Two-time Men's Olympic Champion challenges credibility of World F.S. Hall of Fame

[Visaliakid]

Dick Button to boycott his vote for World Figure Skating Hall of Fame 2012 nominees: Open Letter Challenges HOF leadership on lack of transparency and integrity.

Read his open letter to World Figure Skating Hall of Fame leadership published this morning at Blazing Blades.

[BigB08822]

Oh, snap! Gotta love him. His point about Bianchetti is shocking. Sounds like they took her off for personal reasons or to favor someone else, she nearly won last year!

[~tapdancer~]

Interesting read. I have no informed knowledge of his complaints but they sound like legitimate concerns.

[Visaliakid]

This decision by Mr. Button not only is based on solid facts (which he explains in his letter), but it must be painful for him in that he wants to vote for Michelle Kwan's election to the WHOF as well as the other nominees. He also made it clear in an aside to me that this not in direct support of Sonia Bianchetti's apparent blackballing from being nominated, but rather having more to do with the WHOF's leadership arbitrary decision making on how nominations are handled and improper procedures followed.

I admire Mr. Button's courage and conviction to stand up publicly on these issues. He is really challenging the USFSA connection to the World Hall of Fame and all the corrupting politics it brings with it.

I encourage everyone to read this. Kudos to Mr. Button!

[bek]

The World Hall of Fame should not be run by the USFSA and I've always questioned it when a team like G/P is not in it.

[skatesindreams]

I admire his stance on this.
I hope that it leads to whatever changes need to be made to assure a fair/transparent nomination and election process.

I also hope that it will not affect the election of any worthy nominees this year.

[barbk]

He certainly hasn't lost any of his writing or analytical skills. I hope there is some action on this.

[nuge]

The World Hall of Fame should not be run by the USFSA and I've always questioned it when a team like G/P is not in it.

Do you mean Grishuk/Platov ? if so that's shocking

[MR-FAN]

I Effin LOVE Him. He's the only one who's opinion can set the figure skating "politicians" straight. I love how informed he is, and how articulate the letter is for someone in his 80s

His concerns had better be addressed, and publicly!

[bardtoob]

I think it is shocking that Sonia Bianchetti, who wrote a majority of the ISU's technical references for singles and pairs (co-authored with Moskovina), fell off the list so easily after receiving 48% of the vote the previous year for, apparently, no specific reason. She was also an Olympic, World, and ISU International level judge and the first woman to hold top tier offices in the ISU.

[Karpenko]

Once he passes, Dick Button will forever be remembered as the most influential person in the history of figure skating. He's devoted his entire life to it and has inspired so many people (like me) to take an interest in figure skating based on his passion through his commentary. He's smart, passionate, cooooky, and completely nuts at times, but he knows his stuff better than all of us on this board put together and is one of the only ones ballsy enough to stand up for the integrity of skating.

[kwanfan1818]

He wasn't exactly accountable to anything but his own taste in choosing the competitors for his own "World" Professional Championships.

[crzesk8dad]

He wasn't exactly accountable to anything but his own taste in choosing the competitors for his own "World" Professional Championships.

But, he paid for it. The Golden Rule applied: He who has the gold, makes the rules.

[skatesindreams]

For many years the skaters participating regarded the World Pro as the one of the most important things they did.
There were many performances deserving to be cherished and remembered.

[Vash01]

The World Hall of Fame should not be run by the USFSA and I've always questioned it when a team like G/P is not in it.

Yes, it is shocking that Grishchuk-Plaotv (2 time Olympic champions, 4 time world champions) are not in the world FS HOF. It should not be run by the USFSA. It truly needs to be a WORLD HOF, with all parts of the world (not necessarily every country) represented on it.

[shan]

I had no idea that the USFSA ran the World HOF.

[kwanfan1818]

But, he paid for it. The Golden Rule applied: He who has the gold, makes the rules.

Then it seems that the World Hall of Fame is run by the principle that possession is 90% of ownership.

[skipaway]

Have G&P been nominated? I find Dick Button has many quality points in his letter.

I think the USFSA should pass leadership of the WHOF to a non-partisan group. Maybe FSU should run it

[overedge]

Good for him. This is an excellent letter.
I particularly like that he offers to pay for an independent accounting firm to audit the voting. That might discourage the USFSA coming back with something like, well, we would love to do all these things Mr. Button suggests but we can't afford it, our money should go to helping the skaters, etc. etc. etc.

[mtnskater]

Once he passes, Dick Button will forever be remembered as the most influential person in the history of figure skating. He's devoted his entire life to it and has inspired so many people (like me) to take an interest in figure skating based on his passion through his commentary. He's smart, passionate, cooooky, and completely nuts at times, but he knows his stuff better than all of us on this board put together and is one of the only ones ballsy enough to stand up for the integrity of skating.

^^^^ THIS! Couldn't have said it better.