Dick Button
Dick Button | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Philadelphia SC & HS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Retired | 1952 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Richard Totten Button (born July 18, 1929)
Early life
Button was born and raised in Englewood, New Jersey.[4][5] He graduated in 1947 from the Englewood School for Boys (now Dwight-Englewood School).[6] He began skating at an early age but did not begin training seriously until the age of 12, after his father overheard him being told he would never be a good skater.[2] The father sent Button to Lake Placid, New York to train with coach Gus Lussi.[7]
Career
Amateur
Early competitions
In his first competition, the 1943 Eastern States Novice Championship, Button finished second to
1947 World Championships
At the 1947 World Championships, Button was second behind rival Hans Gerschwiler following the compulsory figures part of the competition, with 34.9 points separating them.[2] He won the free skating portion, but Gerschwiler had the majority of first places from the judges, three to Button's two.[2] Button won the silver medal at his first World Championships. It was the last time he placed lower than first in competition. At the competition, Button was befriended by Ulrich Salchow. Salchow, who was disappointed when Button did not win, presented him with the first International Cup Salchow had won in 1901.[2] Button later passed on this trophy to John Misha Petkevich following the 1972 Olympics and World Championships.[8] Acknowledging that Gerschwiler had a better understanding of outdoor ice, Button decided to spend some time training outdoors on the Lake Placid club tennis courts.[9]
1948 European Championships
Button faced Gerschwiler again at the 1948 European Championships. Button led after figures in points, having 749 points to Gerschwiler's 747.8, but Gerschwiler led in placings, with 14 to Button's 15.[2] During the free skating, Button performed his Olympic program for the first time. He won, with 11 placings to Gerschwiler's 18.[2] Following this year, when North Americans took home the men's and ladies' titles, non-Europeans were no longer allowed to enter into the European Championships. Button is the only American to have won the European Championships.[2]
1948 Olympic Gold medal
At the 1948 Winter Olympics, Button led Gerschwiler by a 29.6 point lead following the figures portion of the competition, having won four of the five figures.[2] Button had been attempting the double Axel jump in practice but had never landed it. In practice on the day before the free skating event, Button landed one in practice for the first time. He decided to put it into his free skating for the next day. Button landed it in competition,[10] becoming the first skater in the world to do so. Button received eight firsts and two seconds, for a total of 10 places. Gerschwiler had 23.[2] That combined with the figures results gave Button the gold medal. [5][11][12] He became, and remains, the youngest man to win the Olympic gold in figure skating.[13] As of 2022, he remains the last living male winner of 1948 Winter Olympics.
1948 World Championships
Button went on to win the 1948 World Championships, where he faced Gerschwiler for the last time. Button won the event. At the time, the U.S. Championships were held after the World Championships, and Button finished his season by defending his national title. In February 1948, Button, his coach, and his mother were in Prague to perform an exhibition. They were stranded there after the Communist uprising and had to be extracted by the U.S. Army.[2] In 1949, Button won the Sullivan Award as the outstanding amateur athlete in the United States. He is one of only two male figure skaters to win this award. Evan Lysacek is the other.[13]
College years
Button had intended to attend
As reigning and defending champion, as well as being the first skater to perform a double Axel and a flying camel, Button was under pressure to perform a new jump or spin every season. In 1949, he performed a 2Lo-2Lo combination. He was the winner of the James E. Sullivan Award as the top U.S. amateur athlete of 1949, becoming the first figure skater to win the award. In 1950, he performed the 2Lo-2Lo-2Lo. In 1951, he performed a 2A-2Lo combination and a 2A-2A sequence.[2] For the 1952 Winter Olympics, Button and Lussi began working on a triple jump. They settled on training the triple loop. Button landed it for the first time in practice in December 1951 at the Skating Club of Boston, and for the first time in exhibition in Vienna following the European Championships.[2]
1952 Olympic Gold medal
At the
Professional
Button decided to enter Harvard Law School in the fall of 1952. Because of the time commitments, Button retired from amateur skating that year to focus on law school.[2] He completed a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree in 1956[14] and was admitted to the bar in Washington, D.C.[13]
Following his retirement from competition, Button signed on to skate with the Ice Capades during his law school vacations. He toured with Holiday on Ice. He co-produced "Dick Button's Ice-Travaganza" for the 1964 New York World's Fair, starring 1963 World Champion Donald McPherson, but the ice show lost money and closed after a few months.
As founder of Candid Productions, he created a variety of made-for-television sports events, including the
Button provided commentary for CBS's broadcast of the
According to writer and figure skating historian Ellyn Kestnbaum, Button "in effect educated [an] entire generation in how to watch skating", viewers who had never viewed the sport as live spectators before seeing it on television.[15]
During the
Personal life
Button's television skating debut came on We the People on April 11, 1952, when he skated on the rink at Rockefeller Center.[16] He was a guest on the TV show I've Got A Secret as one of five former Olympic champions which aired October 13, 1954. In 1975, Button married figure skating coach Slavka Kohout; the couple later divorced.[17] Button lives in North Salem, New York as of 2013.[18][19] He was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1976, the same year it was founded.[20]
Button suffered a serious head injury on July 5, 1978,[21] when he was one of several men assaulted in Central Park by a gang of youths armed with baseball bats.[22] Three persons were subsequently convicted of assault for the attacks. News accounts and trial testimony indicated the assailants were intending to target gay people, but the victims were attacked at random, and that because of the random nature of the attacks "... the police said there was no reason to believe the victims were homosexual."[23]
On December 31, 2000, Button was skating at a public rink in New York State when he fell, fracturing his skull and causing a serious brain injury.[24] He recovered and became a national spokesman for the Brain Injury Association of America[25] as well as continuing his Emmy Award–winning commentary on broadcasts of the Olympic Games and on various figure-skating television shows.
Firsts
- First skater to land a double Axel[13]
- First skater to land a triple jump (a triple loop)[13]
- First male skater to perform the camel spin and inventor of the flying camel spin (also known as the Button Camel, after him)
- Only American to win the European title[2]
- First American World Champion
- First American to win the Olympic title in figure skating
- First and only American back-to-back Olympic champion in figure skating[13]
- First and only male skater to simultaneously hold all the following titles:
- Youngest man to win the Olympic title in figure skating (age 18)[13]
Results
Season | 1944 | 1945 | 1946 | 1947 | 1948 | 1949 | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Winter Olympics | 1st | 1st | |||||||
World Championships | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | |||
European Championships | 1st | ||||||||
North American Championships | 1st | 1st | 1st | ||||||
U.S. Championships | 1st N | 1st J | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st |
See also
References
- ^ "Famous birthdays for July 18: Vin Diesel, Kristen Bell". United Press International. July 18, 2019. Archived from the original on July 19, 2019. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
Gold medal ice skater Dick Button in 1929 (age 90)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Button, Dick (1955). Dick Button on Skates. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. pp. 40–41. Catalog Card No. 55-12069.
- ISBN 0-8195-6641-1.
- ^ "Dick Button". encyclopedia.com.
- ^ a b c "Dick Button". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on July 2, 2017.
- ^ Richard "Dick" Button, Dwight-Englewood School. Accessed June 14, 2018.
- ^ Sausa, Christie (2012). Lake Placid Figure Skating. A History. History Press. pp. 42–43.
- ISBN 1-56800-070-7.
- ^ Rosen, Karen (February 5, 2018). "Dick Button Reflects On First Olympic Gold Medal 70 Years Later And State Of Figure Skating Today". teamusa.org. Archived from the original on February 7, 2018.
- ^ "Dick Button lands the first double Axel". Olympic.org.
- ^ Wright, Benjamin T. (January 2009). "Button Brings It". Skating. pp. 32–33.
- ^ "Richard Button". Olympic.org.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "United States Olympic Committee – Button, Richard T. (Dick)". Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved September 6, 2007.
- ^ a b c "ABC SPORTS COMMENTATOR: Dick Button". Archived from the original on April 4, 2007. Retrieved September 6, 2007.
- ^ Kestnbaum, p. 109
- Newspapers.com.
- ISBN 1-57566-466-6.
- ^ "Ranking the Rink". The Washington Post. February 11, 2006.
- ^ Cary, Bill (September 6, 2013). "Dick Button's garden glory: Open Days opened over weekend". lohud.com. Gannett. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
- ^ "Official Site World Figure Skating Museum and Hall of Fame: Hall of Fame Members". Archived from the original on September 5, 2007. Retrieved September 6, 2007.
- ^ Doug Ireland (July 24, 1978). "Rendezvous in the Ramble". New York. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
- ^ Donald G. McNeil Jr. (July 13, 1978). "5 Are Arrested in Club Attack in Central Park". The New York Times. p. A1. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
- ^ Charles Kaiser (October 17, 1979). "3 Sentenced in Attack Using Bats Against 6 In Central Park in '78". The New York Times. p. B2. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
- ^ Sandomir, Richard (February 15, 2006). "Dick Button Now Back on the Stage He Loves". The New York Times. Retrieved February 15, 2010.
- ^ "Brain Injury Awareness Month". Brain Injury Association of America. Archived from the original on January 28, 2010. Retrieved February 15, 2010.
External links
Media related to Dick Button at Wikimedia Commons
- Dick Button at the Team USA Hall of Fame (archive July 20, 2023)
- Dick Button at Olympics.com
- Dick Button at Olympedia
- Dick Button at IMDb