At skating events, we frequently spoke; I would ask him what he thought of different skaters, and he would sometimes ask me what I thought.
When I joined the ABC/ESPN figure skating announcing team in 2005 for a couple of years, I became his coworker. On a memorable morning in Portland, Oregon,
Button, Fleming, and I were traveling to the arena when we became trapped in an SUV with a few other broadcast team members on a highway overpass during an ice storm.
Button, who was 75 at the time, made the decision to take action. What? We didn’t know. He opened the door of his automobile. Dick, we all said, “No.”
He exited the SUV and walked out onto the icy road. Fortunately, he managed to grasp onto the vehicle door as he walked a few steps.
He paused to look around, then walked a few more paces without gripping the vehicle door. Would he attempt to make his way to the arena on foot?
The fact that he was a guy with two Harvard degrees and a wealth of knowledge about ice gave me some solace at that time. The legendary Dick Button returned to the vehicle.
