Dick Button, Olympic Figure Skating Champion and TV Analyst, Dead at 95
Dick Button, the two-time Olympic gold medalist who parlayed his figure skating success into a career as an Emmy-winning TV commentator, died on Thursday in North Salem, N.Y.
Button’s children, Edward and Emily Button, confirmed the death for the Washington Post but did not provide a cause. He was 95.
Considered one of the best male figure skaters of all time, Button was famously the first person to successfully land a double axel and a triple jump in figure skating competition.
The first feat came at the 1948 Olympic Winter Games in St. Moritz, where just two days prior to the free skate program, Button successfully completed a double axel for the first time. He then boldly attempted the move in competition, landing it perfectly and earning him his first Olympic gold medal.
Then, heading into the 1952 Olympic Winter Games in Oslo, no skater had ever performed a triple loop in competition. Button did, though, hitting the jump perfectly and scoring his second Olympic gold medal.
Button was also the first American to have won the European championships in 1948, and he won five consecutive world championship titles from 1948 to ’52.
Following his retirement from competition, Button entered Harvard Law School (completing a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1956), and he had a short career performing in ice shows (including the Ice Capades). Button provided expert commentary for CBS’ broadcast of the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, Calif., then did same for CBS’ presentation of the 1961 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, the 1962 World Figure Skating Championships, and a variety of ABC figure skating programming in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s.
In 1981, Button won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Sports Personality — Analyst. He returned to Winter Olympics coverage in 2006, and provided analysis for ABC figure skating broadcasts through 2008.
A charter member of the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, founded in 1983, Button also served as a judge on ABC’s Skating With the Stars in 2010.
Button’s passing comes on the heels of the news that two teenage figure skaters and two former world champions-turned-coaches were among the 14 members of the skating community killed Wednesday night when an American Airlines flight collided with an Army helicopter, and crashed into a frigid Potomac River.
Could today get any worse for the Figure Skating community and its fans? I always enjoyed watching ABC’s coverage with Dick & Peggy Fleming. May he Rest in Peace. He will be missed.
At 95 you can’t really ask for a better life but after last night’s terrible crash that killed so many wonderful rising stars in the sport I think they deserve a break.
It’s not like Mr. Button was one of the victims of that crash near Reagan Airport, though (My heart would’ve just sank no matter what if he had).
I really miss him as an Olympic figure skating commentator. Him and Peggy Fleming were a great team during the Olympics. Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir are just so negative with their calls.
I think part of that is that the scoring system has changed from when Dick and Peggy were commentating.
He will certainly be missed. My condolences to his family.
One of the great sports commentators and a great athlete who had the experience to back up his opinions. Always pithy and interesting even though he had his undoubted favorites through the years that he sometimes had a hard time disguising his championing. Still a sad loss of a much-missed personality.