U.S. figure skating team killed in plane crash
On this day in 1961 the entire 18-member U.S.figure skating team is killed in a plane crash in Berg-Kampenhout Belgium.The team was on its way to the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships in Prague Czechoslovakia.
Among those killed in the crash was 16-year-old Laurence Owen who had won the U.S.Figure Skating Championship in the ladies division the previous month.She was featured on the February 13 1961 cover of Sports Illustrated which called her the most exciting U.S.
skater.Bradley Long the 1961 U.S.mens champion also perished in the crash as did Maribel Owen (Laurences sister) and Dudley Richards the 1961 U.S.
pairs champions and Diane Sherbloom and Larry Pierce the 1961 U.S.ice dancing champions.Also killed was 49-year-old Maribel Vinson-Owen a nine-time U.S.
ladies champion and 1932 Olympic bronze medalist who coached scores of skaters including her daughters Maribel and Laurence and Frank Carroll who went on to coach the 2010 mens Olympic gold medalist Evan Lysacek and nine-time U.S.champion Michelle Kwan.In addition to the skaters 16 people accompanying them including family friends coaches and officials were killed.The other 38 passengers and crew aboard Sabena Flight 548 which left New York on the night of February 14 also died when the plane went down around 10 a.m.
in clear weather while attempting to make a scheduled stopover landing at the Belgian National Airport in Brussels.One person on the ground a farmer working in the field where the Boeing 707 crashed in Berg-Kampenhout several miles from the airport was killed by some shrapnel.Investigators were unable to determine the exact cause of the crash although mechanical difficulties were suspected.The tragedy devastated the U.S.
figure skating program and meant the loss of the countrys top skating talent.Prior to the crash the U.S.had won the mens gold medal at every Olympics since 1948 (when Dick Button became the first American man to do so) while U.S.
women had claimed Olympic gold in 1956 and 1960.After the crash an American woman (Peggy Fleming) would not capture Olympic gold until 1968 while a U.S.man (Scott Hamilton) would not do so until 1984.The incident was the worst air disaster involving a U.S.
sports team until November 1970 when 37 players on the Marshall University football team were killed in a plane crash in West Virginia.Shortly after the 1961 crash the U.S.Figure Skating Memorial Fund was established to date it has provided financial assistance to thousands of elite American skaters.In 2011 the 50th anniversary of the tragedy the 18 members of the 1961 figure skating team along with the 16 people traveling with them to Prague were inducted into the U.S.
Figure Skating Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs Colorado.
