Documentary remembers 1961 Figure Skating team
A picture of the 1961 U.S. Figure Skating team.
In 1961, U.S. Figure Skating was hit with a horrific loss as the entire team — athletes, seconds, thirds and coaches, perished in a plane crash in Belgium en route to the World Figure Skating Championships.
On Monday at the Palace Theatre in Lake Placid, the Adirondack Film Society will screen the documentary RISE, created for the 50th anniversary of the crash. RISE tells the story of the people who died, the impact, and the efforts and sacrifices made to rebuild. The screening of RISE is dedicated to the memory of the 1961 U.S. World Figure Skating Team. The 75-minute film begins at 7 p.m.
The 1961 tragedy echoed the recent collision between a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and American Eagle Flight 5342 at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. The mishap took the lives of many of the best and brightest emerging skaters and a number of their parents.
Both the 1961 and the recent crash hit two communities particularly hard, namely Boston where many on both flights trained, and Lake Placid, where the entire 1961 team, skaters and coaches, trained, and many from flight 5342 as well.
No less difficult was the loss of one of the greatest skaters of all time, Dick Button, who developed his signature moves in Lake Placid under the guidance of Gus Lussi, and where he and his family often stayed. Button, a winner of two Olympic gold medals and five world titles, died the day before the tragic accident at Reagan Airport.
Half of all ticket sales from RISE along with all designated donations will go to the Skating Club of Boston.
A panel discussion will follow, moderated by Naj Wikoff. Most of the 1961 coaches and skaters stayed at the Mirror Lake Inn.
The presentation will include Olympic silver medalist Paul Wylie, who had coached and mentored many of the young skaters who were on that flight, most recently in Wichita as part of a special development camp for them after the national championships. Another will be Olympian Karen Courtland Kelly, who was coached by Ron Ludington, whose coach Maribel Owen died in the 1961 crash. Kelly, and her pairs partner Todd Reynolds, shared the 1992 Trophée de France podium with Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, the Skating Club of Boston coaches who died in the mid-air collision.