The year is 1948.
We’re at the Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
After a 12-year hiatus, the world gathered for what were called the “Games of Renewal”.
St. Moritz, which also hosted the 1928 Winter Games is neutral, undamaged and an ideal location after the ravages of the second World War.
The high-Alpine resort town known for its frozen lakes, luxury hotels, and sunny winter climate allowed for a picturesque and charmingly informal atmosphere that helped re-establish the Olympic movement as a way forward after global conflict.
The games also set a tone for reconciliation and rebuilding through peaceful competition.
Nowhere is this more apparent than at the ice rink.
Nestled in a broad, snowy valley high in the Swiss Alps, the rink sat against a dramatic backdrop of white mountain peaks, evergreen forests, and crisp blue skies.
This is where we find a young woman about to hit the ice.
The world and Canadian champion were already a hero back home.
As she glided to center ice to begin her free skate, she knew she had set herself up for the gold by dominating the compulsory section of the competition.
The conditions had been challenging, the ice not always consistent and often soft on account of the rink often being bathed in sunlight.
When the music began her strokes were long and silky as she carved the ice with the exceptional control and artistry she was known for.
She was a flash of blue satin on the snowy surroundings and with each spin and jump she got closer to glory.
As the final notes swelled, her blade caught the sunlight just right and for a moment it seemed that Canada’s sweetheart had already been crowned.
She hit her final pose to cheers from the crowd.
It felt like a rising storm, as the young skater smiled back at spectators almost shyly.
She had just won a gold medal.
I’m Craig Baird and this is Canadian History Ehx.
Today we glide to the past as I share details on how a young woman from Ottawa skated into the history books by becoming the first and only Canadian woman to win Olympic gold in singles figure skating.
This… is Barbara Ann Scott
You may know this but for those who don’t… humans have been hitting the ice for millennia.
The earliest evidence of skating dates back 3,000+ years in Northern Europe.
Back then skates were made of animal bones, strapped to shoes and used mainly for travel across frozen lakes.
They weren’t made for triple axels but were a form of practical winter transportation.
The birth of modern skates came around the 1700s, when Dutch innovators began using iron blades, which allowed real gliding and control and skating became a leisure activity, especially among the wealthy in Britain.
Organized ice dancing, as it was once called, emerged in Scotland around this time and by 1742 the Edinburgh Skating Club was established.
The pastime crossed the pond to Canadian shores in the late 18th to early 19th century, thanks to British, mainly Scottish settlers who brought with them the tradition of skating on frozen rivers and lakes.
By 1839, one of the earliest organized skating clubs in Canada was founded in Halifax, Nova Scotia, a few years later Montreal got one too and by the mid-1800s, indoor rinks and organized skating “assemblies” became all the rage across the country.
Popularity for the sport grew exponentially in February of 1863, when Jackson Haines, the “Father of Modern Figure Skating,” wowed onlookers in Chatham, Ontario.
Haines, who was 23 at the time, skated on the Thames River, and put on a display for fans who lined the banks.
The touring skater was known for his innovative use of music, choreography, and ballet-style movement on the ice.
He also invented the sit spin, one of the fundamental spins in figure skating and he also was one of the first to screw in blades to boots.
When figure skating spread across North America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Canadian skaters adopted his emphasis on artistry and blended it with technical compulsory figures already popular at the time.
Despite Haines winning the 1864 National championship, he was laughed out of the country for his style.
He moved to Europe, where he continued to be a pioneer until his death in 1875.
Almost 20 years later The International Skating Union (ISU) was founded in 1892, to establish the first international rules and is the oldest international winter sports federation.
By 1896 the first World Figure Skating Championships had taken place for men only in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The city had hosted the unofficial world championships six years earlier in 1890 where Louis Rubenstein became the first North American skater to compete abroad.
Born in Montreal, Rubenstein was one of Canada’s finest all-round athletes and is considered the father of Canadian Figure Skating.
He was an outstanding skater with the Victoria Club of Montreal and emerged on to the scene by first winning the United States amateur title in 1885 and 1889, and Canadian figure-skating champion 1883-89.
And he did it all while wearing a dress shirt and pants, suit jacket, medals and a bowler hat.
The man had style.
He retired by 1892 but before he did, he helped form the Amateur Skating Association of Canada in 1888 and became a guiding light for figure skating in Canada until his death in 1931.
In that time, he watched the sport flourish and spread thanks in part to Governor General Lord Minto who in 1903 created the Minto Prizes to encourage and foster competitive figure skating in Canada.
A year later The Minto Skating Club in Ottawa opened its doors and quickly became one of the most important figure skating training grounds in the world.
Still operating to this day, notable skaters include Gordon Forbes, Lynn Nightingale and Don Jackson.
Some of you may recognize the name, his signature could even be on your skates because the former World Champion is the founder and inspiration behind Jackson Ultima Skates.
But surprisingly he’s not the most famous alumni from The Minto Skating Club.
That honour goes to a hometown girl who was the daughter of a Canadian Army Colonel.
Barbara Ann Scott.
Before Barbara Ann Scott could even become Canada’s Sweetheart, her father Clyde Rutherford Scott had to go through hell.
He was studying mining engineering at Queen’s University when the First World War broke out in Europe.
Like thousands of other students, he put his studies on hold and enlisted with the CEF on September 22, 1914, at Valcartier.
He was commissioned a Lieutenant in the 42nd (Lanark & Renfrew) Regiment and continued to serve at that rank with 2nd Battalion.
In April 1915, fought in The Battle of Kitcheners’ Wood during the Second Battle of Ypres.
On the night of 22 April 1915, the Germans launched the first poison gas attack of the war on the western front.
The object of their attack was the Ypres Salient, which was notorious for its high casualties and brutal fighting.
For 48 hours, Clyde’s battalion fought to the desperate, bitter end but in the process eight of the eleven became casualties. Only three escaped.
On April 30, when the Perth Courier newspaper published the official Militia Department casualty list for officers Lieutenant Clyde Scott was named among the wounded and missing.
However, on May 7, two weeks after he was last seen he was reported as being killed.
The Perth Courier newspaper reported, “This came as a great shock to the people of the town, and was especially so to the parents, Rev. and Mrs. A. H. Scott. Cablegrams passed to and from London, but up to this time the sad news has been unconfirmed by the war office. There is a bare possibility that the fatal news may not be sustained, but the doubt is a small one. The Town Hall and other flags have been flying at half mast since the first cablegram out of respect to the young soldier.”
However, he had survived the war, but not unscathed.
On May 23rd the Courier reported that although the death of Lieutenant Clyde Scott was, quote “understood to have been made officially certain, glad news was received by cable to his father, Rev. A. H. Scott, that his son was a German prisoner … and, although wounded, was recovering.” end quote
Clyde was one of two men alive, but he was severely wounded, shot in both hips, the knee and suffered a shrapnel wound in his left eye.
The Germans had mistaken him for dead, and he lay wounded in a pile of corpses until a curious dog discovered that, in fact, this Canadian was still alive.
He was given no attention for nearly three weeks and was then taken by train for four days to Paderborn, Prussia where he lay for two weeks in a hospital close to death.
He was then taken to another one where surgeons extracted chunks of shrapnel from his body.
The damage to his body was extensive and irreparable.
He spent the next two years as a POW at Paderborn, Krefeld and Heidelberg, Germany until released into Swiss custody.
On September 10, 1917, Acting Captain Clyde Scott was repatriated to England and, nine days later, he sailed home on the Canadian Army hospital ship HMHS Llandovery Castle.
If that name sounds familiar, it’s because that ship was famously torpedoed by German forces on 27 June 1918, and you can listen to that story in an episode from earlier this year.
Around the same time that Clyde was returning home, Barbara Ann Scott’s mother Mary was living in California with her husband and two children.
The marriage was not a happy one and the couple divorced on Mary’s claims of neglect.
She returned to Canada where her family was very well connected.
Her great-grandfather was Daniel Derbyshire, a former senator and Member of Parliament.
Her great uncle Robert Greenshields was the Chief Justice of the Superior Court of the Province of Quebec.
He had defended Louis Riel in 1885 when the Metis leader was tried, and later sentenced to death, for treason after the Northwest Resistance.
If that wasn’t enough, her godfather was R.B. Bennett, one of the richest men in Canada and a future prime minister.
Through her family, Mary was introduced to a war hero named Clyde Rutherford Scott.
The couple soon fell in love and married in 1927.
The family moved into a home in the Ottawa neighbourhood of Sandy Hill.
The following year, on May 9, 1928, the couple had a baby… Barbara Ann Scott.
Barbara Ann was the couple’s only child.
Divorce was taboo at the time so her parents told visitors that Barbara Ann’s half-sister Mary was a servant girl who lived with the family.
Meanwhile her half-brother William, was raised by his grandparents.
By all accounts Barbara Ann’s childhood was a happy one.
She described her father as kind despite the pain he suffered daily on account of his injuries from The Great War.
The home was also filled with animals, they had two dogs, two rabbits, birds, turtles, a cat and even a white rat.
When Barbara Ann was three, she asked Santa Claus to bring her skates, the year was 1931.
Ryan Stevens, author of Barbara Ann Scott: Queen of the Ice, said that while she got the skates, she wasn’t quite happy with them.
Three years later, she began taking junior lessons at the Minto Skating Club.
By then Cecil Smith had already become the first female figure skater to represent Canada at the Winter Olympics in 1924 where she placed sixth individually and seventh in pairs.
At the 1928 Winter Olympics she finished fifth and by 1930, she had won the silver medal at the World Figure Skating Championships.
Her skating partner was Melville Rogers, who was one of Canada’s most prominent figure skaters.
By the time she was seven years old Barbara Ann began skating lessons at the Minto Skating Club and was coached by Otto Gold and Sheldon Galbraith.
And she quickly caught the attention of Mr. Minto who was also known as Melville Rogers.
The Canadian champion recognized her talent and encouraged her training, and she impressed judges at her first figure skating test.
A year later, she won the Minto Skating Club’s Devonshire Cup for her age bracket.
By the time she was nine years old, skating was a priority and she began being tutored two-and-a-half hours a day to accommodate seven hours of daily ice training.
A year later, she passed her gold figures test, becoming one of the youngest skaters to ever do so.
To this day a figure skating “gold test” is the highest level in Skate Canada or U.S. Figure Skating test structures.
It requires a skater to pass a rigorous series of assessments in different disciplines like free skate, skills, and dance.
When Barbara Ann Scott passed, there was a greater emphasis on compulsory figures which focused on a high degree of technical skill, and edge quality.
On average, it takes a skater six years to pass their gold skating skills test and eight years to pass the gold singles test… many who train daily… never do.
Ryan Stevens said Barbara Ann’s progress was astonishing.
Barbara Ann was just eleven years old when she entered her first Canadian National Skating Championships which were held in January 1940. in Ottawa.
She blew the hometown crowd away with her free skate which included three axels, a double salchow in a row, along with camel spins and cross-foot spins.
The Ottawa Journal wrote of her performance,
“Her poise never deserted her for a fraction of a second and for the three minutes of her program she was a delightful poem flowing rhythmically on silver blades.”
Four of the five judges placed her in first place and Barbara Ann Scott won the junior lady’s title.
It was her first major championship, and it wouldn’t be her last.
Barbara Ann Scott became Canada’s junior champion just four months after Germany invaded Poland thereby launching the world into conflict.
All international competitions were suspended for the duration of World War II.
The 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin had been used by the Nazi regime as a propaganda tool to project an image of a peaceful and tolerant Germany.
The 1940 and 1944 Winter Olympics were then cancelled due to the ongoing conflict. The European Figure Skating Championship and World Figure Skating Championships were put on hold from 1940 to 1946.
However, competition on Canadian soil continued and a year after she became a junior champion she tried her hand at the seniors.
In 1941, she was just 12 years old in a sea of competitors that were several years older.
She surprised everyone when she took second to Mary Rose Thacker who had wowed judges when she won her first Canadian title at 16 years old in 1939.
For Barbara Ann, the joy of getting the silver medal was short lived.
A few months after winning her father, Clyde Scott, accompanied Canada’s Minister of Pensions and Welfare, Ian MacKenzie on a trip to London.
That July, the first world war hero met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and presented him with Canada’s Victory Torch.
Then a few months later, while out to dinner with friends, a piece of shrapnel which had been left in his body from the First World War shifted and hit his heart. He died within minutes.
The death of her father on Sept. 4, 1941, hit Barbara Ann hard.
Financially it took a toll on the family who would be receiving a pension of $3,000 per year.
Figure skating is expensive and the pension wouldn’t go far so Barbara Ann’s mother Mary did everything she could to ensure her daughter would be able to train and compete.
Because above all else, Barbara Ann Scott was a really good skater.
At just 13 years old she became the first woman to land a double Lutz jump in competition.
Aside from the axel, which involves an extra half rotation, the lutz is the most difficult jump in figure skating because of its backward outside edge toe assisted take off.
This was a massive accomplishment, but she once again took second at the Canadian Figure Skating Championships behind Mary Rose Thacker.
Following her third Canadian title in 1942 she retired from amateur competition and turned her talents to coaching, which left the top spot open for Barbara Ann Scott the following year.
Except…. the Canadian National Skating Championships were suspended in 1943 on account of the war and wouldn’t return until 1944.
They were held on January 28 and 29 at the Minto Skating Club in Ottawa.
The head referee was none other than Melville Rogers, and he oversaw an event described as lacking some of the excitement and glamour of previous years on account of the war.
All frills were eliminated and there were no top hats to be found, but there was a large and enthusiastic audience on hand to watch Barbara Ann Scott win easily over the competition.
In the figures she scored 157 points and in the free skate she was described as faultless.
Her grace, the difficulty of the program and her showmanship had the audience off their seats and leaning so they wouldn’t miss a single move because her jumps and spins were breathless.
All five judges placed her first.
The Montreal Star stated that the ovation she received was rivalled only by the ovation Winston Churchill received on Parliament Hill during his visit to Ottawa in 1941.
Barbara Ann Scott was senior ladies champion at just 15 years old.
She held the title of youngest skater to win the senior women’s title at the Canadian championships until Cynthia Phaneuf won at age 15 in 2004.
The following year, Barbara Ann repeated the feat.
Proving she was no fluke, she took the championship again, on her way to winning it four times in total.
Shortly after her win in 1945, she went to New York City to compete in the North American Figure Skating Championship at Madison Square Garden.
She had competed previously in 1941 but had finished a disappointing sixth.
But by March 1945 she was a two-time national champion and was more than ready for the challenge by skating flawlessly seemingly without effort including every jump and spin while dazzling in pastels.
Barbara Ann Scott was one of the queens of the flashing blades and scored so well she became the youngest winner in the history of the North American Championships.
A couple of months later Victory in Europe Day, or V-E Day, was celebrated on May 8, 1945, marking the end of the war in Europe after Germany surrendered.
And for Barbara Ann the celebrations continued when she also won her first of three consecutive Canada’s Female Athlete of the Year award, which today is called the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award.
It was clear that Barbara Ann was meant to dominate the podium and soon the world would get to see her talent.
World War II ended with the formal surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945, but the world was in shambles.
It would take until 1947 for competition to resume at a global level in Stockholm, Sweden.
North Americans had historically been shut out of the podium at the world championships which were held on outdoor rinks.
Europeans called North American competitors “hot house skaters” because they often struggled with weather conditions that often-included snow, wind and cold.
Barbara Ann had spent plenty of time skating outdoors after all Ottawa is home to the Rideau Canal Skateway, aka, the world’s largest skating rink.
But to better prepare she made sure to arrive early to acclimatize to the cold Swedish weather.
This was her first time competing against the best in the world and Barbara Ann did not disappoint.
She dazzled on the ice and her performance was flawless, and she became the first Canadian, male or female, to win the world championship in figure skating.
It would signal Canada’s arrival as a figure skating powerhouse.
For her accomplishment, she was awarded the Canadian Newsmaker of the Year Award in 1947. She remains the only figure skater to win the award.
When Barbara Ann returned to Ottawa, she was treated to a massive celebration.
Over 70,000 people, 30 percent of the city’s population, lined the streets to cheer her.
Children were given a half day off from school so they could attend the parade.
She said,
“I’m happy to be home again. All I missed was Canada.”
In the House of Commons, Member of Parliament Ian MacKenzie presented a motion to extend warmest greetings and good wishes to Barbara Ann.
She was the first figure skater honoured in such a way by Canada’s Parliament.
She was also gifted a yellow Buick convertible with the licence plate 47-U-1.
Unfortunately, the vehicle proved to be a contentious issue when it came to her amateur status.
A letter sent to the International Olympic Committee by the United States Olympic Committee claimed that her acceptance of the car made her a professional.
Under the rules, the United States officials stated, no amateur athlete could accept gifts or money.
Canadians cried foul over this.
Norwegian legendary skater Sonja Henie had accepted many gifts including more than one car during her career which included being an Olympic gold medalist believed that the Americans were trying to remove Barbara Ann’s status so their own skaters would have less competition.
To defuse the growing issue, Barbara Ann returned the car.
The City of Ottawa promised not to sell it, and it sat in a showroom where it became a tourist attraction and those who got to see it got in on the ground floor because Barbara Ann Scott was about to shock the world.
[PAUSE]Barbara Ann Scott’s golden year began by defending her Canadian championship.
The on Jan. 15, 1948, she added a second European title, she had won the European Championships the previous year, making the repeat a rare feat, especially for a non-European skater. The rules changed after her win so only Europeans could enter and so she remains the first Canadian to ever win and last non-European to medal at the competition.
Up next were the Olympics.
But as the reigning North American, European and World Champion Barbara Ann Scott was seen as the favourite going into the competition.
The 1948 Olympics would be the first Winter Games held after World War II, and the atmosphere in St. Moritz was charged with hope and renewal.
The women’s figure skating events took place outdoors on a natural ice rink.
The same surface would also host hockey games so the combination would make consistent ice a challenge, but when skaters hit the ice, they were surrounded by the snowy mountains and brilliant sunshine of the Swiss Alps.
Barbara Ann was Canada’s sweetheart, and her slight frame carried the expectations of a nation.
The 19-year-old stepped on to the ice for compulsory figures.
In those days they counted for the majority of the score, and they were Barbara Ann’s specialty thanks in part to her remarkable precision and control as she carved the ice in intricate patterns with smooth edges.
She was the epitome of confidence and had nerves of steel in the ever-changing outdoor conditions.
Her dominance in figures gave her a commanding lead heading into the free skate.
On February 6, 1948, Barbara Ann Scott would be skating for gold but the night before a hockey game had left the ice heavily chewed up.
The temperature warmed during the day before dropping leaving the ice surface inconsistent.
As the competition began 11 skaters fell before her, so she changed her four-minute program by planning one double loop instead of three, and three double Salchows.
She said,
“When you have to skate outside in the elements, you tend not to worry about the small stuff.”
When it was her turn to skate Barbara glided from the boards, The Swiss Alps rising behind her like a white cathedral.
As settled into her opening pose she looked poised, and elegant.
The light, lyrical, music began and Barbara Ann looked like she was almost floating.
She approached her first jump with measured speed and landed a clean Axel with soft knees.
She then went through a series of spirals; her edges are exact and unbroken as she glides over ice like brushstrokes.
After a spin combination she entered her second jump sequence which she lands beautifully and in control.
The music picked up tempo as did Barbara’s footwork.
Spectators could hear her blades scratching in unison to the beat of the music.
She lands one final jump before gliding to her final spot on the ice.
Barbara Ann Scott exhaled.
She had done it.
Seven of the judges placed her first and with it she entered the history books.
Barbara Ann Scott Olympic champion.
When her victory was announced, two forwards from the Ottawa RCAF Flyers hockey team, lifted her on their shoulders as photographers captured the moment.
The New York Daily News reported,
“Beauteous Barbara Ann Scott, Canada’s sparkling ballerina on the ice, won the women’s figure skating championships before 7,000 dazzled admirers who hailed her performance as superior to Sonja Henie’s best as an amateur.”
The win made her world famous. In Czechoslovakia, they called her Barba. In Switzerland she was Barbelli, and the French referred to her as Champ.
Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King sent her a telegram that stated,
“You gave Canadians courage to get through the darkness of the post-war gloom.”
After her Olympic triumph, returned to Switzerland to compete at the World Figure Skating Championships in Davos.
Barbara Ann took the gold with a first-place finish from seven of the nine judges.
For a few weeks after the world championships, she performed across Europe.
In Paris, 20,000 people saw her skate.
In London, Madam Tussaud recreated her into a waxwork figure.
She also met Princess Elizabeth and spoke with her about horseback riding and skating.
She said of meeting royalty,
“It was a wonderful thrill to meet someone I had read about, seen pictures of, and heard about for so long… Then to find out she was so sweet, so nice!”
After her time in England, Barbara Ann returned to Canada.
In Sydney, Nova Scotia, 5,000 people waited for nine hours for her plane to arrive.
On March 9, 1948, Barbara Ann returned to her hometown to massive celebration.
Over 150,000 people cheered her on as Mounties provided security for a parade that wound its way through the capital’s streets.
She received the Key to the City, and the Buick convertible she had to give up before the Olympics was returned to her.
This time, the Canadian Figure Skating Association made sure that she could keep her amateur status.
Ryan Stevens says that it seemed that the entire country was on the Barbara Ann Scott bandwagon.
Her success encouraged others to follow in her footsteps.
Figure skating clubs suddenly saw an influx of young skaters hoping to find the same glory as Barbara Ann.
Frances Dafoe was one of them.
She made Canada proud at the 1956 Winter Olympics when she won silver with her skating partner Norris Bowden.
She said quote.
“Every little girl with skates wanted to be like Barbara Ann.”
Elizabeth Manley, who went on to win silver at the Winter Olympics in Calgary in 1988, called Barbara Ann her hero and someone who was quote,
“Diva without the diva.”
Barbara Ann Scott had conquered every level of skating possible, and so she turned pro.
On Dec. 22, 1948, Barbara Ann Scott made her debut as a professional skater at the Roxy Theatre on Broadway.
A tank ice stage had been constructed for her and that night, 5,000 people lined up outside the theatre to see her perform.
After t she went to a celebration at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel where Hugh D. Scully, Canada’s Consul General, presented her with a pair of custom-made skates that had been made in Weston, Ontario, and were valued at $5,000.
Ryan Stevens says she then toured North America, cementing her as Canada’s sweetheart.
Her first professional performance in Canada on May 10, 1949, was at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto in front of a 50-piece orchestra.
On her 21st birthday, a huge civic reception was held at Toronto’s City Hall where 1,500 people sang her happy birthday.
She was everywhere and everyone wanted a piece of her.
Simpson’s, a huge department store chain in Canada, sold a line of Barbara Ann Scott sportswear.
The company’s main rival, Eaton’s, also cashed in with autographed headscarves that featured her.
The Reliable Toy Company created the Barbara Ann Scott Doll.
It came with a tiny pair of skates, a skating outfit and a letter from Barbara Ann.
The doll, which sold for six dollars out of the Eaton’s catalogue, became incredibly popular.
Today, they are highly sought after by collectors and two can be found at the Canadian Museum of History.
While she was popular in the United States, her fame was unlike anything seen before in Canada and that came at a heavy price.
While she was beloved by millions, there were those who resented her.
The press often published her home address and phone number, which led to many disturbing letters and phone calls.
People frequently asked her for money, and men followed her or showed up at her home uninvited.
During one disturbing incident on July 23, 1948, a man arrived at her cottage and banged on the door while Barbara Ann hid with a toy baseball bat until the police arrived.
Amid these incidents, Barbara Ann continued to perform to the delight of millions across North America and Europe.
Everywhere she went, performances sold out and sometimes she pushed herself too hard.
In 1950 while performing in Vernon, she had a fever of 102 and a pain in her side.
She was told to take two weeks rest, but instead she put plaster over her rib.
While she never canceled shows, she did cancel personal appearances which led to a diva reputation.
A cancelled appearance at the Hudson’s Bay Company store in Edmonton led to especially bad press but she made it up by hosting a free show for 10,000 children Barbara Ann continued to perform through the early 1950s.
In early 1952 she performed for 68,000 people over the course of three days at Madison Square Garden.
But Barbara Ann was tired.
She had been living out of a suitcase for a decade and had no semblance of a normal life.
So, she retired.
She was just 25 years old
Barbara Ann Scott wanted to focus on herself.
She had met Tom King when he was a publicist on one of her tours.
He was a former athlete who had spent a season playing in the Basketball Association of America, the precursor to today’s NBA, with the Detroit Falcons.
They had known each other for several years and in that time, friendship turned to love.
On Sept. 17, 1955, at the Rosedale Presbyterian Church in Toronto, Barbara Ann Scott married Tom King.
Outside 400 well wishers stood waiting to see the couple emerge and cheer them on.
After their honeymoon, the couple moved to Chicago where they lived in an apartment with a pet turtle, budgie and poodle. They had one room devoted to all the trophies and awards Barbara Ann had received during her career.
That year she was also inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.
But she didn’t return to the ice, instead she focused on the Barbara Ann Scott Beauty Salon, which she had opened in 1949, and she found a new passion with horses.
The couple purchased two horses, and she spent hours each day riding and tending to them.
Always a great competitor, she won more than 400 first place ribbons at country horse shows over the course of forty years.
She said,
“I like it much better with horses than with skating. On skates, you’re out there all by yourself. When a person wins in equitation, they usually put their own name on the trophy, but I always put the horse’s name on because he’s the true athlete.”
Even though she lived in the United States, Canada was always close to her heart.
Barbara Ann returned often to appear on television, serve as a skating judge and work with many charitable causes including giving part of her earnings each year to help disabled children.
Ryan Stevens says she wore her love for Canada on her sleeve.
In 1987, she was one of the first torchbearers of the Olympic Torch Relay as it made its way to Calgary for the 1988 Winter Olympics which she also attended as an honoured guest and witnessed the next sweetheart take the ice.
In 1996, Barbara Ann and her husband Tom retired to Florida, describing themselves as permanent snowbirds.
And Canadians continued to love her for years to come.
The honours never stopped.
She was awarded the Order of Canada in 1991 and inducted into the Skate Canada Hall of Fame that same year.
In 1998, she became one of the first inductees into Canada’s Walk of Fame along with Anne Murray, Gordon Lightfoot and Pierre Berton.
In 1999, she finished third in the ranking of the top 10 Canadian female athletes of the 20th century, behind only skier Nancy Greene and rower Silken Laumann.
In 2004, at Ottawa’s Canadian Tulip Festival, she was awarded the Key to the City again, becoming the only person to receive the honour twice.
Two years later, Skate Canada named its new headquarters the Barbara Ann Scott Building.
When the Vancouver Olympic torch relay began in December 2009, Barbara Ann was there to carry the torch into the House of Commons to the Speaker’s Chair.
A few months later, she carried the Olympic Flag during the opening ceremonies in Vancouver.
She was joined by Betty Fox, Jacques Villeneuve, Anne Murray, Bobby Orr, Donald Sutherland, Romeo Dallaire and Julie Payette.
In 2012, the City of Ottawa created the Barbara Ann Scott Gallery to display photographs from her career, her awards and the Olympic gold medal she donated to the city.
Her appearance at the opening proved to be the final time she set foot in Canada.
Barbara Ann Scott died on Sept. 30, 2012, with her husband Tom at her side.
Ottawa, lowered flags to half mast in mourning.
Ryan Stevens says that her greatest legacy may be that she showed the world what Canadians could do on a world stage.
Barbara Ann Scott is one of our greatest Olympians and she was also immortalized on film.
She appeared in multiple movies alongside American Champion Dick Button and also has a connection to one of the worst films ever made.
First, I need to say that I absolutely love the National Film Board, so what follows is not a criticism of the films they produce.
Their app and website provide thousands of films and documentaries from 70 years of Canada’s history. I can’t say enough good things about it.
They have won many Academy Awards for their groundbreaking films but even the best can slip up from time to time.
In 1947, the National Film Board released a short documentary film called Johnny at the Fair.
The film followed a young boy named Johnny, played by future acclaimed artist Charles Pachter, as he tried to find his parents at the Canadian National Exhibition.
The narrator was Lorne Greene, who later went on to great fame as Ben Cartwright on Bonanza.
In Johnny’s quest to find his mom and dad, he had quite a few adventures.
In the film he shook hands with Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, and met celebrities like Joe Louis and, of course, Barbara Ann Scott where she planted a kiss on his cheek, which he promptly wiped off.
The film ended on a happy note when Johnny finds his parents in the Lost Children Area.
The two-week shoot wasn’t always a fun experience for Charles there are harrowing details regarding his mom which I will spare you because the film itself is not good.
It has an abysmal 2.6 out of 10 rating on IMDB.
In fact, it was so bad that it earned the badge of honour of being mocked on Mystery Science Theatre 3000 in the 1990s.
And Canada’s Sweetheart, Barbara Ann Scott, had a small part to play in it.
Not everything she touched turned to gold it seemed.
[BEAT]I would like to thank Ryan Stevens for speaking with me about Barbara Ann Scott.
His book, Barbara Ann Scott Queen of the Ice was a huge help in crafting this episode.
I will include a link to it in my show notes.
[OUTRO]
