother approached Mabel and inquired about lessons. The family began taking a weekly family lesson together at that rink each Saturday.
Richard's family did not exchange phone numbers with Mabel. To their surprise, one Saturday morning in April of 1963, the family arrived at the Polar Palace ice rink to find that it had burned to the ground the night before. There was still smoke and ashes when the family arrived. Mabel was standing in front of the rink in tears. Three pairs of her skates had gone up in flames. She and other coaches and skaters in Los Angeles were left with no place to skate.
Richard's family went home after the fire, but after about two weeks, they missed skating. Richard's mother called the new Culver City Ice Arena and asked if African Americans were welcome to skate at the rink. The woman who answered the phone replied: "If blacks are not allowed, I wouldn't be here." So, the Ewell family knew they'd be welcome at the Culver City rink.
The family arrived at the rink on a Saturday and Mabel Fairbanks was on the ice giving lessons. Richard remembers that she seemed to "be automatically there." The family resumed lessons with Mabel and soon figure skating became a way of life.
In 1965, Richard Ewell became the first African American to be accepted into a figure skating club.
(Later, during the same week that Richard was accepted into the All Year Figure Skating Club, Atoy Wilson, then the 1965 Novice Men's Silver Medalist, was the first African Americn to be accepted for membership into the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club.)
Once Richard was accepted into a figure skating club, he passed skating tests quite quickly. He took his Preliminary Figure Test and First Figure Test on the same day. He passed the 2nd Figure Test three months later, but hit a small block, when he attmpted the Third Figure Test and failed it. This meant he had to wait until the 1967 competition season to compete in regionals. He passed the Third Figure Test on the next try and then passed the Fourth Figure Test just before Southwest Pacific Regionals 1967. At his first regional, Southwest Pacific 1967, he won the Novice Men's event.
- 1967 Southwest Pacific Novice Men - 1st
- 1967 Pacific Coast Novice Men - 4th
- 1968 Southwest Pacific Junior Men's Competitor
- 1969 Southwest Pacific Junior Men - 2nd
- 1969 Pacific Coast Junior Men - 3rd
- 1969 National Junior Men - 9th
- 1970 Southwest Pacific Junior Men - 3rd
- 1970 Pacific Coast Junior Men - 2nd
- 1970 National Junior Men's Champion
At the 1970 Nationals Championships, Richard was not expected to win. He placed sixth in figures. He did the freestyle performance of his life at that Nationals doing three double axels, a triple salchow, and a triple toe loop. He surprised everyone and won the national title.
In 1968, Mabel Fairbanks teamed up Richard Ewell with Michelle McCladdie. Shelley was also an African American, but her skin was quite light in color.
The team won the Novice Pairs event at the Southwest Pacific regional and the Pacific Coast sectional in 1969. In 1970, they moved up to Junior Pairs and placed second at the Southwest Regional, but came in fourth in the Pacific Coast Sectional and did not make Nationals.
