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Published on 03/24/1997 All articles from this issue

Skating champ Galindo to sign new book in Los Altos

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'Icebreaker'

By Clyde Noel

Town Crier Staff Writer

San Jose's Rudy Galindo, 1996 national men's ice skating champion, will sign his new book, "Icebreaker: The autobiography of Rudy Galindo," 7:30 p.m., April 3, at Heintzelman's Bookstore, 205 State St., Los Altos.

According to U.S. Figure Skating officials, no one had ever won a national championship in his hometown until Galindo did.

The San Jose Arena crowd yelled, "Six! Six! Six!," encouraging the judges to give Galindo the best possible score. Seconds later the video screen on the scoreboard made it official: the gay, Mexican-American had defied the odds, dealt with personal tragedies, overcome discrimination and won a national figure-skating title.

In Galindo's own words, the odds of winning the national championships in 1996 "were against me from the day I was born to a truck driver and a part-time computer factory assembly line worker in 1969."

There were two other children, George and Laura, and both were older than Rudy. "I wasn't handsome and I wasn't the favorite son, but I guess I have a little of both George and Laura in me because it turned out I was gay and feminine," Galindo said.

Those two characteristics weren't much help to a Mexican-American boy growing up in an East San Jose neighborhood.

His home was a small trailer, in a neighborhood where kids were more likely to deal drugs than figure-skate.

But Galindo developed a passion for skating. His hard work paid off when he won two U.S. pairs skating championships with partner Kristi Yamaguchi in 1989 and 1990.

Over the next six years, Galindo lost his brother, George, and two coaches to AIDS. His father died of a heart attack.

Feeling cursed, Galindo fell into a period of self-destructive behavior and an eight-month leave from training that almost marked the end of his career.

Discovering an inner peace with himself, Galindo said he overcame his problems and decided to go public with his sexual orientation.

His autobiography, co-authored with Eric Marcus, chronicles the high and low points of his life in straight-forward detail.

The co-author also helped Olympics gold medal winner Greg Louganis on his best-selling autobiography, "Breaking the Surface."

Since winning the Nationals, Galindo has joined the Campbell's Soup Tour of World Figure Skating Champions and will compete in several competitions. The tour starts April 16 in Baltimore and continues through July 13, ending in Los Angeles.

For more information on the book signing, call 941-1842.