ne of the most talented athletes in Yonkers history was not a brawny football fullback, a tall basketball center, or a swift baseball pitcher. That athlete was a petite young lady named Olga Fischer, a speed skater whose competitive career covered nine years from 1923 and 1932. A member of the Yonkers Skating Club, she won local, county and state honors, including the prestigious New York Daily News Silver Skates Championship in 1927.

Born in Yonkers in 1904, Olga attended School No.16 on North Broadway where she competed in inter–scholastic sports. According to her husband, Bill Curtis, Olga was a self–taught skater; learning and practicing on the Saw Mill River creek and Tibbetts Brook Park pond. From 1928 to 1930 she was a member of the famed “Brooklyn Ice Palace” skating team. Her competitive contests included thrilling races against arch rival Elsie Mueller (McClave) from Hastings. In the 1928 international meet between Canada and the United States at Detroit, Olga finished second behind Elsie. In the 1930 Middle Atlantic States Indoor 440 yard championship in New York City, Olga and Elsie finished in a “dead–heat” tie for first place. A “skate–off” followed, and they again finished in a tie. The judges suggested the race should be decided by the toss of a coin. After both skaters objected, the officials made an unusual decision to resolve the dilemma. They awarded a “half–gold and half–silver” medal to both Olga and Elsie. Skating history reveals was the first time such dual awards were made. After her skating career ended, Elsie Mueller married Archie McClave; switched sports and became the ladies golf champion at the Hudson River Country Club in North Yonkers.

Olga’s other local rivals were sisters Lillian and Ruth Corke from Lewis Street, the same street where Olga lived. Olga’s competitive skating career ended with her marriage to Bill Curtis in 1932. A daughter, Caroline, was born in 1935. However, skating continued to be part of her life for many years. In 1962, the Yonkers Skating Club elected Olga its president, an office she held until 1974. During this time she taught and coached children of various ages for free, her reward being her pupils’ accomplishments. One of her talented students was Lee Mazzili who became an outstanding baseball player with the New York Mets. Toward the end of her presidency, she organized skating programs for handicapped children and arranged skating sessions for senior citizens at the Edward Murray Skating Rink on Tuckahoe Road. Over the years, Olga made contact with many famous people, including Sonja Henie with whom she skated at Madison Square Garden, and Lou Gehrig, with whom she skated at the Playland Rink in Rye.