On February 15, 1961, the entire 18-member U.S. figure skating
team was killed in a plane crash in Berg-Kampenhout, Belgium.

The team was on its way to the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia.

Among those killed in the crash was 16-year-old Laurence Owen,
who had won the U.S. Figure Skating Championship in the ladies’ division the previous month.

She was featured on the February 13, 1961, cover of Sports
Illustrated, which called her the “most exciting U.S. skater.”

Shortly after the 1961 crash, the U.S. Figure Skating Memorial
Fund was established; to date, it has provided financial
assistance to thousands of elite American skaters.