Dick Button
Dick Button (Richard Totten Button) was born on July 18th, 1929. Dick passed away January 30th, 2025 at 95 years old. Dick Button was born in Englewood, New Jersey, USA.
Dick Button was a skating analyst and figure skater. He was a 5 time consecutive world champion (1948 to 1952). He was also the only non-European man to have become a European champion.
He brought increased athleticism to figure skating in the time after the Second World War. Dick represented the American School of figure skating, which was a more athletic style than the skaters from Europe.
Dick started skating at an early age however didn’t begin skating seriously until he was 12, after his dad overheard him being told that he’d never be a good skater. His dad sent him off to Lake Placid, New York so that he could train with Gus Lussi (a coach) who would coach him throughout his competitive career.
In his first competition, the 1943 Eastern States Novice Championship, he finished second to Jean-Pierre Brunet. Then in 1944, he won the Eastern States junior title which earned him the chance to compete at the National Novice Championships, which he wound up winning.
By his third year of serious skating, he won the Eastern States senior title and the national junior title. He was also skating in pairs, and he competed with Barbara Jones in junior pairs at the 1946 Eastern States Championships. They won while performing Dick’s singles program side-by-side with some minor modifications.
In
Push Dick’s Button, you will learn about the difference between a Salchow and a Lutz, performance lows and highs, memorable exits, entrances, and falls (including his own). Costume disasters and delights, new judging rules, and nuggets of skating training and history. Plus tales about Peggy Fleming, Katarina Witt, Dorothy Hamil, Johnny Weir, and Brian Boitano, as well as others. This includes more modern champions like Davis and White, Evgeni Plushenko, and the recent sensations. This is dishy, droll, dramatic, and dead on, and it reads like a one-on-one conversation with the man whose own unsurpassed knowledge, experience, and love of figure skating have influenced whole generations.
Everything the majority of us know about figure skating, we learned from the guy that’s been called “The Voice of Figure Skating”. Now Dick, Emmy winning skating commentator famous for his passionate, precise, opinionated rinkside analyses and for his historic career as a 2 time Olympic gold medalist, 5 time World Champion, and 7 time US Champion, plus being the inadvertent inventor of the flying camel, he was the first to land a double Axel successfully in competition, and was the first to ever do a triple jump. He demystifies this sport and art beloved by millions of people.
Related Authors
Fans of Dick Button also enjoy these authors:
- John Grisham, author of the Jake Brigance Series.
- Debbie Macomber, author of the Blossom Street Series.
- Dee Henderson, author of the O'Malley Series.
- Denise Grover Swank, author of the Rose Gardner Mystery Series.
- Fern Michaels, author of the Sisterhood Series.
Dick Button: F.A.Q
When was Dick Button Born?
Dick Button was born on July 18th, 1929.
When did Dick Button die?
Dick Button died on January 30th, 2025 at 95 years old.
Where was Dick Button Born?
Dick Button was born in Englewood, New Jersey, USA.
What was the first book Dick Button wrote?
The first book written by Dick Button was Dick Button On Skates, published in 1955.
What was the most recent book Dick Button wrote?
His most recently released work was Push Dick's Button on December 10th, 2013.
How many books has Dick Button written?
Dick Button has written 3 books. All of his books are Non-Fiction Books.