Dick Button, a two-time Olympic gold medal-winning figure skater and longtime commentator on the sport, has passed away. Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch shared the news of Button’s passing, detailing his extensive career as a figure skating analyst.
“Button, 95, served as a figure skating television analyst for five decades from 1960 through 2010, most recently contributing to NBC’s coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics,” Lewis wrote. “Before Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir, before Scott Hamilton, no single broadcaster was more associated with the sport. He spent most of his career with ABC but covered the Olympics for any network that broadcasted them — from his first on CBS through his last on NBC. In his role, which he occupied at a time when the sport was far more popular than today, he was not unlike Johnny Miller on golf or Charles Barkley on the NBA — often opinionated, at times caustic, but widely regarded as a steward of the game,” Lewis added.
Before becoming a commentator, Button was one of figure skating’s most decorated athletes, winning gold medals at the St. Moritz and Oslo Winter Olympics in 1948 and 1952, respectively. He was also a five-time world champion, winning every year from 1948 to 1952.
In a tragic coincidence, Lewis noted that Button’s death occurred on a day when the figure skating community was mourning the loss of several members in a plane crash in Washington D.C. “His death occurred on a day when figure skating reeled from the Wednesday night commercial airline crash in Washington D.C. that claimed the lives of more than a dozen young figure skaters, coaches, and family members returning from an academy at last week’s U.S. Figure Skating Championships,” Lewis wrote. “Six of those skaters belonged to the Skating Club of Boston, of which Button was one of the most famous alums.”
