Ronald Ludington obit

Figure skating icon Ron Ludington, who won Olympic bronze and coached dozens of Olympians in Delaware, dies

 

He was not on the list.

Ron Ludington, an Olympic bronze medalist as a pairs figure skater in 1960 and a coach for dozens of Olympians during a career that spanned more than 50 years, including more than 40 years in the state of Delaware, died Thursday at the age of 85.

Ludington, or "Luddy," as he was affectionately known, was named to the Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1999. During his coaching career, Ludington turned the Skating Club of Wilmington and University of Delaware into nationally-renowned training venues for elite figure skaters.

At the Skating Club of Wilmington, that included 1984 Olympic pairs silver medalists Peter and Kitty Carruthers.

In 1987, Ludington became the director of UD's Ice Skating Science Development Center.

At UD, he coached 1992 Olympians Calla Urbanski and Rocky Marval, a pairs team. And he helped train three-time national champion and two-time Olympian Johnny Weir, whose coach was Priscilla Hill; along with 2006 World Champion and Olympian Kimmie Meissner, coached by Pamela Gregory.

When Ludington officially retired from UD in 2010, he had coached skaters in nine consecutive Olympics, more than 30 in all. Many of those skaters ended up having long coaching careers in Delaware.

That included 1984 and 1988 Olympian Scott Gregory, an ice dancer. Gregory has coached at UD since 1988.

"Luddy was such a powerful and great man, and everyone looked up to him with such respect," Gregory said. "He was such a great skater and coach that you were almost scared to have a lesson with him because you wanted to do so well for him."

Weir said he had a similar feeling with Ludington.

"He was at every one of my practices," Weir said. "He basically oversaw all the young talent at UD. He would always tell me to work hard, and that if I did that, I'd make it.

"I would work hard for my coach, just so she could tell him that. Luddy was such a stabilizing force for me."

When Weir was 13 years old, Hill couldn't attend his first junior nationals in Slovakia. Ludington was taking other skaters there, so he served as Weir's "stand-in coach" for the event.

"He had a great demeanor about him," Weir said. "He didn't yell or scream, but he definitely got his point across. He could be stern, and you would listen in a way that you'd listen to everything your grandparents would tell you because you'd want to please them, and because they experienced a lot and had so much knowledge."

That kind of instruction continued right up until the coronavirus pandemic forced the shutdown of public buildings, such as skating rinks, in mid-March.

Peter Bilous, the general manager of the Skating Club of Wilmington, said Ludington would often come to the rink on weekends to help coach young pupils and tell stories.

"I don't know if it was his teaching style as much as his demeanor, but everyone wanted to be coached by Luddy," Bilous said. "He just had an attitude on the ice of being a happy-go-lucky guy who always drew the best out of you."

Perhaps that happy-go-lucky attitude came from the near-death experiences that Ludington managed to avoid.

Ludington began his coaching career shortly after the 1960 Olympics, where he and his first wife Nancy won the bronze medal. As a young coach, Ludington had planned to accompany his pupils, pairs skaters Robert and Patricia Dineen, to the World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, in the Czech Republic in Feb. 1961.

Back then, coaches had to pay their own way, and Ludington couldn't afford the flight and accommodations, so he backed out at the last minute.

All 72 passengers, including 18 U.S. figure skating team members and their coaches, were killed when the plane crashed in Belgium. Among the victims was Ludington's coach when he was a skater, Maribel Vinson Owen.

Ludington kept a picture of Owen in his office ever since. He attended every other world championship from 1957 through 1999.

"There was only one that I ever missed, and that was the plane crash," Ludington told the News Journal in 2010.

Ludington also escaped death during a propane explosion at the Indianapolis Coliseum during an ice show in October, 1963.

The explosion claimed the lives of 74 people.

"Somebody was blown across the ice right next to me, and he was dead," Ludington said. "So I guess you can say I'm pretty lucky."

Ludington's coaching career blossomed after the plane crash. Because many of the top coaches perished on the flight, he and other young coaches started training the next wave of Olympic skaters.

At the time, Ludington was based in Detroit. He would also coach in Lake Placid, New York during the summers. That's where he noticed Bilous in 1970. Bilous was 15 years old at the time.

Later that year, Ludington moved to the Skating Club of Wilmington. Bilous' family then moved to Allentown, Pennsylvania and commuted to Wilmington to train with Ludington.

"I didn't have a partner at the time," said Bilous, an ice dancer. "He said he had a partner for me. He had a host of high-level skaters, and he was always creative with what he put together."

That creativity began at an early age.

Ron and Nancy Ludington won four straight national championships from 1957-60. The Ludingtons also earned a bronze medal at the 1959 world championships before winning the bronze at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California.

They are one of six U.S. pairs teams ever to medal at the Games.

At the height of Ludington's coaching career in the 1980s, he had eight pupils at the 1984 Olympics and six more in 1988. Many skaters represented other countries at the Olympics, but made Delaware their training ground.

That included 1998 ice-dancing gold medalists Oksana Grishuk and Evgeny Platov from Russia.

It also included Gregory, who competed at the Olympics with Elisa Spitz in 1984. He then paired with Suzanne Semanick in 1988.

Gregory was living in central New York, in a town named Skaneateles, when he moved to Delaware as a 20-year-old in 1980 to train under Ludington.

Gregory's ice time at the Skating Club of Wilmington would often take place from 11 p.m. until about 4 a.m. Ludington would stay until about 2 a.m. because he had to get up early the next morning to coach more pupils.

But Gregory said the life lessons from Ludington were just as worthwhile as the skating lessons. Later on, Gregory said he rented a house near the Skating Club of Wilmington for skaters training there. He said Ludington would stop over often to talk with the skaters and coaches, and just hang out.

"He was the most humble person you would ever meet," Gregory said. "He gave everyone the same respect, no matter what level of skater you were."

Added Weir: "He was so charismatic. He really revolutionized the way figure skating is done in the state. He leaves an amazing legacy. To make it to the pinnacle and stand on the podium as a skater, and then do it again as a coach, is amazing.

"Look at how many Olympians came out of Delaware, and it's all due to the base Luddy built in the state."

Funeral information is pending.