Diane Carol "Dee Dee" Sherbloom (September 21, 1942 – February 15, 1961) was an American

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

who competed in

ice dance Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. Ac ...

. Previously paired with Roger Campbell, she had no intentions of competing at the

1961 United States Figure Skating Championships The 1961 U.S. Figure Skating Championships was held at the World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colorado, from January 25 to 29, 1961. Medals were awarded in three colors: gold (first), silver (second), and bronze (third) in four disciplines – ...

until she met her partner Larry Pierce. Pierce's previous partner,

Marilyn Meeker Marilyn Meeker (born February 16, 1942) is an American former ice dancer. With partner Larry Pierce, she captured the junior title at the 1959 U.S. Championships. Competing on the senior level the following year, they won the silver medal at the ...

, suffered an injury shortly before the championships that made her unable to compete, and Pierce persuaded Sherbloom to join him. The newly formed pair went on to win the gold medal at Nationals and followed that up with a fourth-place finish at the

North American Figure Skating Championships The North American Figure Skating Championships were a former elite figure skating competition for skaters from the United States and Canada. It was a biennial (every two years) competition held between 1923 and 1971, with locations alternating ...

. Pierce and Sherbloom were en route to the World Championships in 1961 when their plane (

Sabena Flight 548 Sabena Flight 548 was a Boeing 707-329 flight operated by Sabena that crashed en route from New York City to Brussels, Belgium, on February 15, 1961. The flight, which had originated at Idlewild International Airport, crashed on approach to Bru ...

) crashed near

Brussels, Belgium Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, killing all on board. She was 18 at the time of her death and was buried at the

Holy Cross Cemetery Holy Cross Cemetery may refer to: United States California *Holy Cross Cemetery (Colma, California) *Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California * Holy Cross Cemetery (Menlo Park, California) * Holy Cross Cemetery (Pomona, California) *Holy C ...

Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most d ...

Results

(with Larry Pierce)

References

U.S. Figure Skating biography
* American female ice dancers 1942 births 1961 deaths Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Belgium Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1961 20th-century American women 20th-century American people {{US-figure-skating-bio-stub