Speedskating: Hall of Fame

Born August 6, 1934. Passed away October 4, 2011. Got on his first pair of skates at age 3 and got plenty of encouragement from his family. He was one of the original skaters when the Midway Club was founded in 1946. He competed until 1960 and is still a member of the club. Has been active in the Eastern Minnesota Skating Association and its successor. In 1972, he joined USISA and served as secretary from 1976 until 1984, when he was made Executive Director. Bill was Manager of the U.S. Olympic Speed Skating Teams in 1980 and 1984. Elected May 19, 1996 at Bloomington, Minnesota. 

For Joan Peterson, skating is a family affair. Joan, with her four brothers and sisters, could often be found at local rinks in Minneapolis, Minnesota, skating, competing and socializing. She competed until she was 18, winning the Silver Skates competition and joining the Loring Speedskating Club. It was at one of those rinks where Joan met her future husband, Howard. They were married for 35 years before he passed away, and during that time Joan started a legacy of speedskating with her own two daughters, Lynn and five-time Olympian Amy.

Soon after her daughters started speedskating, Joan received a phone call from the local club. “Someone called me and said, ‘Bring your skates. We need help.’ I’ve been (refereeing) ever since.” Joan has officiated at short and long track events since 1976, working her way to Chief Referee at many national, North American and marathon championships. Eventually, Joan advanced to a Level 4 ISU Referee for long track events. She spent many hours on the track officiating and was the first referee at the national marathon.

Besides her years of refereeing, Joan served on numerous boards, committees and organizations including the president and board member of the East Side Speedskating Club, a board member of the Midway Speedskating Club and the Greater Minnesota Speedskating Association. She has worked on the US Speedskating Hall of Fame committee, the Member and Program Development committee, and the competition, officials and George Howie committees. “Speedskating is a great sport,” she said. “You learn a lot of discipline and conditioning. I’ve met so many wonderful people.”

Joan volunteered at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games and was able to watch her daughter Amy compete in the short track competition.“Amy was chosen to carry the flag during the opening ceremonies,” Joan said. “That was really exciting.” Born on April 23, 1935, Joan dedicated more than 60 years of her life to speedskating, whether it was competing in events as a teenager, officiating at local or national meets as an adult or serving on various committees and boards. Additionally, she spent 34 years teaching elementary school in Minnesota, influencing an entire generation of children.  Inducted on April 18, 2009, at St. Louis.

·       Tireless contributor to support long track pack & metric meets and local short track skating

·       Achieved ISU Level 5 Long Track Referee

·       Contributor to the club building, association building for foundation work

·       Volunteer at local/regional competitions

·       Assignments as LT Referee to multiple World Cups, Junior World Championships, University Games

·       Member of the GMSA Board

·       Member of the Midway Speedskating Club Board

·       Member of the ‘Friends of the Oval’ board

·       Force behind the infrastructure of the Bingo Hall

·       Has been a volunteer from the beginning of the Oval (planted trees) till today. Assisted Rich Chlebecek in the wiring and other aspects of the video and timing infrastructure

·       High School and College Ice Hockey referee

·       Former Boy Scouts leader

·       Avid duck hunter and fisherman

Steve’s local involvement in speedskating has included time with the Midway club and later huge contributions regionally and nationally to promote this sport. Steve became the face of GMSA, and made sure that every Saturday pack meet and Sunday metric meet for GMSA ran successfully. He was the guy sending out the email that pulled together volunteers to pull off the larger meets, from the John Rose Open (120+ skaters), to the ISU World Junior Speed Skating Championships (co-chair of the LOC), and emails that announced opportunities (he had helped facilitate) for special training opportunities for athletes, coaches, and officials. He served three terms as president of GMSA before choosing to step down.

Although Steve wound down his direct role in GMSA, he continued to be active in the sport as an official. He has worked as a US Speedskating Official as a starter (Level 3) in chief and assistant roles for the National Long Track Championships, LT American Cups, and LT National Junior Long Track Championships, as well as helping with local LT and ST meets. He has been a referee (level 2) in chief and assistant roles for National Long Track Championships, North American Championships, the annual ST Gopher Open, and numerous GMSA weekends. His reliability led to appointments as the co-chief Lap Counter for an ISU Short Track World Cup (back in his home state of MI) and as the Chief Lap Counter for the ISU Short Track World Championships (in MN).

Steve has spread his enthusiasm for the sport and worked to attract converts. Despite a bus career necessitating extensive travel, he found time to successfully complete the US Speedskating Level 1 and Level 2 Coaching courses and tests, and coached adult members of the late Floyd Bedbury’s Twin Cities Speedskating Club for years. He also was an instructor for Roseville’s ‘Adult Learn to Speedskate’ program at the Oval. He has assisted with promotion of the novice program for kids, and helped run the novice meets. In the early 2000’s he organized and administered for three seasons the inline racing program (STR8 SK8) at the Oval and helped build bridges between the inline and ice skating communities. He also served on US Speedskating’s Development Committee to help develop the first “inline to ice” program which has been so important to US Speedskating’s international success.

Steve has done tremendous work to also make sure our long track facility remains a viable and attractive regional asset, so as to not only serve current users but to promote it to new users and sponsors. As a director and two term president of the Friends of the Oval Foundation, he has helped lead a group of dedicated volunteers who want to raise the visibility and regional support for the Oval, and has helped spearhead commitment of Foundation money to pay for major upgrades to the rink’s infrastructure. For speedskating in particular, he has helped garner resources that have led to the rollout of all new timing equipment and new custom software used for running the metric races and the new scoreboard, and video capabilities that enable regional cable broadcasts as well as worldwide web streaming.