Dick Button

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Olympic medal record
Figure skating
Gold	1948 St. Moritz	Men's singles
Gold	1952 Oslo	Men's singles

Richard Totten "Dick" Button (born July 18, 1929 in Englewood, New Jersey) is an American former figure skater and a well-known long-time skating television analyst.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Push Dick's Button 3 Firsts 4 Competitive highlights 5 See also 6 References 7 External links 8 Navigation

[edit] Biography

Button was a five-time world champion from 1948 to 1952 and won the gold medal at the 1948 and 1952 Winter Olympics. In 1949, he won the Sullivan Award as the outstanding amateur athlete in the United States. He won an Emmy Award in 1981 for Outstanding Sports Personality – Analyst.^[1]

Button was the first skater to successfully land the double axel jump in competition (in 1948, although on the video it appears he did not complete the full rotation), as well as the first triple jump of any kind -- a triple loop -- in 1952. He also invented the flying camel spin, which was originally known as the "Button camel".^[2]

After his competitive skating career ended, Button toured with Ice Capades and Holiday on Ice, and completed a law degree at Harvard University.^[3]

He has been a figure skating analyst for ABC Sports since 1962. During ABC's coverage of Olympics in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s Button became the sport's best-known analyst, well known for his frank and often caustic appraisal of skaters' performances. Although other U.S. television networks aired the Winter Olympics from the 1990s onward, Button still appeared on ABC's broadcasts of the U.S. and World Figure Skating Championships. During the 2006 Games (covered by NBC), Button appeared on loan from ABC to once again commentate on the Olympics.

As founder of Candid Productions, he created a variety of made-for-television sports events, including the World Professional Figure Skating Championships as well as other non-skating sports events such as Superstars.^[4]

Button was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1976.

In 1975, Button married figure skating coach Slavka Kohout, but they later divorced. ^[5]

Button suffered a serious head injury on July 5, 1978 when he was one of several men randomly assaulted in Central Park by a gang of youths armed with baseball bats and tree branches in a gay bashing incident. According to reports in the New York Times, Button had been jogging in the park near his home and was attacked while he was watching a dusk fireworks display. The assailants were later apprehended.^{[6] [7]}

[edit] Push Dick's Button

During the 2006 Winter Olympics, USA Network ran a show called Olympic Ice. A recurring segment invited viewers to send in questions and Dick Button would answer them on the air. Originally, Mary Carillo would read the questions and Button would respond. Questions included the current whereabouts of fan favorite Angela Nikodinov and who invented the Beillmann spin. The questions and Button's responses often ran humorous. Towards the end, Olympic Ice invited skaters, such as Kimmie Meissner and Johnny Weir, to ask questions. They were introduced as "NAME" from "TRAINING CITY", so that it was not apparent that the question was to come from the skaters until the camera panned to them.

This segment proved very popular, and ABC and ESPN have continued it, putting it into various broadcasts, most notably Skate America, the 2007 United States Figure Skating Championships, and the 2007 World Figure Skating Championships. At Nationals, all questions were asked by skaters, and featured Brian Boitano, Rosalynn Sumners, and Scott Hamilton. At Worlds, the questions were asked by Tanith Belbin & Benjamin Agosto and Jeffrey Buttle during the OD, Kimmie Meissner and Alissa Czisny during the Ladies free, and Meryl Davis & Charlie White during the exhibition.

[edit] Firsts

• First skater to land a double axel.
• First skater to land a triple jump (a triple loop)
• 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 man to win the European title.
• 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.
• First and only male skater to simultaneously hold all the following titles: National, North American, European, Worlds, and Olympics.
• Youngest man to win the Olympic title in figure skating (age 18).^[8]

[edit] Competitive highlights

Event/Season	1946	1947	1948	1949	1950	1951	1952
U.S. Championships	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st
North American Championships	-	1st	-	1st	-	1st	-
European Championships	-	-	1st	-	-	-	-
World Championships	-	2nd	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st
Winter Olympics	-	-	1st	-	-	-	1st

[edit] See also

• List of Olympic medalists in figure skating
• European Figure Skating Championships

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.abcmedianet.com/shows05/sports/commentators/button.shtml
2. ^ Dick Button, Dick Button on Skates
3. ^ http://www.abcmedianet.com/shows05/sports/commentators/button.shtml
4. ^ http://www.abcmedianet.com/shows05/sports/commentators/button.shtml
5. ^ Scott Hamilton, Landing It. ISBN 1-57566-466-6
6. ^ New York Times, July 7, 1978; July 8, 1978; July 9, 1978; July 13, 1978; July 14, 1978
7. ^ http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/SkateFans/message/106545
8. ^ http://www.usoc.org/26_597.htm

[edit] External links

• ABC Sports biography of Dick Button
• Dick Button's U.S. Olympic Team bio
• Olympic.org Video: Dick Button lands the first double axel

[edit] Navigation

Persondata
NAME	Button, Dick
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Button, Richard
SHORT DESCRIPTION	United States figure skater and analyst
DATE OF BIRTH	July 18, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH	Englewood, New Jersey
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH