Former figure skater, local bar owner ‘had that incredible drive to do things’

After decades traveling the world as a professional figure skater and running her own bar in Colorado Springs, Jeanne “Jinx” Clark would not readily take no for an answer.

Two years ago, while making plans to travel from Lamar to Las Vegas for a Champions on Ice reunion, an airline ticket agent said she could not fly with the oxygen bottle she needed, remembered Pat Palmer, who married one of Clark’s cousins.

Despite failing health and a rickety car, Clark drove herself to the reunion, then returned feeling victorious: “There, I showed those SOBs,” Palmer remembered her saying.

Clark died Sunday because of complications from emphysema. She was 78.

“She had that incredible drive to do things,” said Jack Raffloer, a lifelong friend and fellow figure skater.

Born in Lamar, Clark started skating while her mother was working in Colorado Springs at the Broadmoor Ice Palace. She quickly advanced as a skater, and she started touring as a 17-year-old with Sonja Henie’s Hollywood Ice Review.

“Jinx was the most beautiful young lady you could know,” said Raffloer, comparing her looks to those of Ava Gardner. Raffloer toured with Clark for several years at the beginning of her career. “They were preparing Jinx for stardom,” Raffloer said.

Later, she toured with Holiday on Ice throughout the 1950s and early 1960s.

“She mesmerized a crowd,” said Tom Collins, who skated with Clark and is now president of Champions on Ice, a company that produces shows across the country featuring world-class skaters. “When she was on the ice, you couldn’t take your eyes off her.”

After 22 years as a professional skater, Clark returned to Colorado Springs, opening Jinx’s Place in 1970.

The bar, on the first floor of a home for the elderly at Platte Avenue and Tejon Street, was a festive place, decorated year-round with Christmas trees and ornaments Clark and her mother crafted from old skating costumes. Each year, she served Christmas and Thanksgiving meals at the bar for seniors in need.

It was also a tough place. In 1985, a customer was shot during an attempted robbery that ended with patrons overpowering two gunmen.

Afterward, Clark told The Gazette the robbery attempt showed the uncommon camaraderie in the bar.

“When you’re staring into the long barrel of a .38, honey, your mind gets acutely sharp,” Clark said.

In 1989, Clark moved her bar to a new location on South Nevada Avenue after the Colorado Springs Housing Authority took over the space her bar occupied for nearly 20 years.

The bar did not last in its new location, closing in November 1990. Clark later returned to Lamar to be with her family.

Clark is survived by many cousins but no other family, Palmer said. She never had children, and those close to her disagree about how many times she married. Palmer could think of two marriages. Raffloer put the number at four but could only recall three of those, listing marriages to a concert pianist, a professional water skier and a rancher.

Clark had a “strong personality,” Raffloer said. She used to carry a handgun and would go target shooting with the police chief.

But she wasn’t tough or crude, Raffloer said.

“She was a lady in every sense of the word,” he said.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 476-4813 or anthony.lane@gazette.com