Wikipedia

Maribel Owen

This article is about the American pair skater. For her mother, seeMaribel Vinson.

Maribel Yerxa Owen(April 25, 1940 – February 15, 1961) was an Americanfigure skater.

Maribel Owen
Full nameMaribel Yerxa Owen
Born(1940-04-25)April 25, 1940
Boston,Massachusetts
DiedFebruary 15, 1961(1961-02-15)(aged 20)
Berg-Kampenhout,
Flemish Brabant,Belgium
Figure skating career
CountryUnited States
Skating clubSC of Boston
Medal record
Pairs'Figure skating
Representingthe
United States
North American Championships
Silver medal – second place 1961 Philadelphia Pairs

She was the daughter of skatersMaribel VinsonandGuy Owenand the sister of 1961 U.S. Ladies' ChampionLaurie Owen.WithpairspartnerDudley Richards,they placed tenth at1960 Winter Olympicsand won theU.S. national championshipin 1961. Along with her mother, sister, and theU.S. Figure Skatingteam and coaches, Owen died in the crash ofSabena Flight 548en route to the 1961 World Championships.[1][2]

Life and career

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Born inBoston,Massachusetts,Owen was the first child born to Guy Owen and Maribel Vinson. She was named after her mother, and was known as "Maribel, Jr." or "Mara".[3]Her younger sister Laurence was also a champion skater, both coached by their mother.[4]

Owen began to skate before the age of three and at the time the Owen family was living inBerkeley, California,and she competed in girls' singles competitions representing the St. Moritz Ice Skating Club. After her parents' divorce and her father's death, the Owen family moved east to the Boston area in 1952 to live with their recently widowed grandmother inWinchester.Owen formed a pairs team withCharles Foster(later president of theUnited States Figure Skating Association). In 1956, when she age 15, she and Foster became theU.S. junior national champions.When Foster retired from competition to attend medical school, she teamed withDudley Richards,[3]a college roommate ofTed KennedyatHarvard.

With Richards, she competed at the1960 Winter Olympics,placing tenth after finishing runner-up at the U.S. championships. They won the1961 United States Figure Skating Championshipsand the silver medal at the 1961North American Figure Skating Championships.

On January 28, 2011, Owen was inducted into theUnited States Figure Skating Hall of Famealong with the entire 1961 World Team. Her sister Laurence 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.[5]

Owen was a student atBoston University,where she was majoring insociologyandanthropology.She was also a member ofSigma Kappasorority at Boston University.

Death

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Main article:Sabena Flight 548

As a result of winning the national championship, Owen was selected to be a member of the U.S. team for the 1961World Figure Skating ChampionshipsinPrague,Czechoslovakia.The team was onSabena Flight 548,aBoeing 707,which crashed on a clear morning nearBrussels,Belgium,killing all on board. Owen was only 20 years old and the World Championships that year were soon cancelled.[6][7][8]

Owen was interred next to her mother and sister inMount Auburn CemeteryinCambridge.In Winchester, the Vinson-Owen elementary school was named in her family's honor.[9]

Results

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(pairs withDudley Richards)

Event 1958 1959 1960 1961
Winter Olympics 10th
World Championships 6th 10th
North American Championships 2nd
U.S. Championships 3rd 3rd 2nd 1st

See also

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References

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  1. ^"Air crash fatal to 73 is probed".Spokesman-Review.February 16, 1961. p. 1.
  2. ^Johnson, Bonnie D. (2011)."Still Crystal Clear".ESPN. Outside the Lines.RetrievedFebruary 19,2014.
  3. ^ab"Meet the Champions",Skatingmagazine, April 1961
  4. ^Heilman, Barbara (February 13, 1961)."Mother set the style".Sports Illustrated.p. 39. Archived fromthe originalon October 13, 2009.
  5. ^"Skating hall to honor 1961 U.S. Team".
  6. ^"Skating cancelled".Ottawa Citizen.Associated Press. February 16, 1961. p. 1.
  7. ^Armour, Nancy (February 10, 2011)."US skating program rose from ashes of '61 crash".USA Today.Associated Press.
  8. ^Swift, E.M. (February 21, 2011)."The Day the Music Stopped".Sports Illustrated.pp. 70–75. Archived fromthe originalon February 23, 2014.
  9. ^"Vinson-Owen Elementary School: school info".Winchester Public Schools.RetrievedFebruary 19,2014.
  • Nichols, Nikki (2006).Frozen in Time: The Enduring Legacy of the 1961 U.S. Figure Skating Team.Emmis Books.ISBN1-57860-260-2.
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