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.