Frozen in Time. Nikki Nichols
Copyright © 2006, 2009 by Nikki Nichols
First trade paperback edition 2009
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any fashion, print, facsimile, or electronic, or by any method yet to be developed, without express permission of the copyright holder.
For further information, contact the publisher at
Clerisy Press | |
1700 Madison Road | |
Cincinnati, OH 45206 | |
www.clerisypress.com |
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nichols, Nikki, 1975–
Frozen in time: the enduring legacy of the 1961 US figure skating team/by Nikki Nichols.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-1-57860-334-3
(previous ISBN for hardcover edition: 978-1-57860-260-5)
1. Figure skating. 2. Figure skaters—United States—Biography. 3. Aircraft accidents—Belgium. I. Title.
GV850.4.N55 2006
796.91′2′0922—dc22
2005021563
Front cover: Photo of Laurence Owen, courtesy of Vinson Owen School; photo of Stephanie Westerfeld, courtesy of Diane Yeomans Robins
Back cover: Photo of Laurence Owen, courtesy of Winchester Massachusetts Archival Center
Title page: Photo of members of the U.S. Figure Skating Team posing before boarding Belgian Sabena Airline plane at New York’s Idlewild Airport, February 14, 1961. Photo courtesy of AP Images
Cover designed by Doug Klocke and Scott McGrew. Interior designed by Andrea Kupper.
Printed in the United States of America
Distributed by Publishers Group West
Edited by Jack Heffron
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Afterword
Appendix
Autobiography: Self-Analysis
References
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to the USFSA and World Figure Skating Museum and Hall of Fame for immense assistance in archival research and interview contacts, and a sincere thanks to everyone who took the time to share their stories for this tribute.
Great thanks to my coaches, Kim Seybold Catron, Sandy Lamb, and Serguei Zaitsev, for inspiring my growing passion for skating. And a huge thanks to Ronald Ludington, who helped in countless ways. Thank you to Dr. Alvin Swonger who granted permission to use his written remembrances of Laurence for this book. Greg Hill and the Vinson Owen Elementary School must also be thanked for providing additional materials for the revised paperback edition of this book.
Thanks to two talented writers, Charles Haas and Matthew Gladden, for their wonderful editing suggestions and moral support. Most of all, I offer my most profound thanks to Jack Heffron of Clerisy Press for his editing acumen and great belief in this project.
Thanks to the following individuals for granting interviews and providing materials and support:
Roberto Agnolini
Dr. Tenley Albright
Randy Bairnsfather and the Town of Winchester Archives
Belgian Ministry of Communications
William Boeck
Sophia Bowers of the Vinson Owen Elementary School
Jim Browning
Joyce Butchart and the Seattle Figure Skating Club
Diane Cassidy and the Cheyenne Mountain Heritage Center
Sven Christiansen
John Clemson
Dr. Lorraine Hanlon Comanor
Debbie Conrad
Michael J. Cunningham
Carol and William Cunningham
Howard Deardorff
Ann de Brabander
Annie and Diane de Leeuw
Kathi Doak
Susan Duncan
Jane Dystel
Charles Foster
Belinda Gillett
Diana Hall and the Ottawa Public Library
Ruth Harle
Greg Hill
Dan Hollander
Eileen Seigh Honnen
Lee Hubby
Maria Jelinek
Tanya Howe Johnson
Jane Bucher Jones
U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy
Sally Knoll
Mr. Pieter Kollen
Tonia Kwiatkowski
Sandy Lamb
Emery Leger
Mickey Leiter
Ron Ludington
Paul Maca
Sandy Masengale
Virginia Might
Melody Miller
Mark Mitchell
Catherine and Michael Nichols
John Nicks
Kevin O’Sullivan
Roberta Parkinson
Amy Partain
Pikes Peak Library
Barbara Ramsay
Yvette Reyes
Diane Yeomans Robins
Richard Rosborough
Elizabeth (Sherry) Ruch and the Minto Figure Skating