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Maribel Owen

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This article is about the American pair skater. For her mother, see Maribel Vinson.
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
Country United States
Skating clubSC of Boston
Medal record
Pairs' Figure skating
Representing the
 United States
North American Championships
Silver medal – second place 1961 Philadelphia Pairs

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 Laurence Owen. With pairs partner Dudley Richards, they placed tenth at 1960 Winter Olympics and won the U.S. national championship in 1961. Along with her mother, sister, and the U.S. Figure Skating team and coaches, Owen died in the crash of Sabena Flight 548 en route to the 1961 World Championships.[1][2]

Life and career

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Born in Boston, 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 were coached by their mother.[4]

Owen began to skate when she was a toddler. When the family lived in Berkeley, California, she competed in girls' singles competitions representing the St. Moritz Ice Skating Club. After her parents' divorce in 1949 and her father's death in 1952, Owen, her mother and sister returned to the Boston area in 1952 to live with her recently widowed maternal grandmother, Gertrude Vinson, in Winchester.

Owen formed a pairs team with Charles Foster, who was later president of the United States Figure Skating Association). In 1956, when she was 15, she and Foster became the U.S. junior national champions. That same year, Owen persuaded the United States Figure Skating Association to schedule the U.S. Figure Skating Championships ahead of the World Figure Skating Championships rather than to continue selecting team members based on their performance in competition during the previous year. Owen said this would enable the United States to select competitors for the world competition who would be in top physical condition at the time they competed.[5]

When Foster retired from competition to attend medical school, she teamed with Dudley Richards,[3] a longtime friend and former college roommate of Ted Kennedy at Harvard. With Richards, Owen competed at the 1960 Winter Olympics, placing tenth after finishing runner-up at the U.S. championships. They won the 1961 United States Figure Skating Championships and the silver medal at the 1961 North American Figure Skating Championships.

Owen was a senior at Boston University, where she was majoring in sociology and anthropology. She was also a member of Sigma Kappa sorority at Boston University. She hoped to become a teacher.[6] Owen was close to her mother, though Maribel Vinson Owen was a demanding coach who set high expectations for both her daughters. The younger Maribel, who was more reserved than her mother and younger sister, experienced significant stress from the pressures of her skating career and her university studies, which caused her to lose weight and develop a bleeding ulcer. She continued with her grueling schedule despite her pain.[5] Richards, more than eight years her senior, became her partner when she was seventeen and was a close friend who often ran errands for the family. Richards was also emotionally supportive of Owen. Owen and Richards were romantically involved during the last months of their lives, and Richards had planned to propose marriage to Owen after the world competition in Prague.[5]

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 1961 World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia. The team was on Sabena Flight 548, a Boeing 707, which crashed on a clear morning near Brussels, Belgium, killing all on board. Owen was 20 years old. The World Championships that year were canceled following the crash.[7][8][9]

Owen was interred next to her mother and sister in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. Her grandmother, Gertrude Vinson, was interred beside her daughter and granddaughters following her own death in 1969.

Legacy

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On January 28, 2011, Owen was inducted into the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame along 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.[10]

In Winchester, the Vinson-Owen elementary school was named in her family's honor.[11]

Results

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(pairs with Dudley 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. Retrieved February 19, 2014.
  3. ^ a b "Meet the Champions", Skating magazine, April 1961
  4. ^ Heilman, Barbara (February 13, 1961). "Mother set the style". Sports Illustrated. p. 39. Archived from the original on October 13, 2009.
  5. ^ a b c Nichols, Nikki (November 25, 2008). Frozen in Time: The Enduring Legacy of the 1961 U.S. Figure Skating Team. Clerisy Press. p. 102. ASIN B0066A8R1C.
  6. ^ Heilman, Barbara (February 13, 1961). "MOTHER SET THE STYLE". Sports Illustrated.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ "Skating cancelled". Ottawa Citizen. Associated Press. February 16, 1961. p. 1.
  8. ^ Armour, Nancy (February 10, 2011). "US skating program rose from ashes of '61 crash". USA Today. Associated Press.
  9. ^ Swift, E.M. (February 21, 2011). "The Day the Music Stopped". Sports Illustrated. pp. 70–75. Archived from the original on February 23, 2014.
  10. ^ "Skating hall to honor 1961 U.S. Team".
  11. ^ "Vinson-Owen Elementary School: school info". Winchester Public Schools. Retrieved February 19, 2014.
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