After becoming an Olympic champion, Peggy Fleming turned professional….and performed on TV shows including five NBC specials of her own….while touring with many skating shows, like Ice Capades. During the Cold War, Fleming had filmed a TV show in USSR….and skated to Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto in China…..as seen in this video herewith. Since 1981, she has been a skating commentator…
At the age of 17, legendary sportscaster Donna de Varona appeared on ABC’s Wide World of Sports….thus becoming the youngest and one of the first women sportscasters for a national network. Her groundbreaking career has earned her an Emmy….two Gracies….and the opportunity to cover a wide variety of sports events including 17 Winter and Summer Olympic games. In…
Kitty Carruthers is a former American pair skater…..who with her adopted brother, Peter, are the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics Silver medalist…..the 1982 World Bronze pairs medalist…. and a four-time United States National champion from 1981 to 1984…..as the Carruthers siblings were coached by Ronald Ludington. They finished off the podium at the U.S. Championships in January 1979….but their results improved the following season…..when after winning the International…
Tai Babilonia is an American former pair skater….who together with her skating partner Randy Gardner won the 1979 World Figure Skating Championships and five U.S. Figure Skating Championships 1976 through 1980…..as the pair also qualified for the 1976 Innsbruck Winter Olympics and 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics…..where they were medal favorites but were forced to withdraw due to a thigh injury to Gardner. …
JoJo Starbuck is an American figure skater…..who with partner Kenneth Shelley is a three-time United States National pairs skating champions from 1970 to 1972…. and two-time Olympian at Grenoble, France in 1968 and Sapporo, Japan in 1972. She was first paired with Shelley for a show in 1959….when they were small children….when they started training with coach John Nicks at the Arctic Blades FSC in 1961. In their…
Linda Fratianne is an American former figure skater….who was known for winning two World Championship titles in 1977 and 1979….four consecutive U.S. Championships from 1977 to 1980 ….and a silver medal in the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics. Throughout her figure skating career, Fratianne was coached by Frank Carroll…..as she became the first female skater to land two different types of triple…
Anytime a true Sportsphile gets to see any event that has broadcaster Jim McKay behind the mike…..they know that that video is well worth the price of admission…..and will take the time to watch it…..as is the case with this video seen herewith…..as the legendary “elegant and eloquent” Jim McKay takes us on a special 25 years…
This video starts out with Dick Stockton at the host desk for USA Network’s coverage of the 1979 Pan American games….whereas Stockton is an American sportscaster…..who began his career in Philadelphia….then moved to Pittsburgh where he was the sports director for KDKA-TV….then came a stint in Boston…..where he called Celtics NBA games for WBZ and Red Sox MLB games for WSBK-TV before transitioning to national broadcasting….which…
Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner have skated together since childhood…..and they continue to be figure skating stars in 2019. Tai began skating when she was eight and Randy began skating when he was ten. They were teamed together as a pair shortly after they learned to skate by coach Mabel Fairbanks. As they advanced, they made…