LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Millns shares memories on 40th anniversary of ’76 Games When Jim Millns reunited with his team-
mates from the 1976 Olympic Team last month at the 2016 Prudential U.S. Championships in Saint Paul, Minnesota, he presented each of them with a photo CD of images he took during their Olym- pic experience 40 years ago this month. These color photographs, taken with his
trusty Nikon camera, served as a sentimental re- cord of this young, on-the-rise group of talented skaters that represented the United States admi- rably in Innsbruck, Austria. “When I look back on our team, for many of
the skaters it was their fi rst time on a world stage,” Millns, who at age 27 was the veteran member of the team, said. “It was very diff erent back then; we didn’t have all these international competitions, so for several of the skaters it was their fi rst time at a world-level competition. We were a pretty new, pretty young team.” Millns, who with Colleen O’Connor won a
bronze medal in ice dancing’s Olympic debut in 1976, remembers leaving the U.S. Championships in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and fl ying to New York. There, they collected their equipment and jumped on another jet for Garmisch, Germany. In Garmisch, the team spent about two
weeks training and becoming acclimated to the weather and European culture before making its way to Innsbruck. “Being in Garmisch was just wonderful, be-
cause we did have time to train and to be tourists,” Millns said. “I took tons of pictures on top of the Zugspitze Weather Station in the middle of win- ter, where it was defi nitely way below zero, with high winds, snow everywhere; and yet here’s the U.S. team on top of this mountain.” Supporting each other during practices and
spending time together off the ice helped build a strong camaraderie as they departed for Inns- bruck. “It was a great chance to get to know ev-
eryone,” Millns said. “I think Linda (Fratianne) was the youngest (15) and I was the oldest, but de- spite this wide age range we still had fun and did things.” The team enjoyed a breathtaking bus ride
through the mountains before it pulled up to the gates of the Olympic Village. The team’s excite- ment and anticipation couldn’t be contained. But a harsh reality soon took over as soldiers
wearing full combat gear jumped on the bus and did a thorough search of everyone’s gear and per- sonal property. Olympic organizers were on high alert after the tragedy of the 1972 Munich Games, where 11 Israeli athletes and coaches were killed by a Palestinian terrorist organization. “They didn’t want any bus or anything to
drive up that wasn’t completely inspected,” Millns said. “It was very upsetting, going from all the ex- citement and happiness to this fear.” However, once inside the village, the skaters basked in the Olympic experience. They crossed
4 FEBRUARY 2016
paths with the other athletes and a strong sense of patriotism developed. “The respectful recognition from each sport,
from each person in the sport, was just wonder- ful,” Millns said. When it came to the competition, Millns said
the entire team performed well and supported each other. His memories included Terry Kubicka performing the only and last backfl ip in Olympic and World history. “There was a lot of controversy and a lot of talk going on prior to his skating, saying, ‘Oh, he may be disqualifi ed’ or ‘It’s too dangerous,’ ” Millns said. “I think it was wise on his part to go ahead and do it. He did it in the Olympics, but of course they came down after that and said, ‘Never again, too dangerous.’ ” The Games sent the pairs team of Tai Babi-
lonia and Randy Gardner on an upward trajec- tory. They won fi ve U.S. titles, a World title and were considered gold-medal favorites at the 1980 Games. Fratianne also used the Games as a springboard, going on to win four U.S. titles, two World titles and the Olympic silver medal in 1980. Millns described David Santee as “energetic”
and Wendy Burge as a “dedicated, hard worker.” Pairs skater Alice Cook had a “million-dollar smile,” while her partner Bill Fauver was “calm and quiet.” He said the ice dance teams of Judi Genovesi and Kent Weigle “carried a sense of sophistication,” while Susan Kelley and Andrew Stroukoff were always “poking fun at situations.” “Bottom line was that we blended well and
there were no internal confl icts,” Millns said. Of course, the biggest story from those
Olympic Games was Dorothy Hamill (see page 28) winning the gold medal. Hamill entered the games with a tremendous amount of pressure on her and had all of the media’s eyes on her. She went on to deliver two memorable performances and became known as “America’s Sweetheart.” Millns chuckles when thinking back to the
closing ceremonies when Hamill found him in a crowd of athletes and asked him for help locating her father. “We were walking around, waving at people
and she’s really getting into it, giggling, holding my arm, and for whatever reason she gave me this little kiss on the cheek,” Millns said. “It was like, ‘Thanks for helping me fi nd my dad.’ Well, one of the ABC cameramen happened to be on us at that point. I have this on video. Announcer Jim McKay said, ‘I think we have a budding new romance.’ I thought, ‘What? She’s like my little sister. She’s nine years younger than me.’ Dorothy, though, saw the cameraman coming and played the role, giggling, clowning around. It was fun.”
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