By james art 
New York (AP) – Dick Button was more than the most finished figure skater in history. He was one of the great innovators and promoters of his sport, the man responsible not only for inventing the flying camel, but also describes it to generations of fans.
He was an athlete and actor, television operator and entrepreneur.
“Dick was one of the most important figures in our sport,” said Scott Hamilton, Olympic champion in 1984. “There was no skater after Dick, who had not helped him in any way.”
The winner of two Olympic gold medals and five consecutive world championships, Button died Thursday in North Salem, New York, at the age of 95. His death was confirmed by his son Edward, who did not provide a cause, although Button was in reducing the reduction of health.
“The two -time pioneering style of the Olympic champion and the award -winning television comment revolutionized figure skating,” said the US figure skating. “His heritage will live forever. We are expanding our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones.”
His death further shook a figure skating community with a narrow knight that is already falling apart from the crash on Wednesday night on a flight of American Airlines and an army helicopter outside Washington, Colombia, which killed everyone aboard. Two teenage girls, their mothers and two former world champions who trained at the Boston skating club – where Button also slid and who remained close to the rest of his life – were among the 14 people killed by the skating community.
The trophy room at Boston’s skating club is named after Button, and the club hosts the art showcase of Dick Button’s figure skating, which is designed to promote the beauty and innovation of skates as a form of art.
Button’s impact on figure skating began after World War II. He was the first champion in the United States – and his country’s most junior 16 years – when the competition returned in 1946. Two years later, he took gold at St. Moritz’s Olympics when the competitions were organized outdoors. He performed the first double Axel in every race and became the first American to win the event in men, making the way for future champions such as Hamilton, Brian Boitano and Nathan Chen.
“By the way, this jump had a fraud on it,” a button once said. “But listen, I did it and that was what counts.”
This first Olympic title began its dominance of international skating and amateur sports in the United States as a whole. He was the first figure skater to win the prestigious Sullivan Award in 1949 – no other figure skater won it to Michel Kwan in 2001.
In 1952, while he was still a student at Harvard, Button won a second gold at the Oslo Games, making more history with the first triple jump (contour) in the race. Shortly after, he won the fifth world title, after which he abandoned his eligibility as an amateur to participate in the show; All Olympic sports were subject to amateur professional division at that time.
“I had achieved everything I could dream of as a skater,” said Button, who had won a legal degree from Harvard in 1956. “I was able to enjoy the icy lids and hold my hand in the skates and that was very very very very Important to me. ”
With an outspoken and often brutally honest style, Button has become a television analyst awarded Emmy, helping viewers learn not only the basics but also the nuances of sports, unknown to most casual fans. It became as much attachment to the “wide world of sports” by ABC as Jim McCay and the unfortunate ski jumper that descended on the slope.
“Dick Button is the guardian of the history of figure skating and its most important voice,” said Boitano, the 1988 Olympic champion, in Button’s autobiography. “He made the words” Lutz “and” Salchow “part of our daily dictionary.
Following the 1961 plane crash that killed the entire US Figure Skating team on the way to the World Cup, which was then canceled, Button convinced the ABC Sports Roone Arlede CEO to broadcast the 1962 event on Wide World S Then he joined the net as a commentator and took a figure skating to the mainstream television audience.
Later, Button held professional events that provided skaters with Avenue to earn from their ability after their competitive career ended. The World Professional Figure Championships, the challenge of champions and others provided Hamilton, the dance team of Jane Torville and Christopher Dean, Kurt Browning, Catarina Vit and others, a new platform for performance.
Button even tried a hand in acting, playing in such shows and films as “Young Doctors” and “Bad New Bears go to Japan.” His studio, Candid Productions, helped manufacture programs made for television such as Battle of the Network Stars.
“Dick Button created an open and honest space in the broadcast of figure skating, where no topic or moment is out of bounds,” says Johnny Weir, three -time American champion and current NBC Sports figure skating analyst. “He said it was that it was, even when his opinion was not popular. His Zinger was always in my mind when I would introduce him to him, and I wanted to make it as happy and proud as I was my coaches.
“This is something very special about commenting on figure skating,” Weir said. “As an athlete, we rarely have the opportunity to speak and rely on television voices to tell our story about us. No one could make it as Mr. Button.”
The button survived from his longtime partner Dennis Grimaldi and his two children, Edward and Emily.
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