Scott Hamilton Biography Olympic Hall of Fame Scott Hamilton Date of birth: August 28, 1958

Six weeks after his birth, Scott Hamilton was adopted by Ernest and Dorothy Hamilton of Bowling Green, Ohio. When Scott was about two, he contracted a mysterious illness that caused him to stop growing. For the next six years, doctors prescribed a variety of unsuccessful treatments. After his illness was mistakenly diagnosed as cystic fibrosis and he was given six months to live, the Hamiltons took their son to Boston's Children's Hospital where his ailment began to correct itself with the aid of a special diet and moderate exercise. Soon he felt well enough to watch his older sister Susan on an ice-skating outing and decided to try skating himself.

From the beginning, Scott skated with great confidence and uncommon speed. His illness disappeared and he began to grow again, although he would always be considerably smaller than his peers. His miraculous recovery was attributed to the effects of intense physical activity in the cold atmosphere of the rink.

At age 13 he left home to train for national competition. His mother, a grade school teacher, went back to school and became a college professor to help finance his expensive training, even as she was undergoing treatment for cancer. When his mother died, Scott resolved to become a world champion, and succeeded despite the resistance of skating judges who believed he was too small to compete at the international level.

By 1980 he had captured third place in national competition and won a place on the U.S. Olympic squad. He finished fifth at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid. His dazzling free-skating program at the 1981 National and World Championships won him both titles. He won every national and world competition for the next four years, capping his career with a gold medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo.

On turning professional after his Olympic victory, he again encountered resistance, this time from promoters and television executives who believed that only female figure skaters could draw an audience. He starred in the Ice Capades for two years (1984-86), until a change of ownership led to his abrupt dismissal.

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Frustrated with the lack of commercial opportunities for male figure skaters, Hamilton created his own professional ice revue, The Scott Hamilton America Tour, which evolved into the touring spectacle Stars on Ice. His ebullient personality, humor and showmanship revolutionized the role of the male figure skater, and helped create a vast new audience for figure skating. After 12 years of unsuccessfully pitching proposals to skeptical television executives, he at last won the first in a series of prime time network television specials. He won the first professional world figure skating championship in 1984, won again in 1986, and captured the Open Professional in 1990, the Diet Coke Championship in 1992 and the Gold Championships in 1994. In 1990 he was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.