"This is not the story of this little rich boy that made it good in the sport." -- Todd Eldredge's mother, Ruth.

After U.S. figure skater Todd Eldredge won the national novice championship in 1985, things couldn't have looked worse.

It meant

Residents of his hometown helped pave the way for Todd Eldredge. Now, he wants to repay them with Olympic gold. (Allsport)

that he was ready for the next level, the juniors, and that meant more training, coaching, touring and cash. It was money that his father, a commercial fisherman, and his mother, a nurse, didn't have.

"THINGS STARTED TO GET A LITTLE OUT of hand, money-wise. Things looked a little bleak," Eldredge said. "In fact, they looked more than bleak."

That's when his hometown of Chatham, Mass., a seaside town of vintage saltbox Cape Cod homes, pitched in. Friends raised money with door-to-door pledges, clambakes -- one featured Dorothy Hamill -- and holiday parties.

"We got involved because they (the Eldredge family) got to a point where they just ran out of bucks, and the question was that if we can't find some (money) out there, they've just got to bring him home," said Norman Howes, a family friend who helped start the Chatham Youth Hockey/Todd Eldredge Fund.

"This is a piece of Americana, the kind of things that communities used to do," Howes said. "There's someone in your midst with a special talent and you pull together to help out. It's one of the wonderful things about living in a small town."

WITH THE HELP OF THE TOWN'S SEASONAL residents -- Chatham's summer population increases to 25,000 -- the organization raised $250,000 in 12 years.

What an investment.

In 1990, at 18, Eldredge became the youngest U.S. men's champion in 24 years. He won again in 1991 and earned a bronze at the 1991 World Championships in Munich.

"When Todd won the medal in Munich, it wasn't just our victory, but the whole town's," said his mother, Ruth. "We couldn't support him anymore, so the community has, and has made it like one big family."

His father agrees.

"Thank God for these people," John Eldredge said. "We could never have kept it up. It would have buried me. Without them, there is no way Todd would be skating today."

CHATHAM'S HOMETOWN BOY WON AT THE U.S. Championships in 1995 and '96; the Skate America competition in '95 and '96; and the World Championships in Edmonton in '96.

After the Edmonton medal, he donated $10,000 to his hometown's youth skating program.

Howes, who has watched Eldredge excel at every level during the past 12 years, said the success is well-deserved.

"It soon became evident that we were dealing with someone special here," Howes said, "not only in his talent, but he's a nice guy. All of this doesn't go to his head."

After receiving the gold medal in Edmonton, Eldredge skated over to his mother and placed it around her neck. But he knows what's missing.

"I've won the Nationals and the Worlds now, but I don't have that Olympic medal. That's tops on my list of priorities," he said.

THAT MEANS GOING HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH Canada's Elvis Stojko, who edged him out for the gold medal at the 1997 World Championships by landing a "quad" -- a four-rotation jump.

Eldredge, who has had back problems, is training in Michigan with longtime coach Richard Callaghan. They both know that the flamboyant Stojko is often a fan favorite.

"(Eldredge) is not a showman," Callaghan said. "He's an athlete first."

An athlete who hopes to pave his town in Olympic gold.

"It's a small town where everybody knows everybody, but how do you ever thank or repay something like that?" Eldredge said. "I owe so much to so many. Maybe the only way to repay them is to pull my end of the bargain in skating."