Dick Button, an Olympic champion figure skater who became one of the voices of the sport for decades, died Thursday at age 95 in North Salem, New York.
Button became the first U.S. skater and youngest American man to capture Olympic gold in 1948 at age 18, then successfully defending his title in 1952. He is the only U.S. figure skater to win two Olympic gold medals and was the first competitor to land a double axel and a triple jump. Button also won seven U.S. championships from 1946–1952 and five world titles from 1948–1952.
He entered the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1976 and the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2015.
“He was the guy that changed the sport forever,” Scott Hamilton, another U.S. skater who won Olympic gold in 1984, said last year in an interview posted by U.S. Figure Skating. “So many people that came after him learned from him ... His presence and his greatness and the explosive nature of his athletic ability was beyond spectacular. And he did it all outdoors—all of it outdoors. I can’t even imagine skating at that level, outdoors, and he did it in 1948 all the way through 1952.”
U.S. Figure Skating posted online Thursday a tribute to “the legendary Dick Button. The two-time Olympic champion’s pioneering style & award-winning television commentary revolutionized figure skating. His legacy will live on forever. We extend our deepest condolences to his family & loved ones.”
Button, a Harvard-educated New Jersey native, went on from his skating career to become a beloved and decorated broadcaster. After first working for CBS, he moved to ABC in 1962 and remained there for decades, winning an Emmy in 1991 for Outstanding Sports Personality.
In addition to serving as an authoritative voice on figure skating broadcasts, Button founded the popular television reality show “The Superstars” in 1973, with athletes squaring off against one another in multiple sports. A spinoff, “Battle of the Network Stars,” with actors engaging in multi-sport competition, was another big hit.
“No other figure skater embodies the sport as much as Dick Button,” 1998 Olympic champion Tara Lipinski said in 2015. “He is, and always will be, the godfather of this sport.”
