Sandra Pearson was inducted into the Hall of Fame for her contributions
as a coach and builder of figure skating.
Sandra was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan and started figure skating
at a young age. Before moving to the Yukon she competed as an athlete
in the 1954 and 1957 Western Canadian Divisional Championships and
the 1957 Senior Mixed Pairs at the Canadian National Championships.
From 1960 to 1962 she taught figure skating professionally in
Helsinki, Finland, training many Finnish national competitors.
In 1963 Sandra moved to the Yukon and consolidated the informal skating
groups into the first Whitehorse Figure Skating Club. By 1964 the club
had doubled in size to 50 athletes and Sandra managed to handle things
alone. When the club reaches 100 athletes in 1965 she recruited the assistance
of volunteers and an assistant coach. As the athletes developed
Sandra felt that they were ready for C.F.S.A. testing and in 1967 arranged
for a judge to come to Whitehorse. She was also the coach of the
Arctic Winter Games and Canada Games teams. Sandra retired from coaching
in 1982 but remained a liaison and resource person to the club and its
athletes.
Both were founding members of the Yukon Sports Federation (now Sport Yukon)
and served on the board of directors several times.