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Throughout his tenure, he was well-known for his passion for the sport, his biting wit, his flamboyant and creative turns of phrase, and his honest criticism of each and every skater’s performance.įamed coach Frank Carroll once said, “You don’t know what it’s like until you have been dissected by Dick Button on national television,” and, while many of the sport’s top competitors would agree, most would argue that Button’s critique pushed them to do better.

and World Figure Skating Championships he also served in the same role for almost every Winter Olympic Games (regardless of network) until 2010. Thus began Button’s decades-long career as a figure-skating analyst for ABC Sports’ annual coverage of the U.S. Figure Skating Team and resulted in the cancellation of the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships, Button prevailed on legendary ABC Sports executive Roone Arledge to include the 1962 Championships in Wide World of Sports. Following the 1961 plane crash that claimed the lives of the U.S.

Abc ice skating game professional#

And, after realizing that competitors could not be relied on to repeat that order with 100% accuracy, he began to watch each program in practice and take copious notes.Ī wearer of many hats, Button also served as a TV producer, buying and selling television rights to skating competitions (in later years, he would go on to create several made-for-television competitions, such as the World Professional Figure Skating Championships). Thinking that viewers might find it more interesting to hear about a move before it happened, he tracked down skaters and coaches to determine the order of their moves.

Abc ice skating game how to#

With no precedent to follow, Button not only learned how to be an expert figure-skating commentator he pioneered the role. “I was paid $2,000 to go to Squaw Valley, and I spent $3,000 on telephone calls back to New York, asking everybody, What did you like? What didn’t you like? What did you think could be clearer? What did you think was too much? And people told me, and that helped formulate where I was going and what I was doing. I had no idea what an expert commentator or television broadcaster was supposed to do. CBS had just purchased the national broadcast rights to the Olympic Games - for $50,000 - and needed an “expert” to work alongside host Bud Palmer and explain, for example, the difference between an Axel and a Salchow. raised the profile of the sport to unprecedented heights showing that figure skating encompasses athleticism, grace, and, sometimes, drama.”īutton first entered the broadcast booth in 1960, as an expert commentator for CBS’s coverage of the Olympic Winter Games in Squaw Valley, CA. “Using his wit, passion, and unfiltered honesty, Dick drew in ever increasing television audiences whether they were new viewers or dedicated fans. He is, and always will be, the godfather of this sport,” says NBC Sports figure skating analyst and Olympic gold medalist Tara Lipinski. “No other figure skater embodies the sport as much as Dick Button. To track the history of figure skating over the past three-quarters of a century is to follow the career trajectory of Button, from two-time Olympic gold medalist in 19 to expert commentator to the definitive voice of the sport for more than 50 years. There is perhaps no athlete more entwined in the legacy of his sport - and more responsible for its popularity and success - than Dick Button.