1948 Olympics Dick Button

San Moritz-first double axel. Some credit should be given to his coach Gus Lussi, who held court in Lake Placid for decades, training champions right down to Dorothy Hamil and Gordy McKellen (Robin Wagner). Lussi also reversed John Curry's jumping direction, allowing him to finally master triples.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• figure
• skating
• Dick
• Button
• United
• States
• 1948
• Olympics
• Mens

[silmalila]

This is why Dick Button is considered skating royalty. And yes, his skating looks slightly crude by todays standards, but the sport has come a long way.

If you don't believe me, check out Sonja Henie's skating; by todays standards she looks ridiculous. She didn't do doubles and her spins look silly.

...That said, at the time she was amazing! Everything changes.

A perfect example is the school figures, which they were smart to take out of competition.

Think "Janet Lynn".

[k9henrydog]

Yea..but I think Dick's skating would hold up well today. He might need some triple-triple combinations, but he had ALL the jumps back in 1946. He might need a little more 'insincere & wacko' artistry, but no one has brought a more thoughtful, sensitive interpretation to Rachmininoff in the ensuing 60 years since. There are so many different ways for skating to go, we can only wait and watch. People should find the aspect of skating that MOST appeals to them, and then go enjoy it! best wishes

[1andonlyCobra]

that was a sweet 2A; looked almost magical

[k9henrydog]

Dare I say......awesome!!!!  thanks for commenting.....best wishes

[I7emon]

wow if he did that now people would laugh at him, look at his skating its all messy wow lol

[k9henrydog]

Oh, you shouldn't be so mean!! I would still give my right eye tooth to skate even this well today......I don't think anyone would laugh today at a skater with the edging, jumping and spinning he had then....but this is a time capsule!! styles change...best wishes still

[Chutson353]

Gus Lussi has to be given TREMENDOUS credit because his use of ski jumping technique changed figure skating technique and made multi-rotation jumps possible.

[GingerGilligan]

Dick was WAY ahead of his time! A true legend!

[znasmom]

All I can say is I love me some Dick Button he was classic!!!!!!

[silmalila]

The thing I noticed was that I was very comfortable watching him skate.

There are skaters that don't have that rock-steady style, and when I watch them skate I get nervous waiting for mistakes. Not so with his program here. When I have total confidence watching a skater and they have the ability to make it look easy, THAT is a brilliant skater!

[silmalila]

You know, after looking at all of the video available, both on Youtube and what I have at home, I have to ammend my previous comment.

His skating ABSOLUTELY holds up, even by today's standards.

Now Sonja, well, that is another story. Some of her spins do look rather "primitive".

However, Dick's skating is sublime. The only thing missing are some extra revolutions in his spins.

That said: I would rather see a clean program with triple jumps then men competing to do a sloppy quad combo.

[Newtuber1964]

I didn't know he did the first double axle (although it looks different than what we see today), and the first flying camel spin. I like how he can jump up in the middle of his spins and not lose much speed! It's funny how people comment on his technique because he is so picky about spins in his commentaries. His championship performances would get creamed by Dick Button, the ABC/NBC commentator, today!