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

Dedicated to the members of the 1961 U.S. Figure Skating Team, their coaches, the officials, and the loving family members who died in the crash of Sabena Flight 548, and to everyone who works to preserve their memory.

      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