Hamill, Dorothy

Dorothy Hamill

With her magnificent leaps, tornado–swift spins and a trend–setting wedge haircut, 19–year–old American figure skater Dorothy Hamill (born 1956) captured the 1976 Olympic gold as well as the hearts and minds of the American public. As a figure–skating champion with an innocent, squeaky–clean image, Hamill became an instant celebrity after her win before millions of television viewers. Girls and women flocked to hair salons and ordered her haircut by name. Life magazine dubbed it one of the most important fashion statements of the past 50 years.

Began Skating on Neighborhood Pond

Hamill was born July 26, 1956, in Chicago, Illinois, to Carol (Clough) and Chalmers Hamill. She grew up in Riverside, Connecticut, with her older brother, Sandy, and sister, Marcia. Her father worked as an executive at Pitney Bowes. As a child, Hamill spent a lot of time with her grandparents, Jonsie and Bill Clough. It was on the pond behind their home in Wellesley, Massachusetts, that eight–year–old Hamill strapped on her first pair of skates—a too–big pair of ragged hand–me–downs both of her siblings had worn. They were so big her grandmother had to tuck foam rubber into the toes to make them fit. In her autobiography, Dorothy Hamill: On and Off the Ice, Hamill recounted that first magical moment on the ice: "I sat on the bank of the pond trying to lace the boots with impatient, frozen fingers. At last I struggled upright, wobbling precariously. I took a cautious step forward and, as I felt the ice under my blades, something inside me surged."

Hamill spent endless hours skating on the pond until she was nearly frozen. Then, she would run inside and get a cup of steaming sugar–and–cream–rich coffee from her grandmother. Hamill was hooked; she begged her mother for a new pair of properly fitting skates. One day, she returned home from school to find them sitting on the table. Hamill took them to the neighborhood pond for a trial but was dismayed because the other kids could already skate backward. She begged her parents for lessons and they gave in.

Hamill learned to skate backward, but she was still not satisfied. Now she wanted to spin. In the summer of 1968, Hamill's mother enrolled her in classes at the Stamford Shopping Mall's ice studio. By the end of the lessons, Hamill had learned to do her first jump—a bunny hop, which is a hop into the air while skating forward. The teacher told Hamill's parents that she showed real talent, so they enrolled her in private weekly lessons in Rye, New York.

Entered First Competition at Age Nine

In the fall of 1965, nine–year–old Hamill participated in her first competition—the Wollman Open—held at New York City's Central Park. She took second. By now, Hamill's parents sensed her determination and allowed her to spend the next summer training at Lake Placid, New York, a former Olympic venue and training center for many ice–skaters. Hamill trained with Czechoslovakian coach Otto Gold, who had been the European skating champion in his younger years. Gold was a strict disciplinarian, who demanded much of his students. This change in coaching style was good for Hamill, and she made a lot of progress. However, at the end–of–summer Lake Placid competition, she finished eighth. Hamill was disappointed; Gold was undaunted. He told her parents that she was a proficient technical skater but needed more training in free skating in order to connect her moves more gracefully.

Overhearing this conversation stirred up a bunch of emotions in Hamill. It gave her a complex, but it also sparked a new level of determination. Writing in her autobiography, Hamill explained her turning point this way: "As I listened to this conversation I got the idea that I had an inborn lack of grace. It was a notion that was to stay with me for many years." Her style changed. "I began to attack my skating ferociously: if I could not be artistic, then I would be athletic. I would jump higher and spin faster than any girl alive."

Trained with World – Class Coaches

Hamill spent the summer of 1967 at Lake Placid again, this time training with Swiss coach Gustave Lussi, coach to 1948 Olympic gold medalist Dick Button. Lussi was the first coach Hamill developed a complete trust in and this was reflected in her progress. She mastered complicated footwork that had troubled her before. Under his direction, Hamill attempted her first double axel. It is one of the most demanding double jumps because the skater must complete two–and–a–half revolutions in the air. After watching her fail again and again, Lussi offered Hamill one of the most valuable lessons of her career. Hamill reiterated the conversation in her autobiography: "You have to believe you can do it," Lussi told her. "You have to have guts to be a great skater. You have to attack it with absolute confidence. If you hesitate you are lost. Go out there and give every move you do everything you've got."

By the fall of 1969, 13–year–old Hamill was training daily with Sonya and Peter Dunfield in Manhattan. The trip took 90 minutes. Back in Connecticut, school became a struggle. Hamill was overtired and always late. She also lost connections with her school friends because she could never socialize with them at night. When they invited her to a movie, she had to turn them down so she could go to bed early. In time, Hamill and her mother moved to New York City and Hamill dropped out of the formal education system, enrolling at a private tutoring school that fit her skating schedule.

By 1971, Hamill was competing in international competitions. During a trip to Japan, Hamill met Carlo Fassi, the man who had trained U.S. figure–skater Peggy Fleming when she won the 1968 Olympic gold. After the trip, Hamill began working with Fassi. He was an expert at improving the overall look of a skater—no detail was more important than any other. Hamill and her mother moved to Denver to train with Fassi.

To get through the tedious training sessions, Hamill learned to daydream as she traced the same figures in the ice over and over again. Fassi could tell she was just going through the motions; this infuriated him. Fassi told Hamill that when she skated, the only thing she could think about was the blade on the ice. According to her autobiography, Hamill told Fassi that she had to daydream to get through the boring sessions, to which he replied, "Then give it up, Dorothy. Just give it up. Either you do it right, or you don't do it at all—okay?" This exchange marked another turning point in her career. From then on, Hamill knew that she had to be completely present whenever she took to the ice.

Under Fassi, Hamill made marked improvements and continued entering international competitions. In 1974, she won her first National championship in the Senior Division at Providence, Rhode Island, repeating in 1975 and 1976. As the 1976 Olympic trials approached, Hamill skated seven to eight hours a day and worked out with a physical trainer six days a week.

Won Olympic Gold

The 1976 Olympics were held in Innsbruck, Austria. Hamill nailed her compulsory figures and earned high marks for her short program. Just 19, she was in the running for the gold. It all rested on her performance in the long program. The day before the final competition, Hamill's mother tried to get her mind off the event by taking her to see the places where her favorite movie, the Sound of Music, was filmed. While they were sightseeing, piles of telegrams arrived in Hamill's room. Reading them overwhelmed her. Speaking to the Dallas Morning News' Cathy Harasta, Hamill summed up the moment this way: "I started to read them and realized I didn't know any of the people who sent them. They were all well–wishers. I felt this great sense of loneliness and responsibility. I started to cry and get all upset."

Hamill pulled herself together and found herself in the center of the rink with her knees shaking, waiting for the music to begin. She recalled coach Lussi's words: Give it everything you have. She remembered Fassi's advice: Focus. "And then I was skating and I had never felt as good as I did at that moment," she recalled in her autobiography, entitled Dorothy Hammill: On and Off the Ice. "I felt I possessed endless strength and I knew instinctively that I was not going to fall. I was skating better than I had ever skated in my life."

Hamill's flawlessly executed performance wowed the crowd. Her routine included her trademark "Hamill Camel," a camel spin lowered into a back sit spin. In a regular camel, the skater jumps with one leg extending backwards in the air while bent at the waist. The skater then lands on the other leg and spins. Hamill took it one step farther, bending her legs and dropping into a sit spin. She won the gold and went on to win the World Figure Skating Championship in Göteborg, Sweden, a few weeks later.

Prior to the Olympics, legendary Japanese stylist Yusuke Suga had cut Hamill's hair into a distinctive layered wedge. Every time Hamill did a spin, her thick brown hair fanned out like a halo, then fell back into place. Her hair became as popular as she was. After the Olympics, women and girls everywhere cut their hair in a short and sassy Hamill wedge. Hamill's shy innocence and stunning Olympic performance had turned her into America's sweetheart. She appeared on the cover of Time. Speaking to the Dallas Morning News' Harasta, 1972 Olympian and Hamill friend Gordie McKellen described her popularity this way: "Dorothy had that apple–pie–and–Chevrolet aura. She was a gift to the figure skating world."

Launched Professional Ice Career

Hamill was the 1976 National, World and Olympic champion. There was no more left for her to conquer in the amateur world of skating, so she moved on. Hamill signed a $1 million–a–year contract with the Ice Capades, becoming the first female athlete to earn that much in a contract. She had other offers as well; the Ideal Toy Company produced a doll in her likeness. Hamill was one of the first female athletes to earn money through endorsement deals.

Along the way, Hamill met Dean Martin Jr., son of entertainer Dean Martin. They married on January 8, 1982, but the marriage ended later in divorce. He later died in a plane crash. In the mid–1980s, Hamill appeared in a CBS ice special version of Romeo and Juliet, for which she earned a 1984 Daytime Emmy award. She also continued to compete, winning four straight World Professional Figure Skating championships, 1984–87.

In 1986, Hamill met sports physician Kenneth Forsythe. They married a year later and had a daughter, Alexandra. When the Ice Capades approached bankruptcy in the early 1990s, Hamill and Forsythe purchased the company and revamped the show. With her connections, Hamill brought in amazingly talented skaters. Though she was working as producer, Hamill also found time to skate. She played the title role in the company's popular production of "Cinderella . . . Fozen in Time." Facing tough competition from Walt Disney's World on Ice, she sold the Ice Capades in 1995. By 1996, Hamill had filed for bankruptcy and was going through another divorce.

Through all the changes in her life, skating remained a constant. As of 2004, Hamill was still skating with the Champions on Ice tour in a production titled Broadway on Ice. She had, however pared down her schedule to spend more time with her teenage daughter. Hamill was rotating her role with skating stars Tara Lipinski and Nancy Kerrigan. Hamill told Grand Rapids Press writer Sue Merrell that she enjoyed the change of pace the show offered. "There's an exciting burst of energy trying to skate to a live singer. . . . It's more like a dance in a piano nightclub. Skating to recorded music is fine, but there's a wonderful unpredictability when it is happening live."

Books

Hamill, Dorothy with Elva Clairmont, Dorothy Hamill: On and Off the Ice, Alfred A. Knopf, 1983.

The Women's Game, edited by Dick Wimmer, Burford Books, 2000.

Periodicals

Chicago Tribune, May 16, 2000.

Children's Digest, January–February 1995.

Christian Science Monitor, April 15, 1996.

Dallas Morning News, February 12, 2001.

Grand Rapids Press, November 7, 2004.

Sports Illustrated, March 7, 1994.