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Boston skating club that lost skaters, coaches in D.C. plane crash suffered similar tragedy in 1961

The Skating Club of Boston CEO on 6 members killed D.C. plane crash
The Skating Club of Boston CEO on 6 members killed D.C. plane crash 15:24

NORWOOD - For The Skating Club of Boston, which lost six members of its community Wednesday night in the American Airlines plane crash near Washington, D.C., the tragedy is all too familiar. 

Sixty-four years ago, the organization was similarly devastated when the entire U.S. figure skating team was killed on Sabena Flight 548, which crashed in Belgium while heading to the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships in the Czech Republic. 

"Almost half of everybody on board that plane were with this club," The Skating Club of Boston's CEO Doug Zeghibe said.

View of the scene of the plane crash of
View of the scene of the plane crash of the Sabena Flight 548, on February 15, 1961 near Brussels after the Boeing 707 aircraft crashed en route to Brussels. STF/AFP via Getty Images

1961 crash that killed skaters had "long-reaching implications"

The 1961 crash killed all 18 members of the team along with 16 officials, judges, coaches and family members. 

"It had long-reaching implications for the Skating Club and for the sport in this country," Zeghibe said. "Because when you lose coaches like this, you lose the future of the sport as well. It's been a long time in redeveloping it."

Two of those killed Wednesday were coaches with the Skating Club of Boston, Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova. The club also lost young skaters Spencer Lane and Jinna Han, as well as Lane's mother Christine Lane and Han's mother Jin Han. 

"The day the music stopped"

Longtime Skating Club of Boston member Paul George remembered Feb. 15, 1961 as "the day the music stopped." He did not make the trip to Prague because he was 19 years old and still competing at the junior level.

"Like today, 1961 was a tragic moment," he said. "It took time, but we came back, I think, stronger, better. This is a club of excellence. It has been for over 100 years."

Getting the news Wednesday morning was a "very vivid reminder of 1961," George said.

"My wife tapped me on the shoulder at 6:30 and told me, much as my father had done 64 years ago at about the same time of day," he said. "We lost a whole group of friends."

Speaking with George at the skating club on Wednesday was Tenley Albright, a decorated figure skating champion in the 1950s. She was finishing medical school in 1961 but said "there were 22 of my friends" on that ill-fated flight.

"I remember years later people looking at me very strangely when they were talking about that and they thought, 'weren't you on that plane?'" she said.

Mass. school named after 1961 crash victim

Maribel Vinson Owen, a Winchester native, was among those killed in the 1961 crash. She was a multi-championship-winning figure skater, Olympic bronze medalist and coach, as well as the first female sportswriter for The New York Times. Her two daughters were figure skaters and also died in the crash.

Maribelled Owen Posing with Daughters
Killed in a 1961 jet airliner crash in Brussels, Belgium, were L-R, Maribel Y. Owen, Maribel Vinson Owen and Laurence Owen. Bettmann via Getty images

The Vinson-Owen Elementary School in Winchester is named after the family, and a banner at the school tells students that Maribel Vinson Owen "is considered perhaps the most influential figure skater in the history of the U.S."

A Boston Globe article on the 60th anniversary of the 1961 crash said that out of 34 skaters, coaches, officials and family members on the flight, 10 were from the Boston area.

U. S. Figure Skating Team 1961
Members of the U. S. Figure Skating Team pose before boarding Belgian Sabena airline plane at Idle Wild airport, Feb. 14, 1961, New York. The plane crashed Feb. 15 near the Brussels, Belgium Airport killing all on board. Matty Zimmerman / AP

"The Skating Club of Boston has just now ... been coming out of the shadow of that 1961 crash," Zeghibe said. "So this is particularly devastating."

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