Biography
Lussi was born in Stans, Switzerland. Lussi himself was not a competitive skater but a ski jumper. He lost his nerve for that sport after a fall, and became interested in skating instead. His previous experience with the sport was only recreational skating on Lake Lucerne as a boy. Since he had very little money, he was unable to compete as an amateur, but he made arrangements to learn skating from a top professional in Switzerland in exchange for later becoming his coach's assistant. He vowed that if he could not become a World Champion himself, he would make one through his teaching.
He emigrated to the United States at the age of 20, just after World War I, and settled in Philadelphia. His first champion student was Egbert S. Carey Jr., who won the U.S. junior men's title in 1924.
Beginning in 1932, Lussi was based at the Olympic rink in Lake Placid, New York, one of the few rinks in the world that provided summer ice in those days. He died on June 23, 1993, at the age of 95.
Read more about this topic: Gustave Lussi
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