1952 Oslo Winter Games
732 Athletes, 30 Countries, 22 Events
The 1952 Oslo Games was the first time that the Olympic flame was
lit for the Winter Olympics. And just as the flame was burning, the
U.S. Men's Ice Hockey team was cross-checking, icing, and
high-sticking their way into the penalty box. Three of the U.S.
players, none from the Ivy League, accounted for more total penalty
minutes than the totals of eight other teams. Beyond those three
hard hitters, the U.S. team had five Ivy Leaguers.
Jerry Kilmartin (Brown), Donald Francis
Whiston (Brown, 1951), Richard J. Desmond
(Dartmouth, 1949), Clifford Harrison (Dartmouth,
1951), and Arnold C. Oss, Jr. (Dartmouth, 1950)
were all part of the silver medalwinning US team that finished with
a record of 611. The tie came in the final game against gold
medalwinning Canada; tying the Canadian team propelled the
Americans from fourth place to second place. Out of this group,
Desmond is enshrined in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.
Again, a group of Dartmouth skiers were at the Olympics:
William L. Beck (Dartmouth, 1953), John H.
Caldwell (Dartmouth, 1950), Chiharu 'Chick'
Igaya (Dartmouth, 1957), David J.
Lawrence (Dartmouth, 1957), and John C.
Burton (Harvard, 1944) joined them. Beck was the only one
of the group that placed well: fifth place in the downhill alpine
skiing event with a time of 2:33.3, only 2.5 seconds off of the
pace of the gold medal-winner. Many in the rest of this group would
return to future games, like alpine skier Igaya, who skied for his
native Japan, and would win a medal at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo
Games.
Ivy Leaguers also had success on the figure skating front.
Dick Button (Harvard, 1952) won his second
consecutive gold medal. He did it demanding fashion, voted to first
place by all nine judges, as he performed the first triple loop
ever seen in competition. The jump required him to make three
complete revolutions before touching down. Only four years prior,
when he won his first gold medal, he incorporated a double-axel
into his performance, which he had only learned two days before. In
the 1952 Games, Hayes A. Jenkins (Harvard, 1959)
watched his fellow Crimson Dick Button in awe, and
finished in fourth place himself, he would move up to the gold four
years later. On the ladies' side, Tenley Albright
(Harvard, 1953) placed second. Albright had overcome nonparalytic
polio in her childhood years to dominate ladies figure skating, she
too would win the gold medal four years later.
| Name |
School |
Sport |
| Donald Francis Whiston |
Brown University |
Men's Ice Hockey |
| William L. Beck |
Dartmouth College |
Men's Alpine Skiing |
| John H. Caldwell |
Dartmouth College |
Men's Nordic Skiing |
| Richard J. Desmond |
Dartmouth College |
Men's Ice Hockey |
| J. Brooks Dodge |
Dartmouth College |
Men's Alpine Skiing |
| Clifford Harrison |
Dartmouth College |
Men's Ice Hockey |
| Chiharu 'Chick' Igaya |
Dartmouth College |
Men's Alpine Skiing |
| David J. Lawrence |
Dartmouth College |
Men's Alpine Skiing |
| Arnold C. Oss, Jr. |
Dartmouth College |
Men's Ice Hockey |
| Tenley Albright |
Harvard University |
Women's Figure Skating |
| John C. Burton |
Harvard University |
Men's Nordic Skiing |
| Richard Button |
Harvard University |
Men's Figure Skating |
| Hayes A. Jenkins |
Harvard University |
Men's Figure Skating |