November 16th, 2005
The Current Stage of World Figure Skating:
Go Figure
R. T. ("Dick") Button
World Olympic Champion Figure Skater and TV Commentator
Minutes of the Tenth Meeting of the 64th Year
President Bill Haynes called the approximately 100 attending members to order for the 10th meeting of the 64th year at precisely 10:12 a.m. and John Marks led the invocation.
The President then asked for the introduction of visitors. Charlie Ufford introduced his wife Letitia. Phil Cruickshank introduced his wife Natalie. Lester Tibbals introduced three guests from the Princeton Skating Club, Martha Sword, Marie Matthews, and Lisa Webster. Lucien Yokana introduced his wife Anna. Other guests included David McAlpin and Ed Metcalfe
Jerry Freedman then read the minutes of the November 9th meeting which featured a talk by Prof Burton Malkiel of Princeton University who spoke on "The Economics of and Possible Solutions to the Social Security Problem."
The President announced that there would be no meeting on November 23rd. The next meeting will be on November 30th. Our speaker then will be Dr. Nancy Snyderman, Vice President of Johnson and Johnson, who will speak on "The Changing Landscape of the Media". The President also announced that there would be a meeting of the Web Page Committee immediately following the Nov 16th meeting. Ms. Betty Sanford has been admitted as a new member but was not able to attend the November 16th meeting.
Mr Charlie Ufford then introduced the speaker, Mr Dick Button, whom he had first known when they were both undergraduates at Harvard University. Mr Button also received a Law Degree at Harvard. After a long and illustrious career in figure skating he now produces Broadway shows and skating extravaganzas. For many years he was ABC's prime commentator on the Olympic skating competitions. He won the Gold Medal at the 1948 and 1952 Olympics and the World Championship every year from 1948 to 1952.
Mr Button opened his talk by telling us how he first developed a "love affair" with skating. It seems when he was a small boy in 1939 his parents took him on a business trip to France. A local secretary in his father's Company was assigned to show Button the sights of Paris. She took him to every Museum and Cathedral in the city which he found immensely boring. Then she took him the Center for Figure Skating and he immediately fell in love with the sport. Dick Button then traced the history of figure skating. There was no competition during WWII but soon after the war the first Worlds Championship took place. In the 1950's the big stars were Tenley Albright and Carol Heiss. Tenely was famous for doing the first ever triple jump. In the 1960s a major tragedy struck with the crash of an airliner in Brussels carrying all of the US Skating team, their coaches, and the judges to their instant death. The sport was stunned for a time but recovered with the brilliant skating of Peggy Fleming and Scott Allen. In 1962 the first championship was held in Russia and thereafter the Russians became a major factor in world skating. In the 1970's Button met with Roone Arledge, the CEO of ABC Television, and convinced him to televise the sport. Television transformed skating, bringing a vast new audience, money, and a trend to skate in a new style that would appeal to the audience. John Curry and Dorothy Hamill were the big stars in the 1970s. By the 1980s figure skating was a big hit on television with impressive ratings. Katerina Witt was the leading star in this era. Pure figure skating i.e. performing intricate set patterns, became less popular and the audience demanded the more appealing ice dancing. Button complained that the kids today don't bother with the basics." They can hardly skate from one end of the rink to the other." But they CAN do double flips and glide with one leg held over their heads. In the 1990s there was an explosion of TV coverage, ice dance couples were the stars, like Torble and Dean from England, and many wonderful Russian skaters emerged. There were also serious problems including Tonya Harding whacking Nancy Kerrigan on the knee to put her out of competition, and the collusion in Olympic judging between the French woman judge and the Russians to trade off votes for each other's skaters. This dominated the news for months. So skating has had its problems, but has survived them all. A new judging system was introduced which prevented collusion and the guilty parties were banned from the sport. Button said that the rules for scoring a skater have become so complex that even he can't understand them. "Falling down", for example, still merits demerits but is no longer simple to score. It now depends on how you fell down, what part of the body hits the ice first, etc., etc. However, he said the sport will survive because "it is much too beautiful and exciting to fail."
In response to many questions (and here I will summarize), Button said that he would create open judging worldwide so that each judge's scoring of each skater is known. This is now the rule in the USA, but not elsewhere. The USA has only one vote in the World Skating Congress whereas the Russians after the breakup of the Soviet Union have 17 votes. He said a top skater today must be musical, creative, and have "it" ie a skating personality. Button feels that skating can exist for persons of every age even if it's just for fun on a neighborhood pond. Amateur skaters are now paid. The distinctions between amateur and professional have largely disappeared. Button feels that by trying to meet the increasingly complex rules for figure skating that you are losing creativity. Despite the major changes in figure skating in the last 70 years, Button remains optimistic that it is an art form that will never lose its appeal. On this positive note he ended the question period and was enthusiastically applauded by the audience.
Respectfully submitted,
William S. Barnard
The President then asked for the introduction of visitors. Charlie Ufford introduced his wife Letitia. Phil Cruickshank introduced his wife Natalie. Lester Tibbals introduced three guests from the Princeton Skating Club, Martha Sword, Marie Matthews, and Lisa Webster. Lucien Yokana introduced his wife Anna. Other guests included David McAlpin and Ed Metcalfe
Jerry Freedman then read the minutes of the November 9th meeting which featured a talk by Prof Burton Malkiel of Princeton University who spoke on "The Economics of and Possible Solutions to the Social Security Problem."
The President announced that there would be no meeting on November 23rd. The next meeting will be on November 30th. Our speaker then will be Dr. Nancy Snyderman, Vice President of Johnson and Johnson, who will speak on "The Changing Landscape of the Media". The President also announced that there would be a meeting of the Web Page Committee immediately following the Nov 16th meeting. Ms. Betty Sanford has been admitted as a new member but was not able to attend the November 16th meeting.
Mr Charlie Ufford then introduced the speaker, Mr Dick Button, whom he had first known when they were both undergraduates at Harvard University. Mr Button also received a Law Degree at Harvard. After a long and illustrious career in figure skating he now produces Broadway shows and skating extravaganzas. For many years he was ABC's prime commentator on the Olympic skating competitions. He won the Gold Medal at the 1948 and 1952 Olympics and the World Championship every year from 1948 to 1952.
Mr Button opened his talk by telling us how he first developed a "love affair" with skating. It seems when he was a small boy in 1939 his parents took him on a business trip to France. A local secretary in his father's Company was assigned to show Button the sights of Paris. She took him to every Museum and Cathedral in the city which he found immensely boring. Then she took him the Center for Figure Skating and he immediately fell in love with the sport. Dick Button then traced the history of figure skating. There was no competition during WWII but soon after the war the first Worlds Championship took place. In the 1950's the big stars were Tenley Albright and Carol Heiss. Tenely was famous for doing the first ever triple jump. In the 1960s a major tragedy struck with the crash of an airliner in Brussels carrying all of the US Skating team, their coaches, and the judges to their instant death. The sport was stunned for a time but recovered with the brilliant skating of Peggy Fleming and Scott Allen. In 1962 the first championship was held in Russia and thereafter the Russians became a major factor in world skating. In the 1970's Button met with Roone Arledge, the CEO of ABC Television, and convinced him to televise the sport. Television transformed skating, bringing a vast new audience, money, and a trend to skate in a new style that would appeal to the audience. John Curry and Dorothy Hamill were the big stars in the 1970s. By the 1980s figure skating was a big hit on television with impressive ratings. Katerina Witt was the leading star in this era. Pure figure skating i.e. performing intricate set patterns, became less popular and the audience demanded the more appealing ice dancing. Button complained that the kids today don't bother with the basics." They can hardly skate from one end of the rink to the other." But they CAN do double flips and glide with one leg held over their heads. In the 1990s there was an explosion of TV coverage, ice dance couples were the stars, like Torble and Dean from England, and many wonderful Russian skaters emerged. There were also serious problems including Tonya Harding whacking Nancy Kerrigan on the knee to put her out of competition, and the collusion in Olympic judging between the French woman judge and the Russians to trade off votes for each other's skaters. This dominated the news for months. So skating has had its problems, but has survived them all. A new judging system was introduced which prevented collusion and the guilty parties were banned from the sport. Button said that the rules for scoring a skater have become so complex that even he can't understand them. "Falling down", for example, still merits demerits but is no longer simple to score. It now depends on how you fell down, what part of the body hits the ice first, etc., etc. However, he said the sport will survive because "it is much too beautiful and exciting to fail."
In response to many questions (and here I will summarize), Button said that he would create open judging worldwide so that each judge's scoring of each skater is known. This is now the rule in the USA, but not elsewhere. The USA has only one vote in the World Skating Congress whereas the Russians after the breakup of the Soviet Union have 17 votes. He said a top skater today must be musical, creative, and have "it" ie a skating personality. Button feels that skating can exist for persons of every age even if it's just for fun on a neighborhood pond. Amateur skaters are now paid. The distinctions between amateur and professional have largely disappeared. Button feels that by trying to meet the increasingly complex rules for figure skating that you are losing creativity. Despite the major changes in figure skating in the last 70 years, Button remains optimistic that it is an art form that will never lose its appeal. On this positive note he ended the question period and was enthusiastically applauded by the audience.
Respectfully submitted,
William S. Barnard