U.S. Skating Championships : When Bowman Takes the Ice, It’s All a Stunt

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —  You may have seen him in a Luke Skywalker get-up, assuring you that “I’m making the galaxy safe for humanity.” That was Christopher Bowman in a commercial for Tomy Toys.

You may have seen him in your neighborhood in Van Nuys, leaping off garages and crashing into trees on his bicycle. That was Christopher Bowman doing his Lee Majors “Fall Guy” impersonation.

You may even have seen him flying across a patch of ice, a swatch of power, grace and beauty. That would be Bowman the champion figure skater.

All those Bowmans--television actor, budding stuntman, elite skater--are rolled into one. But this week it is the skater who commands center stage as he competes in the 1985 U.S. Figure Skating Championships here at Kemper Arena.

Bowman, 17, who grew up in Van Nuys, was 10th after the compulsory figures Wednesday in the first round of senior men’s competition. The compulsory figures are worth 30% of a skater’s total score. The short free-skating program today is worth 20% and the long program on Friday is 50% of the final score.

Other Valley skaters at the competition include:

--Veteran Mark Cockerell of Burbank, winner of the 1985 Pacific Coast Sectional competition that qualified skaters for the national event. He was second after the compulsory figures.

Cockerell, 22, who is in his ninth U.S. Nationals competition, is expected to challenge Brian Boitano of Sunnyvale, Calif., for the U.S. senior men’s title.

--Sharon Barker of Woodland Hills, a ninth-grader at Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies. She is competing in the junior ladies category, which begins today with compulsory figures. The junior ladies short program is Friday and the long program is Saturday.

--Lori Blasko of Westlake Village and Todd Sand of Panorama City. They came in third in the junior pairs event completed Wednesday.

Bowman, Cockerell and Barker are all from the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club of Burbank.

It is something of a wonder that Bowman made it this far in skating. His first calling seemed to be acting. About 16 years ago, friends told Joyce and Nelson Bowman, Christopher’s mother and father, about a TV show called “The Good Guys” that was looking for a baby for its billboard advertisements. Joyce submitted Christopher’s photograph to the network, then forgot about it.

Five years later, she said, the network called and told her Christopher’s file had been pulled. Some production executives wanted him to become a child actor.

Since then, Bowman has appeared as Benjamin, a blind youth, on “Little House on the Prairie,” and on “Archie Bunker’s Place.”

He has also appeared in what he described as “hundreds” of commercials. Prominent among them have been spots for McDonald’s, Burger King, Pepsi and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

“I’ve never taken drama lessons, it’s just a hobby,” said Bowman. Although he has had speaking parts in commercials, such as the Tomy Toys job, part of his appeal, he said, has rested in “looking average.” Because he has become somewhat recognizable as a personality, he said, his career in commercials has faltered.

No matter. He said he doesn’t want to pursue an acting career anyway. He wants to become a stuntman.

He first got the bug by leaping off garages and out of trees and leaving his bicycle in a twisted heap after attempting impossible jumps. Now Bowman walks around the skating arena in a jacket with “Stunts Unlimited” emblazoned on the back. It was given to him by Gary Davis, a professional stuntman who has appeared on TV’s “Scarecrow and Mrs. King” amd “CHiPs.”

Bowman met Davis through his agent, Toby Vargas, who is a longtime friend of the Bowman family, Christopher said. Since meeting him, Bowman has tagged along with Davis on movie lots to begin to learn the ropes.

“It’s something I’d like to get into someday--I want that to be my future career,” said Bowman. “But nothing too dangerous.”

Rolling her eyes, his mother said: “ ‘Just a few car rolls,’ he says. I guess you have to have something to supplement the skating.”

Bowman has a few other “somethings,” including a form of martial arts called ninjitsu--”the way of the ninja.” Inspired by James Bond movies, he has trained for the last year at Dux Ninjitsu Studio in North Hollywood.

All of those interests, however, have taken a back seat to his skating so far. It has been the main thing in his life since age 6, when his parents enrolled him a shopping center tiny-tots class.

“I was hooked right away,” he said.

After his parents saw Christopher advance and become more enthusiastic, their own interest declined.

“It was a hard struggle for us,” said Joyce. “We tried to get him out of skating. We even promised him a horse if he would give it up. I wanted a baseball player. He was so cute in a Little League uniform.”

But Nelson took two jobs to earn enough to support Christopher--and his son has risen steadily up the skating ladder.

In 1983, he won the U.S. Junior Men’s championship and also the Junior Worlds. In 1984, he was first in the Southwest Pacific regional senior men’s, second in the Pacific Coast sectional senior men’s and ninth in the nationals. He also took third in an international competition, the Argon Cup in Holland.

This year, he took second in the Pacific Coast sectional behind Cockerell. Although Bowman is 10th in this year’s nationals, he beat Cockerell in the freestyle portion of the Pacific Coasts and also beat Boitano in freestyle in the 1984 Pacific Coast competition. Now, he says, he is practicing patience--a virtue often in short supply among young skaters.

“Too many skaters want to try to do in two years what Brian Boitano and Scott Hamilton did in 10,” he said. Hamilton, who was four-time U.S. Senior men’s champion and 1984 Olympic gold medalist, retired from the amateur ranks last year at age 24. Boitano is 21.

“I am sure Brian is going to be our next champion,” said Bowman. “He’s a wonderful skater who’s been at it a long time. “As for me, I’m really only concerned about my own performance because everything’s so far out of the skater’s hands.”

He feels his other two pastimes--acting and doing stunts--have combined to make him a bolder, go-for-it, free skater and also given him presence on the ice.

“One thing that sets a great skater apart is ability to please a crowd, so the acting experience definitely is part of my program,” he said. “I’ve gotten to be more daring in my routines because of my interest in becoming a stuntman.”

He added: “I’ve learned to be myself, be natural--display outgoing energy and charisma.”

Gib Twyman is a sports writer for the Kansas City Star.