Laurance Owen 1961 US Ladies Champ - What Might Have Been

[tongueincheek]

Laurance Owen, daughter of famous skater and coach Maribel Vinson Owen, won her first National title in 1961. She captivated everyone who saw her skate. Most say she had something indefinable and special, and the world will never know how much she could have accomplished as she matured as a skater leading to the 1964 Olympics. She, her mother, her sister, and all the USA's best skaters and coaches were lost when the plane carrying the team to the 1961 Worlds crashed outside of Brussels.

It's hard to find video of Laurance. This clip is from Reflections on Ice (1999) from HBO Studios. It shows little bits of this charming skater, and talks about the horrible plane crash that took so many lives and so much talent.

Reflections on Ice - Laurance Owen and the 1961 plane crash (http://s40.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0R024TDUFS9DC3TECK5K4EWY54).wmv on YSI.

The loss of coaching talent is what prompted USA skating to import coaches from other countries. Coaches like John Nicks of Great Britain and Carlo and Christa Fassi of Italy agreed to come to the USA to fill the void, and Peggy Fleming, who lost her coach in the plane crash, became one of the Fassi's most famous students.

Watch Laurance skate, remembering that she skated at a time when there were no triple jumps and the freeskate counted only 40% of the final score, and please post what you think of her.

[dynoguy88]

I've seen the clip of her being interviewed after she won 61 nationals (with a young Dick Button standing beside her.)

If not for the plane crash, I wonder if she would have become a rival of Peggy Fleming - although she might have retired after the 64 Olympics. Still Peggy burst on the scene early because of the plane crash.

I also think Carol Heiss had perfect timing, winning the Olympics in 1960 and retiring just one year before the crash. Although I have heard her talk about the friends she lost on the plane ride.

[berthesghost]

The crash was a huge tragedy and a big blow for US skating. I do think however, that it's travesty is a little exagerated at times in that way that people gush over James Dean,etc...

Who knows what would have happened if it had not happened, but... just a few ideas/clarifications....

Almost all of the US skaters that did well between WWII and the crash were coached by foreigners: Dick Button,Ronnie Robertson, etc.. were coached by Gus Luzzi from Switzerland I believe. Carol Heiss was coached by the French champs the Brunets. I think that Maribel Owen may have been the only US coach to have Oly medalists (Albright and the Luddingtons). Considering what Nicks and Fassi did for US skating, they should have asked them to come even if the plane never went down. JMHO.

Laurence seems lovely, and everyone always speaks highly of her skating, so it's very likely that she could have gone on to much success, but.....

Sjoukje Dijkstra and she were the same age, and to be blunt, both were a little long in the tooth by skating standards (22 in 1964, SD is one of the oldest Oly champs of all time) SD took the silver at the 1960 Oly with a 2nd in figures behind Carol and 3rd in FS behind Carol and Barbabra Roles, while Laurence was 6th in both. At 1960 world, SD again took silver while Laurence slipped to 9th. Thus I find Carol's claim of Laurence as the favorite to win 61 worlds very questionable. From what people say, Laurence reminds me of Janet Lynn, and SD of Trixi Schuba, and we all know how that turned out.

Peggy is 7 years Laurence's junior, they were not competitors. 1964 was Peggy's first senior nats, and she remained the youngest nat champ until Tara in 97. I find it hard to believe that the 23 year old Owen would have stayed on past 64 especially with a phenom like Fleming nipping at her heels, and Canada's Petra Burke landing the first triple jump, but who knows.

Doris Fleming was very shrewd, always trading-up to best serve Peggy's success. When the somewhat gawky teen needed polish, she shopped her over to Canada's Rob Paul, and when the now elegant free skater was being held back by figures, she shopped her over to Mr Figures, Carlo Fassi. Again, not to diminish a great loss, but I doubt that Doris would have kept Peggy with Kip for the long haul.

Pundants also like to exagerate the recovery period, acting like the gap between the crash and Flemings 68 OGM was a barren wasteland, when in fact we won 4 world Dance medals, 4 world Pairs medals, 4 world ladies medals (3 gold) and 4 world Mens medals in those 7 years. This doesn't include Scott Allens Oly bronze in 64 and Tim Wood's Oly silver in 68 that would have been gold except for a judging error. Not to be rude, but Team USA seems to be far worse off these past 7 years then they were back when the creme-de-la-creme were tragically lost.

Just some random thoughts on history and what might have been.

[tongueincheek]

A few clarifications of my own.....

I agree that Carol's commentary that Owen was a favorite for the 1961 Worlds was a bit optimistic - note that I said above that freeskating counted for only 40% of the total score. But Laurance was only 16 in 1961, and I only wondered how she would have developed as a freeskater, as 16 is quite young. I agree Dijkstra would have been a formidable opponent. She was actually older than Owen, as Laurance would have been only 19 at the 1964 Olympics. Here's a bit of bio (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5599&pt=Laurence%20Owen) about her.

Doris Fleming was very shrewd, but it is possible that Peggy would have stayed with Kip, and used Paul and Fassi as special coaches. That is in fact what Janet Lynn did - she was coached by Slavka Kahout, but hired Pierre Brunet to help her with compulsory figures. It was Brunet who, at 1971 Worlds, pushed Janet Lynn to the edge of the ice to acknowledge the French crowd who were shouting Janet's name over and over when she did not even make the podium despite a stellar freeskate.

I personally never thought of 1961-1968 as a wasteland. I suppose skating critics were used to winning Olympic golds and silvers, e.g. Dick Button's 2 Oly golds, 1956 gold and silver in ladies, 1956 gold, silver and bronze in mens, 1960 gold in mens, 1960 gold and bronze in ladies, yadda yadda yadda. I suppose to critics, the 1964 haul of 1 bronze in singles and 1968 haul of one gold and one silver in singles was not great in comparison. Note I'm talking only singles here. And I don't necessarily agree with the critics - the period was not a wasteland, it's just that the USA did not dominate in singles as they had since WWII.

I also agree that Peggy and Laurance would not have been rivals, although Laurance was only 4 years older than Peggy. Peggy was 15 years when she won her first National title in 1964. Interesting to note that Janet Lynn was 15 when she won hers in 1969, but as Peggy's birthday was July 27 and Janet's April 6, Peggy was officially younger when she won her title.

Here is Peggy's 1964 US Nationals performance. When I first saw Sarah Hughes, she reminded me of Peggy at 14-15 years of age, all gawky long legs and arms. I was hoping Sarah would develop into a lovely skater as Peggy did, but she didn't stick around long enough for us to find out if she could.

Peggy Fleming 1964 US Nationals (http://s54.yousendit.com/d.php?id=2NFR6BQ2LM4GC2BUVP0ZHR9S0C).wmv

[berthesghost]

rats...I can't get the download to work for me. anyone else have any luck?

[tongueincheek]

Rats. It's working fine for me, but I have heard that YSI has been 0] eville to some in the past week or so.

Here it is on Megaupload
www.megaupload.com/?d=35CO4R9M (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=35CO4R9M)

[tongueincheek]

Interesting article on the 1961 plane crash from skaters who very nearly got on that plane, including 1963 National champion Lorraine Hanlon.

Twists of fate: Unforeseen circumstances prevented a fortunate few from taking their turn to board the doomed plane (http://www.boston.com/sports/packages/usfigureskating/stories/123100_twists_of_fate.htm)

[cestlavie000000]

Wow thanks for the article Tongue in Cheek it really made me ponder a lot of things--a good read!

[lasaslav]

Wow. What a really poignant article. Definitely something I'm glad to be reading today. Thanks for finding it.