Galindo’s ‘Best Ever’ Third Best for Judges

Rudy Galindo, who lives in an East San Jose trailer park with his mother, has lost two coaches and a brother reportedly to AIDS-related deaths, his father to a heart attack and his former pairs partner to greater fame than they could have ever have achieved together.

But Galindo has persevered, and, Thursday night in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships at the San Jose Arena, he skated a performance that he called the best of his life.

The crowd of 9,458 gave him a standing ovation, then boisterously expressed disappointment when his marks left him in third place after the men’s short program behind three-time champion Todd Eldredge of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and two-time champion Scott Davis of Colorado Springs, Colo. The first three finishers after Saturday’s free skate probably will be selected for the world championships in March at Edmonton, Canada.

Galindo, 26, won national championships in pairs with Kristi Yamaguchi in 1990 and ’91. But while she won the Olympic gold medal in 1992 after deciding to concentrate on singles, he has never finished higher than fifth in the nationals as a solo skater. An eighth-place finish last year caused him to quit for eight months.

It was during that time that he turned the scores he has received into a racial issue. Asked to contribute a few words about his career for a monument under construction across from the San Jose Arena to honor five prominent area skaters--Brian Boitano, Peggy Fleming, Debi Thomas, Yamaguchi and Galindo--he said, “It’s hard enough being a Mexican-American skater when the judges wanted an All-American boy.” After the statement was publicized, he was granted permission to submit a revision.

He did not complain about the scores he received from the nine judges Thursday, saying: “I was a little cautious. I was a little slow.”

He saved his energy for the celebratory two-step that he did after finishing his 2 1/2-minute program to Pachelbel’s “Canon in D.” He dedicated his performance to his sister/coach, also known as The Bank of Laura because she gave up her own skating career to help finance his, and “all my friends and family that passed away. I had a feeling they were watching me, and I said before I skated, ‘Please help me.’ ”

Perhaps they did. Or perhaps he was inspired by the new words under his portrait on the monument that say: “I guess I’m a survivor. I don’t know where it comes from.”