Published in the Observer-Dispatch on February 3, 2002.
A DREAM DENIED
How a distant war dashed Utica skater’s hopes in 1940
By MARY MARCHIO CHRISTOPHER
Observer-Dispatch
Looking inside Rita Sears’ scrapbooks is like putting together a puzzle with the last piece missing.
Gold medals, yellowed newspaper headlines and black-and-white photos of a determined young female speed skater all give hints of Olympic greatness that could have been.
Yet Sears was denied her opportunity to compete on the world’s most famous athletic stage because of events far beyond her control.
In December 1939, Sears was preparing for the final Olympic trials in Milwaukee for speed skating when the 1940 Winter Games scheduled for Sapporo, Japan, were canceled. The reason: World War II.
“It was a crushing blow … You work all of those years,” said Sears, now 84. “But life has to go on.”
Sears will see modern-day versions of herself in a few days at the 2002 Olympic Games, which start Friday in Salt Lake City. She’ll pay close attention, even as old feelings of excitement and disappointment rekindle inside of her.
“I love them, and if I’m not home, I’ll tape them,” she said of this month’s Games. “I’m just that type of person.”
Despite missing out on her goal of Olympic competition, Sears didn’t give up on life. She went on to raise a family and become a coach, teaching others the things she loved.
She was born Rita Sweeney Jan. 29, 1918, and grew up on Wall Street in Utica with her parents, Bernard and Frances Gorman Sweeney. Her father was a haberdasher, dealing in men’s clothing and accessories.
She got her first pair of speed skates when she was 12 years old. It took three of her father’s paychecks to buy one pair of the heavily laced skates.
Sears’ passion for speed skating made the purchase a worthwhile one. She loved the excitement of the sport, how it made her strive to do better and how it allowed her the chance to meet living sports legends.
Most of her teen-age years and early adult life was spent speed skating at a professional level. She also became a champion swimmer and diver.
By the time the 1935 Utica Free Academy graduate was ready to leave for the Olympic trials, she had won more than a dozen medals in state, national and international competitions.
Val Bialas – a Utica native and three-time Olympic speed skater in 1924, 1928 and 1932 – often sharpened her skates. Bialas, one of the sport’s true stars, would skate with Sears and her friends as they practiced.
“Val was kind of a father image,” Sears said. “I met all of these interesting people, and I was just a kid.”
Another such person was Jack Shea, an Olympian from Lake Placid who died last month in a car accident. Shea, who won two gold medals for speed skating in the 1932 Winter Olympics, was among those Sears considered a friend.
Like the greats before her, Sears practiced diligently to master the art of speed skating.
She skated with her friends at the outdoor ice rink at the Parkway Recreation Center six nights a week for two-hour sessions.
“We would make fun out of it even though we were working hard,” she said of the grueling practices.
Sometimes, she’d drive the hour to Syracuse to become comfortable with other ice rinks.
The Winter Olympics then weren’t the televised, corporate-dominated extravaganza they are today. But they still were a big deal in Utica, where many winter sports fans had passed through by train on the way to the Lake Placid Olympics just eight years earlier.
The winds of war beginning to swirl in Europe and Asia seemed far away to the young skater. By her 20s, she’d set her sights on becoming an Olympian herself.
Sears even got a taste of Olympic excitement in 1936 when she took a ride down Lake Placid’s bobsled run.
“Boy, that was a fast ride,” Sears said.
Aiming for a spot
A Daily Press headline from 1939, one of many neatly clipped and preserved in a scrapbook kept in her Acacia Village apartment, reads: “Rita Sweeney and Tommy Smith aim for places as U.S. Olympic ice skaters in 1940.”
Newspaper photos highlight Sears’ serious yet fun-loving personality. In one, she displays a confident stance while wearing her tall speed skates, several medals pinned on her sweater. In another, she is shown laughing with friends.
Just as Sears made her final training push with the 1940 Winter Games approaching, international tensions escalated into war. On Sept. 1, 1939, Hitler unleashed a German blitzkrieg on Poland. France and Great Britain immediately declared war on Nazis. World War II had begun.
Meanwhile, the scheduled host of the Games had already launched its own aggression in Asia. Japanese forces had invaded China in the late 1930s
The United States would not get involved in the fighting for nearly two more years. But the outbreak of war ruined Sears’ plans.
In December 1939, the International Olympic Committee announced the Sapporo games would not take place. It was the first cancellation of the Games since 1916, when World War I was under way.
The news was devastating. But Sears said she and other Americans were apprehensive the United States would be drawn into the conflict.
“People knew it might be coming,” she said.
Olympic historian Jeffrey Segrave agreed the IOC’s decision to cancel the Games in 1940 – and again in 1944 – was viewed as a secondary concern to the threats posed by the Axis powers.
“The world was simply too distracted to worry about the Olympic Games during World War II” Segrave said.
He contrasted events then with the United States’ continuing war on terrorism in Afghanistan. The Salt Lake City Games will go on this month under extremely tight security conditions.
“This is a different age,” he said. “Life must still go on.”
Moving on
Having lost her dream, Sears continued to go on with her young adult life. In fact, December 1939 was not entirely a time of disappointment.
On New Year’s Eve 1939, some two months before the Olympics were to have occurred, she met at a party the man who would become her husband.
William Sears said he was surprised to discover his wife was such an accomplished athlete.
“The first time we went skating, she beat me something terrible … she made me feel like a little boy!” he said.
William Sears, now 89, proposed later in 1940. The couple married in 1941 and had five children in the years to follow. William, originally from the Schenectady area, worked for Savage Arms in Utica and then started his own insulation company in Utica called Storm Proof.
Rita Sears continued her competitive speed skating but hung up her skates for good after breaking her ankle in 1943.
She went on to coach the Utica Speed Skating Club and Our Lady of Lourdes Speed Skating Club. She managed the Utica Free Academy basketball team and helped set up a bond booth at the Stanley Theatre during the war.
Over the years, the Searses became active in a different sport involving ice – curling. They were members of the Utica Curling Club and traveled to areas of New York and Canada for competitions. Rita Sears won the coveted eight-ender award and proudly displays her certificate in one of her scapbooks.
“(Curling) is a team effort,” she said. “You make a lot of great friendships along the way.”
After retirement, Bill and Rita moved to Punta Gorda, Fla. They lived there for 21 year until they moved back to the Mohawk Valley in December. They live at Acacia Village, an independent living retirement community.
‘Opportunity to Shine’
Sears’ encouragement and love for sports rubbed off on her children.
Daughter Alicia Giovannone of Barneveld has been curling for 22 years and is a member of the Utica Curling Club. She also is a swimmer and skier.
She said her mother was ahead of her time in mind and spirit.
I’m proud that my mom was sports-minded at a time when most women weren’t” Giovannone said.
As time presses on, Sears makes sure she remains physically active. Every morning, at age 84, she goes for a swim in the Acacia Village pool.
Acacia Village retirement counselor Cindy Dardano said she wasn’t surprised to find out about Sears’ athletic past.
“She is a fascinating person so full of life and enthusiasm,” Dardano said.
Besides being active, Sears keeps up on the sport she gave so much to more than 60 years ago. She notes speed skating isn’t popular in the Mohawk Valley like it once was – something Sears attributes to the area not having an outdoor ice rink.
She points out how speed skaters’ uniforms have transformed into a sleek and modern design based on aerodynamics research – a far cry from the short skirts Sears used to wear.
“It looks different now, but the technique is the same,” she said.
Giovannone said she’s grateful her mother kept such detailed scrapbooks so her family can always look back on her accomplishments.
“My mom is pretty happy the Games are still going on in light of Sept. 11.” Giovannone said. “We’re all happy people are still being given the opportunity to shine.”
mary christopher 