Laurence Owen - Life and Career

Life and Career

Laurence Owen was born in Oakland, California, and for the first eight years grew up in Berkeley. She was the second child of Guy Owen and Maribel Vinson, both talented figure skaters, and the younger sister of pairs skater Maribel Owen. In 1952, shortly after the death of her husband, Maribel Vinson moved her family back to her girlhood home at 195 High Street in Winchester, Massachusetts, where they lived with Maribel’s mother. Laurence, who at school was known by her full name, attended Winchester Junior High School and then Winchester High School where in addition to maintaining her grueling training schedule she was an honor student, wrote poetry, and participated in several sports.

In 1956, Laurence won the Eastern Junior Ladies title but was unable to participate in the United States Championships that year because of a broken wrist. In 1958, she placed 3rd in the United States Figure Skating Championship Junior Ladies Division. In 1959, Laurie won the United States Figure Skating Championship Junior Ladies Division.

In January 1960, Laurence placed 3rd in the 1960 United States Figure Skating Championships and qualified for the 1960 Winter Olympics where she placed 6th. Her mother, the 1932 Winter Olympics Bronze Medalist and nine times US Singles Champion Maribel Vinson-Owen was her coach.

On January 29, 1961, Laurence won the 1961 United States Figure Skating Championships in Colorado Springs and on February 12 that same year, won the 1961 North American Figure Skating Championships in Philadelphia. After her victory at the US Nationals, she became a media sensation and was nicknamed "The Winchester Pixie.” On February 13, 1961 she appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine with a feature story that described her as "America's most exciting girl skater." In that same Sports Illustrated issue, writer Barbara Hellman noted that Laurence had both great presence and a dancer’s ability to relate to her music and described her free skating as having "an air, a style, an individuality which sets it apart from all the work done in free skating in recent years.”

On January 28, 2011 Laurence Owen was inducted into the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame along with the entire 1961 World Team. Her sister Maribel Owen also was inducted and her mother Maribel Vinson Owen was inducted for a third time in 2011, in her capacity as a 1961 World Team Coach. Previously, her mother had been inducted in the inaugural Class of 1976 as a singles skater and for a second time in 1994 as a pairs skater.

On February 17, 2011 the U.S. Figure Skating Association released the documentary film entitled "Rise 1961". The movie chronicled the relationship between Laurence and her mother, the airliner crash in Belgium and the rebirth of the United States Figure Skating Team after the crash.