In the ABC Sports broadcast booth for an injured Randy Gardner and his partner, Tai Babilonia, when they pulled out of the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics pairs competition.
The audience trusted him, and with good reason—it’s hard to argue that any other sport has produced a player like Dick Button. As Americans’ access to and obsession.
With television was growing nationwide, he was to figure skating what Arnold Palmer was to golf, introducing the sport to the people and earning a lot of money in the process.
He was a trailblazing celebrity, inventor, businessman, and powerbroker. However, there is more. Button went on to become figure skating’s Howard Cosell,
A Harvard-educated, tuxedo-wearing TV personality who was the sport’s incredibly self-assured conscience. In a phone conversation, Olympic gold winner Peggy Fleming,
His longtime broadcasting partner, described him as “like a professor.” He showed spectators how to observe skaters. He occasionally acted as a commentator beside me, much like a professor.
