Dick Button was greater than one of the most established males’s number skater in background. He was just one of his sporting activity’s terrific pioneers and marketers, the male liable not just for designing the flying camel spin however defining it to generations of followers.
He was a professional athlete and star, a broadcaster and business owner.
“Dick was one of the most important figures in our sport,” stated Scott Hamilton, the 1984 Olympic champ. “There wasn’t a skater after Dick who wasn’t helped by him in some way.”
The champion of 2 Olympic gold medals and 5 successive globe champions, Button passed away Thursday in North Salem, New York, at age 95. His fatality was validated by his kid, Edward, that did not offer a reason, though Button had actually remained in decreasing wellness.
“The two-time Olympic champion’s pioneering style and award-winning television commentary revolutionized figure skating,” UNITED STATE Figure Skating stated. “His legacy will live on forever. We extend our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones.
His death further shook a tight-knit figure skating community already reeling from Wednesday night’s crash of an American Airlines flight and an Army helicopter outside Washington, D.C., that killed everyone on board. Two teenage skaters, their mothers and two former world champions who were coaching at the Skating Club of Boston — where Button also skated and which he remained close to the rest of his life — were among the 14 people killed from the skating community.
The trophy room at the Skating Club of Boston is named in Button’s honour, and the club has hosted the Dick Button Artistic Figure Skating Showcase, which is designed to promote the beauty and innovation of skating as an art form.
Button’s impact on figure skating began after World War II. He was the first U.S. men’s champion — and his country’s youngest at the time at age 16 — when the competition returned in 1946. Two years later, he took gold at the St. Moritz Olympics, back when the competitions were staged outdoors. He performed the first double axel in any competition and became the first American to win the men’s event, paving the way for future champions such as Hamilton, Brian Boitano and Nathan Chen.
“By the means, that leap had a rip off on it,” Button once said. “But pay attention, I did it which was what counted.”
That first Olympic title began his dominance of international skating, and U.S. amateur sports in general. He was the first figure skater to win the prestigious Sullivan Award in 1949 — no other figure skater won it until Michelle Kwan in 2001.
In 1952, while still a student at Harvard, Button won a second gold at the Oslo Games, making more history with the first triple jump (a loop) in competition. Soon after, he won a fifth world title, then gave up his eligibility as an amateur to perform in shows; all Olympic sports were subject to an amateur-professional division at the time.
” I had actually accomplished whatever I can have imagined doing as a skater,” said Button, who had earned a law degree from Harvard in 1956. ” I had the ability to delight in the Ice Capades and maintain my hand in skating, which was really crucial to me.”
With a frank and often brutally honest style, Button became an Emmy Award-winning TV analyst, helping viewers learn not only the basics but also the nuances of a sport unfamiliar to most casual fans. He became as much a fixture on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” as Jim McKay and the hapless ski jumper that went tumbling down the slope.
“Dick Button is the custodian of the background of number skating and its essential voice,” Boitano, the 1988 Olympic champion, said in Button’s autobiography. “He made words ‘lutz’ and ‘salchow’ component of our daily vocabulary.”
After the 1961 plane crash that killed the entire U.S. figure skating team on the way to the world championships, which then were cancelled, Button persuaded ABC Sports executive Roone Arledge to televise the 1962 event on “Wide World” That’s when he joined the network as a commentator, and took figure skating to a mainstream television audience.
Button later ran professional events that provided skaters an avenue to profit from their ability once their competitive careers were over. The World Professional Figure Skating Championships, the Challenge of Champions and others provided Hamilton, the dance team of Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, Kurt Browning, Katarina Witt and others a new platform to perform.
Button even tried his hand at acting, performing in such shows and films as “The Young Doctors” and “The Bad New Bears Go to Japan.” His studio, Candid Productions, helped to produce made-for-TV programs such as “Battle of the Network Stars.”
“Dick Button developed an open and truthful room in number skating broadcasting where no subject or minute was out-of-bounds,” said Johnny Weir, the three-time U.S. champion and current NBC Sports figure skating analyst. “He informed it like it was, also when his point of view had not been a prominent one. His zingers were constantly in my mind when I would certainly do for him, and I intended to make him as delighted and pleased as I would certainly my trainers.
“That is something very special about commentating figure skating,” Weir stated. “As an athlete, we rarely have an opportunity to speak, and we rely on the TV voices to tell our story for us. Nobody could do it like Mr. Button.”
Button is endured by his long time companion, Dennis Grimaldi, and his 2 kids, Edward and Emily.