Tuesday, September 10, 2002
Figure skater's death at 20 stuns family, partner
By STEVE WILSTEIN
AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK — Will Sears had so much energy, so many talents, limitless promise.
He was a figure skater on the rise, the national novice champion with his 15-year-old pairs partner, Katie Boxwell, and they had their sights set on the 2006 Olympics.
He coached young skaters and worked as an artistic musical director, cutting music for world-class teams. He wrote a script as a student at the prestigious NYU film school and dreamed of making his mark on the world as a director.
“Dare Greatly,” he titled the autobiographical script, the story of an unhappy, fat child who transforms himself into a lithe, athletic champion.
He painted and wrote poetry, sometimes dashing off a few lines to cheer up other skaters. He was funny and forever upbeat, yet there was a quiet, introspective quality about him that made him seem more mature than most 20-year-olds.
He seemed destined for success, if not stardom, and then suddenly he was gone.
Will Sears died inexplicably a week ago in his New York apartment. He was found lying in bed in his bathrobe, a silver bowl of grapes in his right hand. His eyes were wide open, staring at a huge American flag that he had hung in his window after the Sept. 11 attack last year. He and Boxwell witnessed the attack on the World Trade Center as they were skating a few blocks away at the Chelsea Piers Sky Rink.
In death, Sears had a peaceful expression on his handsome face and no marks of any kind. A preliminary autopsy found no reason for his death. Sears didn't smoke, drink or take drugs. He had no heart problems or family history of disease. He ate health foods and vitamin supplements and drank bottled spring water.
As they await some explanation that makes sense, his mother, Margarita, a concert pianist, and father, Austin, an actor, are finding out that there was much more to their son's life than even they knew.
“We've been going from fits of total despair and depression to amazement and a feeling of euphoria, almost, the more we learn about him,” Austin Sears said. “The more people have talked to us about what he meant to them, it's kind of lifted our moods up. He touched so many people in so many ways. We thought we knew him, but it's astonishing what we've found out. A picture is falling into place of this larger-than-life romantic figure.”
During the past year, he said, Will seemed to be more driven than ever. The Sept. 11 attack had affected him deeply and he was trying to do as much as he could with his life, as if he thought time might be running out. He had cut the music U.S. pairs champions Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman used at nationals, and he worked with the Russian Olympic champions, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze. He was elated to see Sarah Hughes, a friend who skated on the same practice rink, win the Olympic gold medal.
“The attack changed him a lot,” Margarita Sears said. “He grew up overnight. He never became politically involved, but he was just trying to produce, produce, produce, give of himself.”
Sears started skating at 13 because his parents thought it might help him lose weight. It wasn't long before he fell in love with the sport and began pushing himself to become competitive. More than the extra pounds, he shed his poor image of himself. What emerged was a confident young man with a sense of purpose. He tried singles for a while, then dance, then found his niche in pairs skating. After working with a half-dozen partners, he began skating with Boxwell about a year and a half ago.
“Their style clicked tremendously,” Austin Sears said. “They just took off. What was very special about their skating was their acting ability.”
Boxwell left her family in suburban Herndon, Va., and came to live with the Sears family in New York. Will watched out for her and did everything for her, and she looked up to him for direction, parroting everything he said.
“I watched him with Katie and he was really protective of her,” said Terri Levine, president of the Skating Club of New York, which Boxwell and Sears represented. “He was like a big brother. He was quiet, but bright and nice. Anybody who really knew him liked him.”
On the ice, Boxwell and Sears shared a natural affinity, their eyes locking on each other like lovers. They drew their style from Olympic gold medalists Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov, and they studied tapes of that tragic Russian couple.
Last weekend, while Boxwell and Sears were visiting his parents at their Cooperstown, N.Y., home, where Austin Sears works in summer theater, Boxwell read “My Sergei,” Gordeeva's touching tribute to her husband, who died of a heart attack during practice in 1995.
“It's so macabre,” said Margarita Sears, a Russian herself. “We loved the skating of Gordeeva and Grinkov. We always analyzed that and the kids learned from that. Their eyes were like G&G. Then Katie was reading that book all weekend. Little did it come to mind what would happen.”
It was agony for Gordeeva to return to the ice after her husband's death. Boxwell will have to find her own way to go on. It's too early, she said, to talk about her friend and partner.
“It's not time,” she said. “I'm just not comfortable yet.”
———
Steve Wilstein is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at swilstein@ap.org
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Figure skater's death at 20 stuns family, partner
