By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
As Scott Hamilton waited for his coffee at Grounds for Thought last month, his presence went unnoticed by some younger patrons. But to those old enough to have sat glued to the TV in 1984 as the BG native took the gold in the Olympics figure skating, his visit caused a stir.
In line in front of Hamilton was Kathy Pereira de Almeida, of Bowling Green, who did a double-take when she glanced at the Olympian.
“My daughter skated with you,” she gushed, telling Hamilton about the thrill it was for her daughter, Andrea, and her little friends to be “raindrops” in the early 1990s with the BG Skating Club’s Ice Horizons Show.
Hamilton thanked Almeida for the memories, then bought her cappuccino.
As he walked to a table for an interview with BG Independent News, he was recognized by another woman, a BGSU employee who keeps a photo of him in her office that she often high-fives for inspiration.
She asked for a selfie with the gold medalist, which he cheerfully agreed to.
“This is a dream,” the woman said.
Hamilton said he understood. “A lot of people think I’m Brad Pitt.”
In Bowling Green, Hamilton holds a place of reverence for those he grew up with, those he skated with, those he inspired by overcoming great odds, and those who appreciate the love he continues to show his hometown.
Last month, it was the 25th anniversary of the Bowling Green Schools Foundation that lured him back home. He thought he was coming to the anniversary celebration to honor the schools he attended as a child.
Though fall is a busy time for Hamilton, who lives with this family in Franklin, Tennessee, he didn’t even consider turning down the invitation.
“I’m not going to say no. Of course I want to be there,” to celebrate the schools he remembers so fondly, and to visit the BGSU Ice Arena where he first strapped on his skates. “I just come back because I love it here.”
But the foundation had other plans for the gold medalist’s appearance – and presented him with the inaugural Scott Hamilton Award for distinguished alumni.
It was another honor showing Bowling Green’s love for the gold medalist – along with the renaming of First Street as Scott Hamilton Boulevard, and the bobbleheads in his likeness for the 50th anniversary of the BGSU Ice Arena.
Occasionally, Hamilton is reminded of the years that have lapsed since his Olympic fame. During this visit back to Bowling Green, he met with BGHS athletes – whose parents might not have even been born when he earned the gold.
“One student asked, ‘Were you in a movie with Will Ferrell?’” Realizing the more recent relevance of the movie to teens, Hamilton acknowledged he had a role in the figure skating comedy “Blades of Glory.”
He certainly wasn’t offended. “They were amazing.”
For a man who started out as an “unintended and unwanted” child, adopted at 6 weeks by his parents, educators Ernest and Dorothy Hamilton, the relationship he has with the Bowling Green community is precious.
“Bowling Green has meant a lot to me,” he said. “You only have one hometown – this is where I grew up.”
He attended Crim and Kenwood elementaries, the junior high and high school, graduating in 1976.
He recalled wanting to emulate his dad when he started school.
“He always wore a jacket and bow tie. So I wore a jacket and bow tie to my first day of school.”
Hamilton easily rattled off some of his favorite teachers. “There were a lot of great teachers. It was a great place to grow up.”
He also reminisced about some occasional mischief he got into with friends. He recalled movies at the Cla-Zel theater downtown, and the luck of having Mike Vannett as a friend.
“How cool is that when your dad owns the Dairy Queen,” he said of Vannett.
Though five decades have passed, Hamilton also remembered the long-waged pizza wars.
“Back then the dividing line was – were you a Pagliai’s or a Pisanello’s guy?”
“I loved growing up in Bowling Green.”
But Hamilton’s youth was not carefree. It was a childhood disrupted by illness. At age 2, he contracted a mysterious illness that caused him to stop growing. For the next six years, doctors prescribed a variety of unsuccessful treatments.
“I was sick all the time,” he said.
After his illness was mistakenly diagnosed as cystic fibrosis and he was given six months to live, the Hamiltons took their son to the Children’s Hospital in Boston where his ailment began to correct itself.
At the peak of his amateur skating career, Hamilton weighed 108 pounds and was 5 feet 2.5 inches tall. He eventually grew to a height of 5 feet 4 inches.
The toll of medical care and traveling great distances in hopes of finding a cure led to financial hardships for the family. It also caused emotional strain, with his parents so focused on their son’s health.
At one point, a physician recognized the toll, and suggested the parents enroll their son into classes at the BGSU ice arena so they could rest on Saturday mornings. The classes benefited Hamilton and his parents.
Being on the ice gave Hamilton a feeling of freedom he had not experienced until then. He had tried gymnastics, but it was skating that clicked.
“Skating appealed to me much more – the freedom and the speed,” he remembered. “I would be there all day, every day if I could.”
Showing great promise on the ice, the family wanted to invest in their son’s professional training. When those expenses became overwhelming, Dorothy Hamilton went back to school so she could teach at the college level.
“I was doing things on skates I never thought I could,” Hamilton said.
But when he was a junior at BGHS, his mom was diagnosed with cancer, and he dedicated himself to doing his best for her.
“Early on, I actually wasn’t very competitive. I coasted, showed up late for sessions, and didn’t have a strong work ethic. When my mother was diagnosed with cancer in 1978, I decided to honor her with the best of my abilities on the ice.”
He won at nationals, and continued to improve. But within two years, his mom lost her life to cancer.
The loss devastated Hamilton. His dad, a strict biology professor who had held the rank of lieutenant in the ROTC, provided the family structure. But his mother had been the nurturer in the family.
“My parents were all into their kids. They had their roles and they played them well,” Hamilton said.
Today, when he speaks to young athletes, he often shares stories about hardships. He estimated he has fallen on the ice at least 41,600 times.
“That’s probably on the low side,” he said. “When you fall that many times and get up that many times, it’s all part of the development.”
During his first nationals competition, Hamilton fell five times. But he persisted. He eventually became a four time U.S. Champion, a four time World Champion, and the 1984 Olympic Gold medalist in men’s figure skating.
On the ice, Hamilton was widely recognized for his innovative footwork and his signature move – the backflip, a feat few other figure skaters could perform at the time. That move is now against U.S. Figure Skating and Olympic competition rules. However, he often included it in his exhibition routines as an amateur to thrill the crowd.
The backflip, a seemingly impossible stunt on ice, was simple, according to Hamilton.
“It’s only two movements – up and over,” he said as he sipped on his coffee in downtown BG.
While he only missed the landing a couple times, he had several other missteps that resulted in injuries. He sprained his right ankle so many times it had to be rebuilt.
He taught his four children to skate, but no longer skates himself.
“It wouldn’t be fun. I would remember what I used to be able to do.”
During a “midlife crisis” at age 51, Hamilton said almost convinced himself to try the backflip again. But he decided to not take the chance.
“Gravity takes on a different identity the older you get,” he said with a grin.
After turning professional, Hamilton toured with the Ice Capades for two years, and then created “Scott Hamilton’s American Tour,” which later was renamed Stars on Ice.
In his retirement, the bulk of Hamilton’s time is spent on charitable causes.
In 1997, Hamilton had a much-publicized battle with testicular cancer. He made a return to skating after his treatment and his story was featured in magazines and on television. Then in 2004, Hamilton was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor, underwent nine surgeries, and temporarily went blind in his right eye.
He founded the Scott Hamilton Cares Foundation to assist with cancer patient support. He has been a longtime volunteer with Special Olympics and has also helped benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.
“We’re trying to change how people are treated for cancer,” he said. “The status quo is unacceptable. I’m here because of chemotherapy. But I wish there was something else.”
His foundation is helping to fund immunotherapy research, in hopes of finding treatments that don’t have so many short-term and long-term side effects.
At 66, Hamilton is healthy. As he left Grounds for Thought, he was headed to the cemetery where his parents are buried before going to the school foundation celebration later that evening.
“I always like to visit with them, to fill them in,” Hamilton said of his parents, who welcomed an unwanted child and allowed him to fly on ice.
