"An Evening With Champions," formerly "An Evening of Champions," has showcased many famous skaters over its 19-year history. Past participants include Dorothy Hamill, Debi Thomas, and Tai Babalonia and Randy Gardner. Lari says that many of the top-notch skaters come back year after year because of the show's relaxed atmosphere and because they have so much fun.

Unlike most skating events, the Jimmy Fund is purely an exhibition show. There are no judges, so the skaters can relax and enjoy performing. "It's one of the few times they get to go on vacation. We have parties for them, not blow-outs or anything, but they have fun," Frates says.

Frates adds, "It sound's corny, but it's magic. There is a sense of electricity between the skaters and the audience. The skaters are there just for fun and so they can just perform and please the crowd."

He says that the show also provides these skaters an opportunity to experience, for a brief time, what college life is like. Several of the famous skaters are of college age but do not attend school because they devote all their time to the sport.

"It's very infrequent that they get to go outside of the skater's world. When they come here they get to see what it's like to live in a college dorm and be with college students. Many of them don't get the opportunity before that because they're practicing 5-8 hours a day," Frates, a three-year veteran of the show, says.

But not all of the skaters have forgone a college education. Both Kathaleen A. Kelly '89, the 1987 National Collegiate Women's Champion, and Wylie agree that although skating is important it should not prevent athletes from receiving an education. "People should be going to school," says Kelly. "They shouldn't be sacrificing everything for the sport because only one or two people can be that Olympic champion."

Wylie, who participated in the Winter Games of this year's Olympics and placed ninth in his event, also realizes the value of a solid education. "I just don't think that skating is a long term deal. If there's an endowment in you of a brain you shouldn't waste it," he says.

But the Eliot House resident sees his time in Calgary as one of the high points of his life. "It was exciting to think my performance was reaching so many people so instantly," says Wylie. "There was a part of me that wanted to live for the moment, and then there was a part of me that wanted to play by the rules and finish my program. It was like the ultimate experience. The most amount of people, the most amount of TV coverage and the most amount of hype."

Now that Wylie has won the silver medal for the men's singles in the 1988 Nationals, he looks forward to competing in the 1992 Olympics and future national and world competitions. With all of these skating achievements under his belt, he still will participate, for the sixth time, in this weekend's Jimmy Fund show. And apparently he is as excited for this show as he was the first time he performed in it.

"It's one of the few times that all my friends at Harvard can see me skate. It's definitely one of the best shows to do in the country. I mean all the money goes to the Jimmy Fund. It's not like [the show] gets old or anything," Wylie says.

Headline performers like Boitano, Martini and Underhill, and Angelo D'Agostino, who placed fifth in last year's men's singles national competition, will appear in all three shows. Accomplished undergraduate skaters including Princeton undergrad Katherine Healy and, of course, Wylie will skate in all of the performances.

Kelly, who ranked 16th in the US Senior Nationals, is one of the people who will skate on all three nights. Kelly, who has participated in the show since her freshman year, started skating when she was five years old and attended her first national competition last year after placing second in both the North Atlantic Regionals and Eastern Sectionals.

Another three-night participant Tracie L. Brown '92 competed in her first national skating competition last year and currently ranks 17th in the nation and third on the East Coast in the women's singles senior division. Brown says her premiere with Nationals was a tense time. "It was very traumatic because I had never been outside my region before. And there were judges at every practice," Brown says.

Brown is appearing in "An Evening With Champions" for the second time. She says that what she likes best about the show is that she can participate in an event that includes so many wonderful skaters. "It was different from other shows because the people are so incredible. It's an honor to be around really awesome skaters, but it's also really nerve-racking," Brown says.

Brown adds, "First it was really exciting to be with all these skaters that I looked up to, but at the same time it was very intimidating."

In contrast, Kelly says the atmosphere for her on performance nights is more relaxed. "I'm kind of used to it [meeting the famous skaters] because I have competed a lot," she says. "Brian Boitano and Underhill and Martini are great, but I know a lot of the others already."

While big name skaters receive most of the attention, less well-known Harvard skaters will also participate in the benefit show. Most of them appear in only one performance, but this year they will get a little more exposure. For the first time ever, the opening and the finale will include all the skaters involved with the show. In the past, only the headline skaters appeared in the first and last numbers.

Speaking of her performance last year, Christine M. Lukacs '91 says, "I was expecting to be really freaking out nervous, but I wasn't. And this year, I'm doing the matinee, and so I'm just really mellow about it."

Amy H. Kaji '91 agrees. "I'm obviously not good enough to skate for a large crowd of people, but really I'm just performing for my small group of friends."