Brian Vander Ark is an American singer-songwriter best known as lead singer for the band The Verve Pipe . Debi became the first black athlete to win any medal at the Winter Olympics, and she then won the World Professional Championships, and again two years after that. Ark joined the band His Boy Elroy as a guitarist.[when?] But marketing experts said that besides winning a bronze instead of a gold medal, she did not project the proper image in Calgary. Debi is just fine. All Rights Reserved. A small donation would help us keep this available to all. Thomas signed on with coach Alex McGowan, when she was 10 years old. But Ogden said they turned down some offers and are still entertaining others. She was unable to keep the practice going, and soon after, bills started to mount. So, have you ever wondered how rich Debi Thomas is? Ahead of the 1988 Olympics, which took place in Calgary, Canada, Debi reclaimed once again her title in the U.S Nationals. His first husband was Brian Vander Hogen(1988-96), then she was married to sports attorney Chris Bequette(1996-98), with whom she has a son. Winning both of these titles in the same year earned Thomas the ABCs Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year award in 1986. He said that he did not change; Thomas did. Deborah Janine Thomas, daughter of McKinley Thomas and Janice Skelton, was born in 1967. Sign Up Log In Messenger Facebook Lite Watch Places Games Marketplace Facebook Pay Oculus Portal Instagram Bulletin Local Fundraisers Services Voting Information Center Groups Groups Directory Locations Page Categories People 2. She was previously married to Christopher Bequette and Brian Vanden Hogen. Debi lost her bronze medal to the bank, and she doesnt feel bad about it. They were married a few weeks after the Olympics. Debi Thomas, the former figure skater that became the first black athlete to win a medal at the Winter Olympics, turned into a struggling physician that lost her bronze medal to bankruptcy. In figure skating, the underprivileged are all those whose parents earn less than six figures each year. For her, everything had to be done with excellence.. View the profiles of people named Brian Hogan. Debi Thomas is a figure skater and physician, and the first African American woman to win a medal in the Winter Olympics. I spoke up at the time and reminded her that Mr. Iacocca could afford to be mellow because as a white man his leadership was accepted readily, while in the case of Ms. Thomas, she would be considered a loser no matter what she managed to achieve in life, which was already plenty for several lifetimes. People feel now that they can touch her.. | Photo: GettyImages. document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); Type above and press Enter to search. In June 2005, she graduated from the Orthopedic Residency Program at Charles R. Drew University in Los Angeles. Contribute Who is Brian Vanden Hogen dating? Brian Vander Ark released his first solo album, Resurrection, in May 2003. Man, if that one skate goes differently for her at the 1988 Olympics her whole life would have been dramatically different. I pray that she gets help. In 1991 she graduated from Stanford University with a degree in engineering. Debi graduated from Northwestern in 1997 and continued her medical training to become an orthopedic surgeon with a residency at Charles Drew University Medical Center in Los Angeles. The next year she returned even more ready to turn things around in both events. She said that he convinced her to drop out of Stanford last winter, move to Boulder, Colo., and devote all of her energy to preparing for the Olympics. He left before the exhibition ended. That same year she also won the Ladies title at the 1986 World Figure Skating Championships in Geneva, Switzerland. Help us build our profile of Brian Vanden Hogen! ''My husband will travel with me to some of the upcoming skating exhibitions. Brian Vander Ark is an American singer-songwriter best known as lead singer for the band The Verve Pipe. Graduated from Northwestern Medical School (1997), Graduated from Stanford University with a degree in engineering, On the cover of Time magazine (February 15, 1988). What would she need to do to be accepted and respected? Currently, she is engaged toJamie Looney, and she adopted his two sons. Her only deal is with MacMillan books. There will be a tour of Europe following the world championships and then there will be another tour in the United States until June. The first black skater to win a U.S. Thomas attended Stanford University in California while continuing her training in figure skating. Thomas mother, divorced when Debi was a small child, earned considerably less than that as a computer programming analyst in Sunnyvale, Calif. 'I'm facing probably nine years of study - it's like starting skating all over again,' she said. Figure Skating and a World Figure Skating Championship (1986). Categories: USBH Notables, Needs Genealogically Defined | USBH Notables, Needs Photo | US Black Heritage Project, Needs Profiles Created | USBH Notables, Needs More Sources | USBH Notables, Needs Biography | USBH Notables, Needs Connection | Olympians Representing the United States | Olympic Bronze Medalists | US Black Heritage Project Managed Profiles | African-American Notables | Notables, WIKITREE HOME | ABOUT | G2G FORUM | HELP | SEARCH. She was a champion of the underprivileged, which she did not mind so much because it allowed her mother to take some credit. Thomas, a student at Stanford University, said she does not intend to enter show business. Around that time, the father of a patient asked her out. Figure Skating and a World Figure Skating Championship (1986). The gold medal within her grasp, needing only good, not great, scores to win the long program at the Olympic Saddledome and finish ahead of defending champion Katarina Witt of East Germany and Elizabeth Manley of Canada, Thomas gave a disappointing performance and finished third. Anyone can read what you share. Thomas said she has to go back home and work hard for her exams, so she can enter medical school. The couple resides in sout-west Virginia in what is rumoured to be a somewhat difficult relationship. Everyone in your support group has to try and understand what youre going through. In February 1986, she took the senior women's title at the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame. Afterwards Thomas earned an engineering degree at Stanford and then attended medical school at Northwestern University in Illinois and became a physician. BlackPast.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and our EIN is 26-1625373. 'I did not want the news to detract from my focus on the World Championship,' said Thomas, who finished third in the women's event to East Germany's Katarina Witt and Elizabeth Manley of Canada Saturday. In 1997 she graduated from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. My coach really felt that if he could get me out there alone, away from school, that I would be like a robot and do whatever he wanted, she said. Afterward, at a press conference, she did not take responsibility for her failure to win, instead blaming her coach of 10 years. Currently, she is engaged toJamie Looney, and she adopted his two sons. Vander Ark's second solo release, Angel, Put Your Face On, was released in May 2006, followed by a self-titled third record in January 2008, produced by Bill Szymczyk. To speak further of her accomplishments as a figure skater, Debi won the Bronze Medal at the Winter Olympics in Calgary 1988, after which she retired from amateur figure skating, but participated in professional events, including the World Professional Championships in 1988, which she won as a part of the Stars On Ice skating group. Brian Vanden Hogen is currently single. 'I love the sport and I would like to put something back into it, maybe in a center for young athletes, not necessarily skaters. He eventually quit and started the band Johnny with an Eye with his brother, Brad Vander Ark. Please fill in your e-mail so we can share with you our top stories! But in defense of himself, he did say that he coached Thomas no differently last year than he had in years before and that his remarks to her before she skated in Calgary were little different from those he made to her before other performances. In Colorado, all I had to do was skate and skate and skate. Figure Skating Championships becoming the first African American to win a non-novice title. We all are:). Debbie seems like a kind soul but like so many famous people she got lost somehow. She earned her bachelors degree in engineering from Stanford University in 1991 and then retired from skating in 1992 to enroll at the Northwestern University Medical School. In fact, Thomas began a relationship shortly after arriving in Boulder with a University of Colorado student, Brian Vanden Hogen. During the 1988 Winter Olympics, she once again fought with Katarina Witt in what was dubbed as the Battle of the Carmens in which both skaters had the same music Carmen from the Georges Bizet opera. McGowan, who now coaches at a rink outside Detroit, has been reluctant to respond to Thomas comments. We believe that every person's story is important as it provides our community with an opportunity to feel a sense of belonging, share their hopes and dreams. It was the biggest mess Ive ever made, but some people still tell me they think I should have won, she said. Her agent, Jay Ogden of the International Management Group, said that is the reason she seemed so distant during the awards ceremony. Less forgivable was the fact that Thomas, whose greatest attribute besides her athleticism was her competitiveness, all but quit on the ice, going through the motions after it became apparent to her that she was not at her best. According to a February 2016 online article in The Washington Post, she had declared bankruptcy, let her medical license expire, and was living with her fianc in a trailer in rural southern Virginia (see Miscellaneous links). That medal I dont even put it out. By any measure, Debbie Thomas was the most accomplished young woman of any race of her generation. The only other time she had put skating ahead of school, when she was a 13-year-old eighth-grader in San Jose, the result was the most miserable year of her life. 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