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Guy Owen (figure skater)

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Guy Owen
Owen in 1936
BornGuy Rochon Owen
(1913-08-22)August 22, 1913
DiedApril 21, 1952(1952-04-21) (aged 38)
Ottawa, Ontario
Figure skating career
Country Canada
Medal record
Representing  Canada
Fours' Figure skating
North American Championships
Gold medal – first place 1937 Boston Fours
Gold medal – first place 1935 Montreal Fours
Gold medal – first place 1933 New York Fours
Gold medal – first place 1931 Ottawa Fours

Guy Rochon Owen (August 22, 1913 – April 21, 1952) was a Canadian figure skating champion.

Owen initially competed in the men's individual figure skating event, winning the 1929 Canadian junior men's singles championship. He went on to specialize in the "Fours Event" with great success. For five straight years between 1933 and 1937, Owen and his skating partners Margaret Davis, Prudence Holbrook, and Melville Rogers won the Fours Event at the Canadian National Figure Skating Championships plus they also captured the bi-annual North American Figure Skating Championship three successive times in 1933, 1935, and 1937.

In 1938 Guy Owen married Maribel Vinson, nine-time United States ladies figure skating champion,[1] and settled in Berkeley, California. They had two daughters, Maribel Owen (1940–1961) and Laurence Owen (1944–1961).

Guy and Maribel Owen turned professional, earning a living as performers with ice skating shows such as the International Ice Skate Revue before setting up their own show. They divorced in 1949 and she and the daughters moved back east to the Boston area in 1952, where they lived with her recently widowed mother in Winchester.[2][3][4]

During his final year, Owen worked in Spokane, Washington.[5] While visiting his parents in Ottawa, Owen died at age 38 of a perforated ulcer on April 21, 1952.[6][7] His ex-wife and daughters died nine years later in the Sabena 548 plane crash in Belgium, which killed the U.S. figure skating team in February 1961.[8][9]

Results

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Men's singles

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Event 1929
Canadian Championships 1st J.

Fours

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(with Margaret Davis, Prudence Holbrook, and Melville Rogers)

Event 1933 1935 1937
North American Championships 1st 1st 1st

(with Frances Claudet, Kathleen Lopdell, and Melville Rogers)

Event 1931
North American Championships 1st

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Skaters are engaged". Montreal Gazette. Canadian Press. August 29, 1938. p. 6.
  2. ^ Swift, E.M. (February 21, 2011). "The Day the Music Stopped". Sports Illustrated. pp. 70–75. Archived from the original on February 23, 2014.
  3. ^ Nichols, Nikki (2006). Frozen in Time: The Enduring Legacy of the 1961 U.S. Figure Skating Team. Emmis Books. pp. 74–80. ISBN 1-57860-260-2.
  4. ^ Heilman, Barbara (February 13, 1961). "Mother set the style". Sports Illustrated. p. 39. Archived from the original on October 13, 2009.
  5. ^ "Local skating club signs Guy Owen". Spokane Daily Chronicle. September 25, 1951. p. 21.
  6. ^ "Guy Owen dies at Ottawa home". Spokane Daily Chronicle. February 17, 1952. p. 17.
  7. ^ "Guy R. Owen skater, dies". Ottawa Citizen. April 21, 1952. p. 16.
  8. ^ "Air crash fatal to 73 is probed". Spokesman-Review. February 16, 1961. p. 1.
  9. ^ Johnson, Bonnie D. (2011). "Still Crystal Clear". ESPN. Outside the Lines. Retrieved February 19, 2014.
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