Nathaniel William Niles was an avid single and pairs figure skater and also tennis player. In the singles and pairs events, he competed in three Olympic Winter Games each. In his only World Championship in 1928 he finished 10th and in last place. Domestically, he became US champion in the singles in 1918, 1925 and 1927. Niles was more successful in the pairs together with his partner Theresa Weld-Blanchard. They were American champions in 1918 and consecutively 1920-1927. Together, they also won five national titles in ice dancing. Internationally, they competed in three World Championships placing seventh in 1928, sixth in 1930 and eighth in 1932.
As a tennis player, Niles was NCAA champion while being enrolled at Harvard University. 1904-1926, he entered 23 consecutive US Open tournaments winning the mixed title at the US Open in 1908 with Edith Eliot Rotch, herself a good skater and for some time partner of Sherwin Badger. In 1917 he lost the final in the men’s singles against Lindley Murray in four sets. A member of the New England Tennis Hall of Fame, Niles died at the age of only 46, just a few months after competing in the World Figure Skating Championships.
United States