Dick Button, Olympic great and voice of skating, dies at 95

Dick Button smiles next to a painting of him while honored at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 4, 2018. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

NEW YORK — Dick Button was more than the most accomplished men’s figure skater in history. He was one of his sport’s great innovators and promoters, the man responsible not only for inventing the flying camel spin but describing it to generations of fans.

He was an athlete and actor, a broadcaster and entrepreneur.

“Dick was one of the most important figures in our sport,” said Scott Hamilton, the 1984 Olympic champion. “There wasn’t a skater after Dick who wasn’t helped by him in some way.”

The winner of two Olympic gold medals and five consecutive world championships, Button died Thursday in North Salem, New York, at age 95. His death was confirmed by his son, Edward, who did not provide a cause, though Button had been in declining health.

“The two-time Olympic champion’s pioneering style and award-winning television commentary revolutionized figure skating,” U.S. Figure Skating said. “His legacy will live on forever. We extend our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones.

His death further shook a tight-knight 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 honor, 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 way, that jump had a cheat on it,” Button once said. “But listen, I did it and that 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 achieved everything I could have dreamed of doing as a skater,” said Button, who had earned a law degree from Harvard in 1956. “I was able to enjoy the Ice Capades and keep my hand in skating, and that was very important 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 history of figure skating and its quintessential voice,” Boitano, the 1988 Olympic champion, said in Button’s autobiography. “He made the words `lutz' and `salchow' part of our everyday 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 canceled, 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 created an open and honest space in figure skating broadcasting where no topic or moment was off-limits,” said Johnny Weir, the three-time U.S. champion and current NBC Sports figure skating analyst. “He told it like it was, even when his opinion wasn’t a popular one. His zingers were always in my mind when I would perform for him, and I wanted to make him as happy and proud as I would my coaches.

“That is something very special about commentating figure skating,” Weir said. “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 survived by his longtime partner, Dennis Grimaldi, and his two children, Edward and Emily.

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By Barry Wilner And Dave Skretta

Skretta reported from Kansas City, Missouri.