Laurence Rochon "Laurie" Owen (; May 9, 1944 – February 15, 1961) was a Hall of Fame
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
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 ...
. She was the 1961
U.S. National Champion and represented the
United States at the 1960 Winter Olympics, where she placed 6th. She was the daughter of
Maribel Vinson and
Guy Owen and the sister of
Maribel Owen
Maribel Yerxa Owen (April 25, 1940 – February 15, 1961) was an American figure skater.
She was the daughter of skaters Maribel Vinson and Guy Owen and the sister of 1961 U.S. Ladies' Champion Laurie Owen. With pairs partner Dudley Ri ...
. Owen died, along with her mother, sister and the entire
United States Figure Skating
U.S. Figure Skating is the national governing body for the sport of figure skating in the United States. It is recognized as such by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee "USOPC" under the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act an ...
team, in the crash of
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 ...
en route to the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships.
Life and career
Owen was born in
Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
, and for the first eight years grew up in
Berkeley
Berkeley most often refers to:
*Berkeley, California, a city in the United States
**University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California
* George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher
Berkeley may also refer ...
. She was the second child of
Guy Owen and
Maribel Vinson, both talented figure skaters, and the younger sister of pairs skater
Maribel Owen
Maribel Yerxa Owen (April 25, 1940 – February 15, 1961) was an American figure skater.
She was the daughter of skaters Maribel Vinson and Guy Owen and the sister of 1961 U.S. Ladies' Champion Laurie Owen. With pairs partner Dudley Ri ...
. In 1952, shortly after the death of her husband, Maribel Vinson moved her family back to her girlhood home at 195 High Street in
Winchester, Massachusetts
Winchester is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, located 8.2 miles (13.2 km) north of downtown Boston as part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. It is also one of the List of Massachusetts locations by per capita income, wealt ...
, where they lived with Maribel's mother. Laurence, who at school was known by her full name, attended Winchester Junior High School and then
Winchester High School where in addition to maintaining her grueling training schedule she was an honor student, wrote poetry, and participated in several sports.
In 1956, Owen won the Eastern Junior Ladies title but was unable to participate in the United States Championships that year because of a broken wrist. In 1958, she placed 3rd in the United States Figure Skating Championship Junior Ladies Division and, in 1959, won the United States Figure Skating Championship Junior Ladies Division.
In January 1960, Owen placed 3rd in the
1960 United States Figure Skating Championships and qualified for the
1960 Winter Olympics
The 1960 Winter Olympics (officially the VIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Squaw Valley 1960) were a winter multi-sport event held from February 18 to 28, 1960, at the Squaw Valley Resort (now known as Palisades Tahoe) in Squaw Vall ...
where she placed 6th. Her mother, the
1932 Winter Olympics
The 1932 Winter Olympics, officially known as the III Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Lake Placid 1932, were a winter multi-sport event in the United States, held in Lake Placid, New York, United States. The games opened on February ...
Bronze Medalist and nine times US Singles Champion
Maribel Vinson-Owen, was her coach.
On January 29, 1961, Owen won 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 – ...
in Colorado Springs and on February 12 that same year, won the 1961
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 ...
in Philadelphia.
After her victory at the US Nationals, she became a media sensation and was nicknamed "The Winchester Pixie."
On February 13, 1961 she appeared on the cover of ''
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...
'' magazine with a feature story that described her as "America's most exciting girl skater." In that same ''
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...
'' issue, writer Barbara Hellman noted that Owen had both great presence and a dancer's ability to relate to her music and described her free skating as having "an air, a style, an individuality which sets it apart from all the work done in free skating in recent years."
On January 28, 2011 Owen was inducted into the
United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame The United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame serves as a repository for the sport of figure skating. The United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame is where the greatest names in the history of the sport are honored. To be inducted into it is consid ...
along with the entire 1961 World Team. Her sister Maribel Owen also was inducted and her mother Maribel Vinson-Owen was inducted for a third time in 2011, in her capacity as a 1961 World Team Coach. Previously, her mother had been inducted in the inaugural Class of 1976 as a singles skater and for a second time in 1994 as a pairs skater.
On February 17, 2011 the U.S. Figure Skating Association released the documentary film entitled "Rise 1961". The movie chronicled the relationship between Owen and her mother, the airliner crash in Belgium and the rebirth of the United States Figure Skating Team after the crash.
Death
As national champion, Owen was selected as a member of the U.S. Figure Skating Team to compete in the 1961
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 ...
, to be held in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
,
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
. The championships were scheduled to begin on February 22, 1961.
Just before 7:30 pm EST, on Valentine's Day 1961, Owen, her mother Maribel Vinson-Owen, her sister Maribel and the rest of the US team, along with 16 of the team's friends, family and coaches, boarded
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 ...
at
Idlewild Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the New ...
in New York.
On February 15, 1961, about 10:00 am Brussels time, the
Boeing 707
The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 20, ...
approached
Zaventem Airport
Brussels Airport, nl, Luchthaven Brussel, vls, Vliegpling Brussel, german: Flughafen Brüssel is an international airport northeast of Brussels, the capital of Belgium. In 2019, more than 26 million passengers arrived or departed at Brus ...
. The aircraft was on a long approach to runway 20 when, near the runway threshold and at a height of 900 feet, power was increased and the landing gear retracted. The airplane attempted to circle and land on another runway but never made it back to the airport. The plane made three 360-degree turns to the left, during which the bank angle increased more and more until the aircraft had climbed to 1500 feet and was in a near vertical attitude. The 707 then leveled wings, abruptly pitched up, lost speed, and started to spiral rapidly, nose down, towards the ground. It crashed and caught fire in a marshy area adjacent to a farm field less than two miles from the airport () at 10:04 a.m. Brussels time.
All 72 people on board, as well as a farmer on the ground, were killed.
Rescue workers discovered a signed copy of the ''Sports Illustrated'' magazine, featuring Owen with her signature pixie cut and a bright red skating dress on the cover, amid the wreckage.
Laurence Owen was only 16 years old.
The World Championships that year were cancelled out of respect for the United States team.
A memorial service was held on February 26, and Owen was interred that day beside her mother and sister in
Mount Auburn Cemetery
Mount Auburn Cemetery is the first rural cemetery, rural, or garden, cemetery in the United States, located on the line between Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, Watertown in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middl ...
in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
.
Epilogue
In her book on figure skating,
Debbi Wilkes, a Canadian Hall of Fame skater and coach who watched Owen win her title, wrote:
:"Laurence was wonderful. She had a fresh, wholesome look, but didn't fit into any mold. She was carefree and joyous on the ice. She had wonderful rosy cheeks, beautiful big eyes and a short shag haircut that feathered over her face and fluttered when she skated. I was totally enchanted by her."
Owen had planned to attend her mother's alma mater,
Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...
, with a view to eventually becoming a writer. Following her death, at her high school in
Winchester, Massachusetts
Winchester is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, located 8.2 miles (13.2 km) north of downtown Boston as part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. It is also one of the List of Massachusetts locations by per capita income, wealt ...
, Laurie Owen's English teacher read a poem to her classmates that Laurie had recently written. The poem ended with these words:
:''Gloom is but a shadow of the night, long past;''
:''Hope is the light, ''
:''The radiance.''
Results
See also
*
Maribel Vinson
*
Maribel Owen
Maribel Yerxa Owen (April 25, 1940 – February 15, 1961) was an American figure skater.
She was the daughter of skaters Maribel Vinson and Guy Owen and the sister of 1961 U.S. Ladies' Champion Laurie Owen. With pairs partner Dudley Ri ...
*
Guy Owen
*
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 ...
*
Sports Illustrated cover jinx
The ''Sports Illustrated'' cover jinx is an urban legend that states that individuals or teams who appear on the cover of the ''Sports Illustrated'' magazine will subsequently be jinxed (experience bad luck).
Explanations
A common explanation fo ...
References
*
*
Footnotes
External links
U.S. Figure Skating biographyFebruary 13, 1961 Sports Illustrated Cover
{{DEFAULTSORT:Owen, Laurence
American female single skaters
Figure skaters at the 1960 Winter Olympics
1944 births
1961 deaths
Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Belgium
Olympic figure skaters of the United States
Sportspeople from Berkeley, California
People from Winchester, Massachusetts
Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery
Sportspeople from Middlesex County, Massachusetts
American sportspeople of Canadian descent
Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1961
20th-century American women
20th-century American people