Ronald Ludington

Ronald Ludington
Personal information
Full name	Ronald Edmund Ludington
Country represented	United States
Born	September 4, 1934 Boston, Massachusetts
Former partner	Nancy Ludington
Skating club	Commonwealth Figure Skating Club
Retired	1960
Medal record Competitor for United States Pairs' Figure skating Olympic Games 1960 Squaw Valley Pairs World Championships 1959 Colorado Springs Pairs North American Championships 1957 Rochester Pairs

Ronald Ludington (born September 4, 1934) is an American figure skating coach and former pair skater. With Nancy Rouillard Ludington, he is the 1960 Olympic bronze medalist, 1959 World bronze medalist, and a four-time U.S. national champion.

Career

With his then-wife, Nancy Rouillard Ludington, he won the U.S. Championships in pair skating four times, between 1957 and 1960, after having been the junior national champions in 1956. They won bronze medals at the 1959 World Figure Skating Championships and 1960 Winter Olympics. Ludington also won the 1958 U.S. junior (silver) dance championship, partnered with Judy Ann Lamar.

Following his competitive career, Ludington took up coaching in Norwalk, Connecticut.^[1] His first pupils included Patricia and Robert Dineen, who were killed along with the rest of the U.S. team in the crash of Sabena Flight 548 on their way to the 1961 World Championships. Ludington was not on the plane because neither he nor the Dineens had the money to fund his travel expenses.^[1] It was the only World Championships from 1957 to the end of the century which he did not attend as either a competitor or a coach.^[1]

Around 1970, due to limited ice time in Detroit, Ludington moved to Wilmington, Delaware to coach at the Skating Club of Wilmington.^[2][3] In 1987, he became the director of the University of Delaware's Ice Skating Science Development Center.^[4] He held that position until 2010.^[3]

Ludington has coached the following skaters:

• Cozette Cady / Jack Courtney, US national pair bronze medalists
• Kitty Carruthers / Peter Carruthers,^[5] pairs silver medalists at the 1984 Winter Olympics
• Carol Fox / Richard Dalley, ice dancers at the 1984 Olympics
• Gale Fuhrman / Joel Fuhrman, US national pair silver medalists
• Melissa Militano / Johnny Johns, U.S. national pair champions
• Lea Ann Miller / William Fauver
• Kim Seybold / Wayne Seybold^[6]
• Stacey Smith / John Summers, three-time U.S. national champion ice dancers
• Calla Urbanski / Rocky Marval^[7]

Ludington was named to the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1999, the Professional Skaters Association Coaches Hall of Fame in 2002, and the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame in 2000.

Personal life

In 1957, Ludington married his skating partner, Nancy Rouillard.^[8] He later married Mary Batdorf, a skating coach.^[8] They had a son, Michael, before divorcing in the mid-1970s.^[4]

Results

Pairs

(with Nancy Ludington)

Event	1957	1958	1959	1960
Winter Olympic Games				3rd
World Championships	4th	5th	3rd	6th
North American Championships	3rd
U.S. Championships	1st	1st	1st	1st

Ice dance

(with Lamar)

Event	1958
U.S. Championships	1st J.

References

1. Duffy, Bob (December 31, 2000). "Twists of fate". The Boston Globe.
2. Eisenberg, John (February 21, 2006). "Delaware club churns out ice champions". Baltimore Sun.
3. Tresolini, Kevin (February 2, 2014). "Shifting younger, but Delaware still helps breed top figure skating talent". The News Journal.
4. "Ron Ludington named to World Figure Skating Hall of Fame". University of Delaware. May 20, 1999.
5. Thomson, Candus (November 10, 2009). "Stars remember how Skate America began". Baltimore Sun.
6. Hersh, Phil (February 14, 1988). "Whole Town Goes For The Gold". Chicago Tribune.
7. Hersh, Phil (December 26, 1991). "Skater Figures Charity Begins At Home". Chicago Tribune.
8. "Ron Ludington". Sports Reference.

• Scott Hamilton, Landing It. ISBN 1-57566-466-6.