A member of the U.S. National and International Figure Skating Teams from 1986 through 1998, Tonia Kwiatkowski ranks among the very best ice performers ever to come out of the Cleveland area. She earned a berth as an alternate on the 1998 United States Olympic Figure Skating Team to climax a career which included appearances in the World Championships in 1993, 1996 and 1998, two World University Games championships (1991 and 1995), a silver medal in the 1996 Senior U.S. National Championships, and three bronze medals in the U.S. Nationals, one at the Junior Level in 1987 and two at the Senior Level in 1993 and 1995. Considered one of the best liked and most respected competitors of her era in her sport, she is a graduate of Lakewood High School and Baldwin-Wallace College.

The Cleveland Skating Club was home to Hayes Jenkins when he began making his move in the world of men’s figure skating.  In 1948, he was the U.S. junior national champion.  Growing up in Akron, Cleveland saw plenty of Jenkins until he moved to Colorado in 1953 to attend Colorado College.  He had been a member of five U.S. World Figure Skating teams up until then, finishing fourth at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway.  That set in motion a run of four consecutive U.S. and world championships from 1953 to 1956.  At the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina, Italy, he put the finishing touch on his remarkable career by winning the gold medal.  His younger brother, David, won the bronze medal.  Four years later they became bonded gold brothers when David won the 1960 gold medal.  Retiring from the ice to attend Harvard Law School, he married 1960 women’s gold medalist Carol Heiss in 1960.  Returning to Akron to work in legal affairs for the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, he and Carol raised three children and ten grandchildren.  Like his wife, he has been honored by numerous organizations throughout the skating world.  He retired from Goodyear as Assistant Secretary and Assistant General Counsel in 1998, after which he and Carol moved to Westlake to be closer to his her coaching site.  For nearly 50 years, they have been the area’s first family of figure skating.