The Tiger Woods of the 80's and early 90's

World Champion Figure Skater (center) Debi Thomas
-- picture by Corbis --

She is the Tiger Woods of the mid-1980's through the early 1990's and the sole reason why figure skating in prime time on television. Her name is "Dr." Debi Thomas.

Debi Thomas was the hopes and dreams of African-Americans throughout the 1980's and early 90's.  Thomas became a world champion in a sport that few Blacks competed in, for whatever reason.

Relive and/or treat yourself for the first time with an elegant, classy, delightful, and graceful figure skating performance of Debi Thomas. Click the link below to see Thomas in 1987 perform in Canada competing against the world's best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVRy31nVpFA&feature=related

Few will forget the tension behind the skating performance of Debi Thomas in the 1988 Olympics. A good score by Thomas would mean the Gold Medal in Calgary 88 Olympics.

The nation at attention as Debi Thomas loosend up in preparation for what we all had hoped to be the Gold Medal performance by Debi Thomas, which would have been the first ever Gold medal by an African-American singles' figure skater.

The audience in Calgary Canada was in total silence as Debi posed elegantly awaiting for the needle to drop on the album of her selected music. Hundreds of millions viewed this 1988 Olympic moment throughout the world.

The long awaited battle between Debi Thomas and Katarina Witt peaked once again as the Thomas-Witt rivalry was a highly touted competition. The contest for Olympic Gold twenty years ago was even mor intense. The competitive Thomas-Witt Olympic 88 battle was dubbed "The Battle of the Carmens" as both of their long programs were performed to the music of Bizet's Opera "Carmen". While we all were glued to our television sets for Debi Thomas once again showing the world that an American was the World's best, the shining Olympic moment turned out "not" to be Debi Thomas's best performance. After Debi Thomas fell down the first of a few falls in this challenging suspenseful long program, we all turned our hopeful joy into sadness.

Simular to Tiger Woods, a champion in a sport that few African-Americans participated in, we were fully aware that Debi Thomas was a multiple year champion. Debi Thomas was the first African-American singles Amatuer U.S. and World Champion in 1986. Thomas' 1986 achievements earned Debi Thomas ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year award and a rare Time magazine cover shot. Debi Thomas was number two in the World in 1987. In 1988 Debi Thomas re-claimed her US Championship and number two in the World behind Olympic rival East Germany's Katarina Witt.

Debi Thomas was "thee" American representative to the world in figure skating. That was an impressive achievement to make it to that level. Her courageous attempt to win the Olympic Gold in 1988 made all Americans, especially African-Americans, proud. Thomas as an true American hero.

Her Figure Skating career up to that point was chronicled in our collective minds as Debi Thomas was a rarity that deserved our undivided attention as Tiger Woods has for the past decade.

The disappointment of Debi Thomas not fulfilling one of her many highly-driven dreams of being an Olympic Champion, did not deter her from becoming a medical doctor after her Professional Skating tour around the world, where she dazzled crowds around the world. Debi Thomas's classy performances inspired a young twelve year old Eldrick "Tiger" Woods, sitting in his Dad's Cerritos, California home gleaming with overwhelming hope. Another witness was the father of eight year old Tennis champions, Venus Ebony Starr Williams and six-year old Serena Williams.

Both Tiger's Dad and the father of Venus and Serena Williams were hopeful and energized to continue their work of bringing these three African-Americans to world champion status in sports not participated by too many Blacks.

Debi Thomas professional tour in Figure Skating came to an end in 1992. Thomas then continued her pursuit by attending Medical School. Debi Thomas -- now Dr. Debbie Thomas -- went out with perfection, class, and the most elegant performance in the artistic category. See it for yourself in the YouTube link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bRWj5fEGbM&feature=related

Debi continues inspiring us to this day, as she is Doctor Debi Thomas. A few Public Service Announcements of hers below:

• Be Active in Your Health Care: 30-second video (Windows® Media File).
• Be a Champion for Your Health Care: 30-second video (Windows® Media File).
• Be a Champion for Your Loved Ones: 60-second video (Windows® Media File).

Debi Thomas became an orthopedic "surgeon". Thomas graduated from Stanford University in 1991 with a degree in engineering and from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in 1997. Thomas followed this with a surgical residency at the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences Hospital and an orthopedic surgery residency at the Martin Luther King Jr./Charles Drew University Medical Center in Los Angeles. In June 2005, Debi graduated from the Orthopedic Residency Program at Charles R. Drew University in Los Angeles. Debi spent the next year preparing for Step I of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgeons' exam and working at King-Drew Medical Center as a junior attending physician specialist. In July 2006, she began a one-year fellowship at the Dorr Arthritis Institute at Centinela Hospital in Inglewood, California, for sub-specialty training in adult reconstructive surgery. In September of 2007, Thomas joined the orthopedic staff at Carle Clinic in Urbana, Illinois.

Debi Thomas still remains involved in the figure skating world as a frequent committee member and judge. Thomas was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2000. She is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. In 1988, Thomas married Brian Vanden Hogen, a fellow college student. They later divorced and she re-married Chris Bequette, a sports attorney, in 1996. She gave birth to a son, Christopher Jules ("Luc"), in 1997.

While Debi Thomas was winning the US and World Amatuer Championships from 1986 - 1988, Debi Thomas had a full load of difficult medical courses at Stanford University in Palo Alto in Northern California. Debbie skated on the weekends only while studying.

"We all wonder if she had dedicated her full attention to figure skating as East German's Katarina Witt did, she probably would have dominated" says her weekend figure skating coach.

Debi Thomas revealed to an interviewer during her college days: "Skating is not life, my studies are first priority. If I spent all of my life skating, then what would happen to me if I severely broke my leg and could not skate anymore? Where would I then be?"

We all thank you Debi Thomas. More important my figure skating step-daughter Amunique Lee thanks you, as it was Amunique that inspired me to show her you, so she can see for herself that before Amunique was even born, there was an African-American world champion named Debi Thoms.

In a conversation between Amunique and myself, she told me that friends and family of hers teased her that Figure skating is "a sport for white people." All the more that I appreciated showing Amunique the impressive performances of Debi Thomas

I further bought tickets to take my step-daughter to see current Professional Figure Skating champion Sasha Cohen this week. But it is more of an inspiration to see an African-American figure skater in Debi Thomas. Amunique face gleamed with pride re-playing the videos of Thomas. Thank you Debi.

Two Professional Skating performances linked below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJkz_px_4WM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fGRrn2x6sQ&feature=related

I will close with a big thank you for being there 20 years ago when we needed that well-rounded champion. Thank you Debi Thomas from me and all the readers.