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

NEW YORK — 

Dick Button was much than the astir accomplished men's fig skater successful history. He was 1 of his sport's top innovators and promoters.

Button, victor of 2 Olympic golden medals and 5 consecutive satellite championships, died Thursday, said his son, Edward, who did not supply a cause. He was 95.

As an entrepreneur and broadcaster, Button promoted skating and its athletes, transforming a niche athletics into the showpiece of each Winter Olympics.

"Dick was 1 of the astir important figures successful our sport," Scott Hamilton said. "There wasn't a skater aft Dick who wasn't helped by him successful immoderate way."

Button's interaction began aft World War II. He was the archetypal U.S. men's champion — and his country's youngest astatine property 16 — erstwhile that contention returned successful 1946. Two years later, helium took the rubric astatine the St. Moritz Olympics, competing outdoors. He performed the archetypal treble axel successful immoderate contention and became the archetypal American to triumph the men's event.

"By the way, that leap had a cheat connected it," Button told the U.S. Olympic Committee website. "But listen, I did it and that was what counted."

That began his dominance of planetary skating, and U.S. amateur sports. He was the archetypal fig skater to triumph the prestigious Sullivan Award successful 1949 — nary different fig skater won it until Michelle Kwan successful 2001.

In 1952, portion a Harvard student, helium won a 2nd golden astatine the Oslo Games, making much past with the archetypal triple leap (a loop) successful competition. Soon after, helium won a 5th satellite title, past gave up his eligibility arsenic an amateur. All Olympic sports were taxable to an amateur/professional part astatine the time.

"I had achieved everything I could person dreamed of doing arsenic a skater," said Button, who earned a instrumentality grade from Harvard successful 1956. "I was capable to bask the Ice Capades (show) and support my manus successful skating, and that was precise important to me."

With the Emmy Award-winning Button arsenic the TV analyst, viewers got to larn not lone the basics but the nuances of a athletics overseas to galore arsenic helium frankly broke down the performances. He became arsenic overmuch a fixture connected ABC's Wide World of Sports arsenic Jim McKay and the hapless skis jumper tumbling down the slope.

"Dick Button is the custodian of the past of fig skating and its quintessential voice," 1988 Olympic champion Brian Boitano said successful Button's autobiography. "He made the words 'lutz' and 'salchow' portion of our mundane vocabulary."

After a 1961 level clang killed the full U.S. fig skating squad connected the mode to the satellite championships, which past were canceled, Button persuaded ABC Sports enforcement Roone Arledge to televise the 1962 lawsuit connected Wide World. That's erstwhile helium joined the web arsenic a commentator.

Button's decease coincided with different calamity successful the skating world, Wednesday night's clang of an American Airlines formation that collided with an Army chopper and plummeted into the Potomac River extracurricular Washington, D.C., sidesplitting everyone connected board. Two teenage fig skaters, their mothers, and 2 erstwhile satellite champions who were coaching astatine the Skating Club of Boston were among the 14 radical killed from the skating community.

Button skated for the Boston nine and remained adjacent to it for the remainder of his life. The trophy country astatine the nine is named successful his honor.

He besides provided opportunities for skaters to marque wealth aft their competitory careers. He ran nonrecreational events helium created for TV for years, attracting galore apical names successful the athletics — Hamilton, Torvill and Dean, Kristi Yamaguchi, Kurt Browning and Katarina Witt.

Button's Candid Productions, formed 1959, besides produced specified made-for-TV programs arsenic Battle of the Network Stars. He besides dabbled successful acting, but the rink was his realm.

"Dick Button created an unfastened and honorable abstraction successful fig skating broadcasting wherever nary taxable oregon infinitesimal was off-limits," said Johnny Weir, the three-time U.S. champion and existent NBC Sports fig skating analyst. "He told it similar it was, adjacent erstwhile his sentiment wasn't a fashionable one. His zingers were ever successful my caput erstwhile I would execute for him, and I wanted to marque him arsenic blessed and arrogant arsenic I would my coaches.

"I deliberation that is thing precise peculiar astir commentating fig skating. As an athlete, we seldom person an accidental to speak, and we trust connected the TV voices to archer our communicative for us. Nobody could bash it similar Mr. Button."