Remembering Frank Carroll with Phil Hersh
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- čas přidán 14. 06. 2024
- Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, Frank Carroll’s father introduced him to figure skating on an outdoor pond. Early in his youth, an indoor ice rink was built across the street from his home - a love affair with a sport that compired artistry, athleticism, dance and theater was born.
Frank Carroll was twice a national bronze medalist at the junior level and a New England champion before he turned professional and toured with the Ice Follies. He even had a brief stint in acting, which he remained deeply private about until the end of his days.
The son of a professor, Frank was a strong student and graduated on the Dean’s List from the College of the Holy Cross with a B.S. in Sociology. Though he initially intended on attending San Francisco Law School, he was spurred to enter the coaching realm after his beloved coach, Maribel Vinson Owen, and his dear friends and peers perished on the plane crash of Sabena 548 - taking the lives of the entire United States team heading to the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships.
The excellent student proved to be a master teacher. In 1968, he had his first national medalist. A year later, Frank coached Jimmy Demogines to the novice national title. In 1972, he coached Robert Bradshaw to be the Olympic alternate. Four years later, he had his first Olympian with Linda Fratianne. Linda went on to win the world title in 1977 and 1979 and finished a controversial second at the 1980 Olympic Games.
He soon coached Tiffany Chin to gold at the world junior championships and guided Christopher Bowman for eighteen years. Frank is best known for changing the sport when he teamed up with Michelle Kwan. Early in Kwan’s career, Carroll began a collaboration with choreographer Lori Nichol that elevated the art form of figure skating and transformed the long program into a choreographic work of art. Together, Carroll, Kwan and Nichol redefined excellence and were the epitome of class, elegance and grace during the height of figure skating’s popularituy.
Carroll coached students to countless titles at the national, international and Olympic levels. His pupils include: Michelle Kwan, Linda Fratianne, Christopher Bowman, Evan Lysacek, Denis Ten, Tiffany Chin, Mirai Nagasu, Gracie Gold, Tim Goebel, Karen Kwan, Joanna Ng, Beatrisa Liang, Jonathan Cassar, Robert Bradshaw, Yebin Mok, Angela Nikodinov, Jennifer Kirk, Danielle Kahle, Carolina Kostner, Silvia Fontana, Nicole Bobek, Daisuke Murakami, Carly Gold, Scott Dyer, Doug Mattis, Craig Heath, Jeri Campbell, Ellie Kawamura, Kristiene Gong, Luis Hernandez, Todd Sand and Tessa Hong.
Frank Carroll is a symbol of resilience, discipline, hard work and doing things the right way. Despite losses at the Olympics that broke of the heart of the teacher for students Linda Fratianne and Michelle Kwan, Frank Carroll persevered and never gave up. When pupil Evan Lysacek won gold at the 2010 Olympic Games, the skating world erupted - equally as delighted for Frank as they were for Evan.
Despite all of accomplishments of his famous students, Frank considered his happiest coaching moment to be guiding Robert Taylor to win the novice men’s national title against all odds by sheer hard work and discipline.
Carroll will be remembered for his wit, wisdom, intelligence and love of the sport. He coached three world champions, six Olympic medalists, six U.S. senior champions and had the honor of coaching at 10 Olympic Games.
Frank is predeceased by his mother, Agnes, father, Thomas, and sister, Rosemary.
He passed away peacefully in the morning hours of Sunday, June 9, surrounded by friends and loves one. Frank Carroll made figure skating better.
Philip Hersh spent 28 years as Olympic sports writer for the Chicago Tribune and has gone on to write about the Olympics and figure skating for icenetwork and NBC Olympics. He has covered 20 Olympics -- 12 Winter and 8 Summer -- seven soccer World Cups (four men, three women), 35 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, 20 World Figure Skating Championships, 12 World Track and Field Championships, two Pan American Games and more than two dozen other national championships in Olympic sports.
As an internationally recognized expert in the field, Hersh has appeared on the NBC Today Show and Nightly News; NBC's "Winter Olympics Daily" show in 2010 and 2018; the ABC Evening News; CBS Sunday Morning and CBS Olympic coverage; ESPN’s Sportsweek; CNN; Chicago Tonight; Monitor Radio, PBS Radio and NPR.
Hersh was born in Boston and graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in French and did advanced study in Spanish and Italian.
He has been a four-time nominee for the Pulitzer Prize and a winner of multiple Associated Press Sports Editors annual writing awards, Chicago Headline Club awards and Chicago Society of Black Journalists award.
N.Y. Times columnist George Vecsey wrote that "among the qualities of an ideal journalist is the international vision of Phil Hersh." - Sport
There will never be another Frank Carroll.
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He coached all those mentioned and so many more kids and adults at all levels whose names are known only to their families. He gave everyone the same care and attention. He was determined to share the love and respect for the fundamentals of skating to one and all who came to him. Maribel would be proud.
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Frank and Michelle. The duo that cemented by love for this sport.
A wonderful walk down memory lane❤ Frank is an absolute legend
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I remembered the interview he did with Polina Edmonds after the 2022 Olympics, he gave great insights and had zero tolerance for the doping doping. Frank was true gem in the skating community he is loved and will be missed
Thanks for mentioning this, I had never heard that interview before and enjoyed listening to it. He never minced his words, but always expressed his thoughts in a classy and articulate way. I completely agree with him that the judging system is leading the sport towards disaster.
I can’t remember a time when I watched figure skating growing up and not seeing Frank Carrol in the kiss and cry. He was such a ubiquitous presence in the skating world. His skaters speak to his brilliance. He will be missed ❤
It was great seeing Frank finally had an Olympic champion under his tutelage when Evan won in 2010.
I so agree with this. I liked Evan Lysacek, but was never as big a fan of his skating as a Paul Wylie or Brian Boitano... I really wanted to see him win there for Frank. I was so happy when it happened.
Frank was the antithesis is all the abusive coaching we now are aware of today. I hope other coaches will learn from his illustrious example.
I remember Frank coming into the stands at the 2010 Olympics and the warmth the crowd showed him, recognizing that at last he had coached a student to an Olympic gold medal.
Thank you for saying it again Phil, Denis Ten is the 2013 World Champion.
Thank you for doing this memorial segment with Phil, perfect person to go down memory lane with, Christine is missed of course and Jonathan! It's so sad to see so many people we grew up watching leaving this world You are creating one of the best historical records of figure skating with all of your interviews with the legends. I really loved your interview with Frank from a few years ago. Was so nice to see how much he loved skating into his later years coaching anyone who wanted to learn. 💜 Thanks for keeping it real regarding Tim lol
So well put. Thank you for articulating what I feel about this Channel too.
RIP to an absolute legend.
Really enjoyed this, Dave. Phil could talk all day and I could listen to him all day.
What an eclectic range of skaters Frank worked with over the decades.
This was wonderful..and I may have misted up a few times..It was an honor to have had more than one conversation with Frank..He was so down-to-earth and approachable..Last of a vanishing breed..
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I so enjoyed this. He was one of my favorite characters in the sport for sure. I was so happy when he finally got his gold medalist with Evan Lysacek in 2010.
RIP Frank.
A+ interview, Dave!
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Thank you for doing this interview, he was class
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Wonderful interview.
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Wonderful interview. “Irreplaceable “ is such a relevant word when talking about Frank Carroll. Skating events will not be the same without Frank.
Regarding the conversation about gymnastics coaches… difficult to say because gymnasts today are able to find elite coaches near their hometowns; whereas 40 years ago, the places to go if you had the best shot of going to the Olympics were Houston (not naming those coaches for obvious reasons), Allentown, PA with the Strauss’s (again, many reports of mental abuse from them), or Edmond, Oklahoma (to train in Shannon Miller’s territory). In truth, when I think of great gymnastics coaches, college coaches are the first ones that come to mind: Greg Marsden; Coach Val; Suzanne Yocolan; Sarah Patterson; D-DBreaux. The list goes on.
Bart Conner said once college gymnastics is like rehab for elite gymnasts, and he’s right. Look at the number of Olympians who are now coaching in the NCAA’s.
I’ll miss is an impact on the sport
I've missed his impact on the sport for a while. 😞
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Great tribute! Thank you❤
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Intersting at the end of the interview when Phil talked about figure skating as a "white upper class"sport and he mentioned a few skaters that were NOT "white middle class skaters". To me and many I am guessing, Tonya Harding was the epitome of a non "white upper class" skater who was really great!
Excited to finish watching this but also want to say I appreciate the effort that went into the video’s description. Thanks as always for staying with the sport and delivering timely and quality content!
Thank you for this tribute to Frank C.
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What an incredible conversation 🤩🤩🤩🤩
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Beautiful interview, loved listening to all the memories ❤
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This is wonderful. Thank you!🙏🏽
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Great interview Dave. Frank will be missed.
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Thank you for this
My pleasure!
Frank is more comparable to old Hollywood show business leaders like Bob Fosse, Lee Strasberg, Elia Kazan, etc.
So accurate!
Michelle does surprising things. She started out by taking her 8th test against Frank's advice. She always had her own agenda and mind. She was confidant.
I still think Michelle and Frank as the dream team. They created magical performances. I disagree with Phil that Tara was the better figure skater that day. Yup. I am still salty about it. I wish Frank got his gold medal with Michelle, but I am happy he finally got it with Evan. It was long overdue.
No one will ever come close
I remember Tiffany Chin. Beautiful feminine skater.
The MK/Sasha near miss was at US Champs, 02, not OLY..but..I am loving this interview..
Also..in the beginning..Ken Congemi was w Evan a lot..
It also took place in the Olympic practices according to the newspaper articles
@@TheSkatingLesson TY, I did not know that. How did I miss that? Pewter..then..for sure!
I am glad Phil talked great about Evan because I thought the later was not warm and close to Frank.
Gymnastics coaches= Dick Mulvihill & Linda Metheny Mulvihill ....Muriel Grossfeld.....Bill Sands......Kelli Hill..........................
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