Kenneth Gene Shelley (born October 4, 1951) is 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 both singles and pairs. As a single skater, he won the 1972

United States Figure Skating Championships The U.S. Figure Skating Championships is a figure skating competition held annually to crown the national champions of the United States. The competition is sanctioned by U.S. Figure Skating. In the U.S. skating community, the event is often ...

and placed 4th at the

1972 Winter Olympics The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially the and commonly known as Sapporo 1972 ( ja, 札幌1972), was a winter multi-sport event held from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to take place outside Europe ...

. His highest placement at the

World Figure Skating Championships The World Figure Skating Championships (''"Worlds"'') is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the categories of single skating, men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ...

was a single skater was 7th, in 1972. As a pair skater, he competed with

JoJo Starbuck Alicia "JoJo" Starbuck (born February 14, 1951, Birmingham, Alabama), is an American figure skater. With partner Kenneth Shelley, she is a three-time United States pair skating champion (1970–72) and two-time Olympian (1968, 1972). Early lif ...

, with whom he is a three-time National Champion. Starbuck and Shelley competed in two Olympic Games, placing 13th in 1968 and 4th in 1972, and won two bronze medals at the

. When they made the 1968 Olympic team, they were the youngest athletes the United States had ever sent to the Olympics. Shelley was from

Downey, California Downey is a city located in Southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States, southeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is considered part of the Gateway Cities. The city is the birthplace of the Apollo space program. It is also the home of ...

. He was first paired with Starbuck for a show in 1959, when they were very small children. They started training seriously with coach

John Nicks John Allen Wisden Nicks (born 22 April 1929) is a British figure skating coach and former pair skater. With his sister, Jennifer Nicks, he is the 1953 World champion. As a coach, his skating pupils have included Peggy Fleming, pairs team Tai B ...

at the Arctic Blades FSC in 1961. In their first year of senior competitions, when they were both 16 years old, they qualified to compete at the

1968 Winter Olympics The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games (french: Les Xes Jeux olympiques d'hiver), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 18 February 1968 in Grenoble, France. Thirty-seven countries participated. Frenchm ...

. Both Starbuck and Shelley attended Downey High School, where they performed off-ice lifts with the cheerleading squad"A Gutsy, Gutsy Team / Starbuck & Shelley", ''Skating'' magazine, Jan 1970 and

Long Beach State College California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...

. In the summer of 1969, Shelley had a serious off-ice accident, crashing through a glass patio door at a party. He had surgery to repair two severed tendons and spent 5 weeks in a cast. After retiring from competitive skating, Starbuck and Shelley skated in the

Ice Capades The Ice Capades were traveling entertainment shows featuring theatrical ice skating performances. Shows often featured former Winter Olympic Games, Olympic and United States Figure Skating Championships, US National Champion figure skating, figur ...

and competed professionally. Shelley was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1994.Official Site World Figure Skating Museum and Hall of Fame

Results

Men's singles

Pairs

(with

)

References

Pairs on Ice profile

Navigation

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shelley, Kenneth American male pair skaters American male single skaters Figure skaters at the 1968 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1972 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters of the United States Living people 1951 births World Figure Skating Championships medalists Sportspeople from Downey, California 20th-century American people 21st-century American people