There is perhaps no athlete more entwined in the legacy of his sport - and more responsible for its popularity and success - than Dick Button. To track the history of figure skating over the past three quarters of a century is to follow the career trajectory of Button, from two-time Olympic gold medalist in 1948 and 1952 to expert commentator to the definitive voice of the sport for more than 50 years.No other figure skater embodies the sport as much as Dick Button. He is, and always will be, the godfather of this sport, says NBC Sports figure skating analyst and Olympic gold medalist Tara Lipinski. Using his wit, passion, and unfiltered honesty, Dick drew in ever-increasing television audiences whether they were new viewers or dedicated fans. [He] raised the profile of the sport to unprecedented heights showing that figure skating encompasses athleticism, grace, and sometimes, drama.
Button first entered the broadcast booth in 1960, as an expert commentator for CBS's coverage of the Olympic Winter Games in Squaw Valley. CBS had just purchased the national broadcast rights to the Olympic Games - for $50,000 - and needed an expert to work alongside host Bud Palmer who could explain, for example, the difference between an Axel and a Salchow.
I had no idea what I was doing. I had no idea what an expert commentator or television broadcaster was supposed to do. I learned, recalls Button. I was paid $2,000 to go to Squaw Valley and I spent $3,000 on telephone calls back to New York asking everybody, what did you like? What didn't you like? What did you think could be clearer? What did you think was too much? And people told me, and that helped formulate where I was going and what I was doing. I had to learn by doing.
With no precedent to follow, Button not only learned how to be an expert figure skating commentator - he pioneered the role. Thinking that viewers might find it more interesting to hear of a move before it happened, he tracked down skaters and coaches to determine the order of their moves. And after realizing that competitors could not be relied on to repeat the order of their moves with 100% accuracy, he began to watch each program in practice and take copious notes.
A wearer of many hats, Button also served as a TV producer, buying and selling television rights to skating competitions (in later years, he would go on to create several made-for-television competitions like the World Professional Figure Skating Championships). Following the 1961 plane crash that claimed the lives of the U.S. Figure Skating Team and resulted in the cancellation of the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships, Button prevailed upon ABC Sports legendary executive Roone Arledge to include the 1962 Championships in Wide World of Sports.
Thus began Button's decades-long career as a figure-skating analyst for ABC Sports' annual coverage of the U.S. and World Figure Skating Championships; he also served in the same role for almost every Winter Olympic Games (regardless of network) until 2010. Throughout his tenure, Button was well-known for his passion for the sport, his biting wit, his flamboyant and creative turns of phrase, and his honest criticism of each and every skater's performance.
Famed coach Frank Carroll once said, You don't know what it's like until you have been dissected by Dick Button on national television, and while many of the sport's top competitors would agree, most would argue that Button's critique pushed them to do better.
When I was competing, he was always the man. He was the voice, says Scott Hamilton, NBC Sports figure skating analyst and Olympic gold medalist, who shared the booth with Button during the 2006 Winter Games in Torino. I figured out pretty soon that Dick had no interest in diminishing our time on the ice or inhibiting our respect from the general public. He was up there not to be a cheerleader, but to be an analyst, and so his criticisms were to me very inspiring and very informative.
Basically, laughs Hamilton, I spent the last five years of my amateur career doing everything in my power to shut him up.
Of course, Button's career in figure skating didn't begin in 1960. There's a reason why those in the industry are quick to deem him the godfather of figure skating. During his amateur skating career, he achieved several notable firsts for the sport: he was the first skater to land a double axel and a triple jump in competition, and invented the flying camel spin (which was renamed the Button Camel).
[I] just always looked for more challenges within the framework of the sport, says Button. That was why I kept doing more and more difficult jumps instead of being much more creative and working on differences in the creative side of the sports, which I didn't learn about until much later.
Button's love affair with skating began on Crystal Lake, located in his hometown of Englewood, NJ. Born in 1929, Button was just six years old when his older brothers George and Jack took him out on the ice for the first time. Whether it was the crisp wintry air, the music struggling to be heard from a nearby loudspeaker, or the feeling of flying one gets when one first sets skate to ice, Button was hooked. He would train with Gustave Lussi in Lake Placid, NY, and enter his first competition - the 1943 Middle Atlantic States Novice Championship - at age 13.
His amateur career would last for the next nine years, during which time he earned five consecutive World Championship gold medals (1948 through 1952) and back-to-back Olympic gold medals (1948 St. Moritz and 1952 Oslo). He is also the only American to have won the European Championship, taking the title in 1948.
During his illustrious career, he would make waves by donning a white mess jacket when all black was the traditional outfit
