Jack Shea Biography - Olympic Spirit, A New Olympic Record, The Olympic Saga Continues, Chronology, Awards And Accomplishments
lake placid speed james
1910-2002
American speed skater
Jack Shea's two Olympic gold medals were only the beginning of his lifelong involvement with the Olympic Games. After his speed skating victories in his hometown of Lake Placid in 1932, Shea raised another Olympian, his son James, while staying involved in the Olympic movement. Shea was a major figure in the drive to bring the winter Olympics back to Lake Placid in 1980, and in 2001, Shea became the patriarch of the first family ever to have three generations of Olympians when James Shea's son, Jim Jr., qualified to compete in skeleton at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.
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Shea was a sophomore at Dartmouth College when the Olympics came to Lake Placid in 1932. The winter Olympics were only eight years old then, but Lake Placid speed skaters had already made their mark: the first gold medal in the first Winter Olympics, the 1924 Chamonix, France, games, was won by a young man from Lake Placid named Charles Jewtraw. Shea dreamed of following in Jewtraw's footst…
The Shea family reached a milestone on December 20, 2001. That day, when Shea's grandson Jim Jr. qualified for the Olympic skeleton team, they became the first family ever to have three generations of Olympians. Shea was there, watching the World Cup skeleton meet in Lake Placid, when the youngest Shea qualified, and he was looking forward to watching his grandson compete at the Olympics in…
Shea's Olympic story did not end with his death. It did not even end with Jim Shea Jr.'s emotional victory, which Jim Jr. attributed to his grandfather's spirit riding with him that day. Shea's image rode with him as well, on a funeral card bearing the man's picture which Jim Jr. tucked into his helmet and tearfully displayed to the crowds, who were chanting �…
"After Long Journey, Shea's Skates Returned." Buffalo News (February 25, 2002): S7. Barron, David. "Oldest Winter Games Gold Medalist Dies." Houston Chronicle (January 23, 2002): 10. Barron, David. "Third-Generation Olympian Embraces Oath." Houston Chronicle (February 8, 2002): 8. Blinebury, Fran. "Heaven Sent: Elder Shea's Spirit Aliv…
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