Robin Huntington Lee (December 2, 1919 in

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississip ...

– October 8, 1997 in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

) 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 ...

. He was the 1935-1939 U.S. national champion. At age 12, he became the youngest skater to win the junior national title. At the 1935 United States Figure Skating Championships, at the age of 15, he became the first and, as of 2008, the only skater to defeat a seven time national champion in the United States. Lee represented the

United States at the 1936 Winter Olympics The United States competed at the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Medalists The following U.S. competitors won medals at the games. In the by discipline sections below, medalists' names are bolded. , width="78%" al ...

, where he placed 12th. He was selected to compete at the

1940 Winter Olympics The 1940 Winter Olympics, which would have been officially known as the and as Sapporo 1940 (札幌1940), were to have been celebrated from 3 to 12 February 1940 in Sapporo, Japan, but the games were eventually cancelled due to the onset of Wo ...

, which were canceled due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. During the War, Lee served in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

. After the War, Lee skated professionally in ice shows and worked as a coach. Lee was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1995. He attended

Erasmus Hall High School Erasmus Hall High School was a four-year public high school located at 899–925 Flatbush Avenue between Church and Snyder Avenues in the Flatbush neighborhood of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It was founded in 1786 as Erasmus Hall Ac ...

. The Robin Lee Midwest Open is a USFS sanctioned competition held each year in the summer by Lee's home club, the

Figure Skating Club of Minneapolis The Figure Skating Club of Minneapolis is a not-for-profit figure skating club based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Formed as the Twin City Figure Skating Club in 1921, and one of the six still-extant founding members of U.S. Figure Skating, the go ...

, named in his honor.

Competitive highlights

References

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Hall of Fame Inductees
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Figure skaters at the 1936 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters of the United States American male single skaters 1919 births 1997 deaths Sportspeople from Saint Paul, Minnesota 20th-century American people {{US-figure-skating-bio-stub