Many people believe that Lois Secreto epitomizes early ice skating in Pierce County. Secreto began skating at the age of eight. "At the time, I was very involved with tap dancing," she remembered, "as I think all little girls were trying to be the next Shirley Temple. After that first time on ice, however, I couldn't think of anything else. Little by little, the tap dancing faded out and skating was in." And in 1942, she won the Northwest Juvenile Girls title.

When barely a teenager, Lois Secreto teamed with Jimmy Grogan and, in 1945, they won the Pacific Coast Junior Pairs competition. She also placed second in the Junior Girls event. One year later, Secreto won the Northwest Novice Ladies title, followed by the Northwest Senior title in 1947 and a second in the Pacific Coast Senior Ladies event in 1950. The latter win qualified her for the national championships, where she tied for first place with Tenley Albright in the freestyle skating event.

Following her amateur competitions and graduation from Stadium High School, Secreto joined the Shipstads and Johnson Ice Follies but returned to Pierce County two years later to marry and to teach ice skating at both the Tacoma Ice Palace and the Lakewood Ice Arena. "I absolutely loved teaching. To be able to take a complete beginner and watch them progress was so exciting."

During these formative years, no one achieved more as a competitive skater than the colorful Jimmy Grogan. "He started skating as a rink rat at the Lakewood Ice Area," said Secreto, his first partner. Left motherless at 12 in 1944, Grogan made his home with U.S. Army Major Floyd Moore and his wife, Emily, who was active in the Lakewood Figure Skating Club. When the Moores were transferred to California, Grogan went with them.

At age 16, he earned a spot on the 1948 U.S. Olympic team at St. Moritz, Switzerland, and took sixth. Four years later, in 1952, he skated to an Olympic bronze medal at Oslo, Norway. But, he had the misfortune of peaking at the same time as the incomparable Dick Button. Grogan finished second four times at the world championships, twice behind Button (1951 and 1952) and twice behind Hayes Alan Jenkins (1953 and 1954), and was second behind Button four times (1948-1952) at the U.S. Championships.

After leaving competition, Grogan was a spectacular show skater with Arthur Wirtz's Hollywood Ice Revue and Ice Capades. He was also instrumental in developing the Ice Castle Training Center at Lake Arrowhead, California, and coached there from 1985 until his death. In 1991, Grogan was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame.


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We are actively looking for artifacts that will allow us to exhibit and interpret our sports heritage. If you have Tacoma- Pierce County sports memorabilia you would like to donate, please contact Marc Blau, President of the Shanaman Sports Museum, at (253) 848-1360 or at blaumarc@qwest.net.