The 1961 Skating team getting ready to board their 707 in this provided photo.

The Lake Placid skating community took a double hit this past week with the death of former two-time Olympic champion Dick Button and the tragic air accident in Washington, D.C., that claimed the lives of many up-and-coming skaters, coaches and family members. Many of whom have trained and skated in Lake Placid. The D.C. accident brought back memories of the 1961 airline crash in Brussels that took the lives of the entire U.S. Figure Skating team, all of whom had trained or coached in Lake Placid.

In the 1950s and ’60s, Lake Placid was the center of figure skating in the nation. The top coaches, led by Gus Lussi, were based here and attracted emerging talent from across the United States, Canada and beyond. As many skaters and coaches stayed at the Mirror Lake Inn, my parents, Uncle Dean, Aunt Mimi, and Grandmother Climena were devastated as many of the coaches and skating parents had become dear friends, and they knew many of the skaters well as did I and others who worked there. Our sense of loss was shared by the McKellens and others who housed skaters, the leadership and staff at the Arena, skating judges like Ardell Sanderson, the skaters and coaches who trained in Placid, and many others. The crash was like a gut punch to the community, as it is once again to the Skating Club of Boston, where many on both flights were based.

Six skaters, their mothers, and two coaches from the Boston Club died in the mid-air collision of American Eagle Flight 5342 with a Black Hawk helicopter during its final approach to the Reagan Washington National Airport.

“For all of us, we have lost family,” said Doug Zeghibe, CEO of the Boston Skating Club, during a Jan. 31 press conference. “This will have a long and far-reaching impact on our community. Sadly, this isn’t the first time our club has experienced a tragedy like this. Almost half of the U.S. World Figure skating team en route to the World Championships in Prague on board the 1961 flight that crashed in Belgium was from the club. It had long, far-reaching implications for this skating club and the sport in this country.”

The cause of the 1961 crash, the first for a Boeing 707, then considered the finest passenger plane in the world, has never been determined. The plane, Sabrina 548, had been put into a banking turn twice around the airport, waiting for a runway to clear when it initially shot upward and then dove down into a marsh where it exploded, killing all aboard.

Karen Courtland Kelly with Dick Button. Above, the

One immediate consequence is that the World Skating Championships were canceled for that year.

“Though I was 6 years old, I remember the horror of the crash; I was at the (Lake Placid) skating club and remember the anguish on people’s faces,” said Sue Cameron. “It was awful, but I don’t remember more than that.”

“My mom talked about it,” Terri Ryan said, whose father Donald was on the plane. “I asked her what she did, as my siblings and I were so little. My mom said she went to the rink and gave skating lessons as she had five mouths to feed; the youngest is two weeks old. My mom said she had to carry on. She had a ticket and planned to go, but my brother was born late and couldn’t travel. My mom didn’t have any other options; coaching was what she knew how to do, so she stepped back into that world. People had to pick up and move on while grieving.”

“In the 1961 flight, everybody, first, second, and third alternates were on board,” Ryan said. “What breaks my heart about the DC flight is that younger skaters and their mothers died. Back in 61, the dad of two of the skaters, Laurie and Mara Owen, lost them and his wife in the crash, he was so sad and heartbroken that he could never step foot in a rink again.”

Two skating pros deeply connected to Lake Placid, Scott Hamilton and Paul Wylie, attended the development camp in Wichita, Kansas, but fortunately took different flights home. Wylie flew on to Colorado to give training sessions there.

Norah Hart Galvin, (pictured at age 8, now a senior at Lake Placid High School,) with Dick Button on Aug 29, 2015.

“It’s hard to fathom the whole thing,” Wylie said. “I was out doing motivational speaking for U.S. Figure Skating; for all the athletes, coaches, and parents, that was Tuesday and then all of this happened Wednesday. Like anything else, I could easily have imagined myself on that plane, changing planes in D.C. for Albany. What’s hard is that these were families, along with the pairs champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, just an incredible group of skaters from Boston. Now their son Max is alone. It’s just super sad, and in addition to that, losing Dick Button in the same twenty-four hours.”

Two-time Olympic Gold Medal Champion, winner of World titles, and seven consecutive national titles, Dick Button trained in Lake Placid under Gus Lussi. Button was the first to perform a double Axel and a triple jump in competition and invented the flying camel spin. Button educated America about figure skating as a long-time TV analyst beginning in 1962 for ABC. Button is also credited with launching the field of professional skating. While competing, the multi-talented Button received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and graduated from the Harvard Law School.

Button was also a kind and fun person. Holley Healy, who took lessons from Gus Lussi and got to skate in a New Year’s Revue that included the crowning of the king and queen of winter, broke her leg a couple of days later skiing at Fawn Ridge.

“I went to the hospital, Doctor Bergamini set my leg, and that’s when you stayed over,” said Healy. “The next day, Dick Button showed up with his book and a Teddy Bear. I was just thrilled, having recently been able to skate with him.”

“There will never be another person like Dick Button,” said Jeff LaBrake. “He was so outgoing; he was bigger than life.”

Paul Wylie.

“Mr. Dick Button had a huge personality,” said Karen Courtland Kelly. “He was very quick on his feet; he had much experience speaking. Mr. Button was very funny, but he was also a taskmaster. He appreciated hard work and putting it all together. He had very high standards; that’s what made him a great champion. He did everything with one hundred percent gusto. His whole family had a deep and long relationship with Lake Placid. Many people don’t realize how much of his great skating was developed in Lake Placid with Gus Lussi; the legacy is tremendous.”

Illustrating how tight the figure skating community is, Courtland Kelly 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 Boston Skating Club coaches who died in the mid-air collision on Wednesday, January 29.

As Wylie said, it’s been a super sad week. On the bright side, on Friday, the 1932 Olympic Arena, where Button trained, was filled with young and older skaters cheering each other on as they competed in the Empire State Winter Games. Several, though, guided by their parents, took time to look at the bronze Memorial Plaque dedicated to the 1961 U.S. Skating Team on display in the hallway outside the rink.

“I was shocked when I heard about the place crash and the loss of so many skaters,” said Maddie Vance competing in the New York State Empire Games. “Learning about the 1961 team adds to that sense of loss.”

(Naj Wikoff lives in Keene Valley and has been writing his column for the Lake Placid News since 2005.)