 Dorothy
Hamill
Darling on Skates
Dorothy Hamill was born on the
youngest of three children to Chalmers and Carol
Hamill in Chicago, Illinois. Her childhood,
however, was spent in Riverside, Connecticut,
her parents having moved the family there
shortly after Dorothy’s birth. Dorothy began
skating at the age of eight on the pond outside
her grandparents house, taking lessons only
after she desired to learn to skate backwards.
Her talent was soon discovered and in 1969 she
began working with Gus Lussi in Lake Placid. In
that same year she won the National Novice
title. After winning the silver at the junior
Nationals in 1970 Carlo Fassi (who had coached
Peggy Fleming to an Olympic Gold medal in 1968)
asked Dorothy to work with him at the Broadmore
Skating Club in Colorado Springs.
Receiving little notoriety
compared to other American figure skating greats
like Peggy Flemming or Carol Heiss, Dorothy
never won a World Championship prior to her
Olympic Competition. Dorothy was not a graceful
skater but was actually considered an athletic
skater, but at the age of nineteen, she won the
gold medal at the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck in
front of millions of television viewers. After
this, Dorothy Hamill became the most sought
figure skater for commercial endorsements in
history. She accepted a very profitable contract
to star in the Ice Capades and skated with them
for many years. She also appeared in many shows
such as the Nutcracker on Ice with Robin
Cousins, a televised version of Romeo and Juliet
on Ice, starred in Stars on Ice, as well as TV
specials with Gene Kelly, Perry Como and Andy
Williams. Furthermore, she won the World
Professional Skating Championships five years in
a row. Dorothy Hamill was inducted in the US
Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1991. In the past
few years Dorothy has appeared in Tom Collins
Champions on Ice and other professional figure
skating competitions.
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