Families of skaters. Who skates or doesn't skate? | Page 3 | Golden Skate

Families of skaters. Who skates or doesn't skate?

lulu

Final Flight
Joined
Aug 4, 2003
Agree that if a parent was a star athlete, living up to his/her success is easier said than done for the child.
So I agree too that exceptions might be rare -- but I would not necessarily say extremely rare. I would be the first to admit that my knowledge of sports is quite limited, but off the top of my head, I can think of more exceptions (and am sure that others here can rattle off even more):

- Ken Griffey Sr. + Jr.
- Cal Ripken Sr. + Jr. + Billy Ripken
- Dale Earnhardt Sr. + Jr.
- The Howe family of hockey greats -- Gordie + two sons??
- Nastia Liukin's father was an Olympic gymnast, wasn't he?
- Davis Phinney + his mother + his father all have been cycling Olympians for the USA
- An American family (the Halls?) had three generations of Olympic swimmers, I believe.

Maybe not quite analogous, but from sports journalism:
- Jim McKay + his son Sean McManus (most recently head of CBS Sports)
- Curt Gowdy Sr. + Jr. (I forget which network is Junior's home at the moment, but he is a sports producer at the highest level).

Not only was Nastia Liukin's father an Olympic medalist, her mother was a world champion in rhythmic gymnastics. Her teammate by the way, was fellow world champion Tatiana Druchinina, the mother of Artur Dmitriev, Jr.

To add one more, although she's not particularly well known (I only know of her because she attended the same high school that I did), Nancy Swider-Peltz, Jr. an Olympian at the Vancouver Games in speed skating, is the daughter of 4 time Olympian, World Record holder and Speed Skating Hall of Fame honoree, Nancy Swider-Peltz.
Of course, I'm sure you can find plenty of other examples in other sports.
 
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ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Cycling fan nerd to the rescue! Davis Phinney is the Father and Tyler Phinney is the son.

Whoops! Thanks for the correction, and my apology to the Phinneys.

Will go back and edit my post, with hat tip to you, ucrgirl.
 
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Joined
Aug 16, 2009
At one point I think that Gordie Howe, who had one of the longest careers in hockey, actually skated with his two sons. Even I, a non-hockey fan, was impressed by that.

If we're widening the discussion to other sports, ballroom dancing seems to have a few dynasties, like the Ballases (Mark's parents, Corky and Shirley, are champions and are great coaches) and the Schwimmers. Lacey and Benji are both champions, and their father is a mainstay in the business.

One of the greatest American skating families was the Owens, though their achievements ended tragically. Maribel Vinson Owen was probably America's highest-ranking champion before World War II. Her two daughters, Laurence and Maribel, were respectively the national singles and pairs champions of 1961. Their mother was their coach. All three were on the plane that crashed in 1961, or it's likely that the two Owen girls would have contended at the 1964 Olympics. Maribel probably wouldn't have won or even medaled, because the Soviet pairs began to dominate around that time, but Laurence could certainly have ended up on the podium and perhaps with the gold medal around her neck.
 
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Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Even in acting there aren't that many outstanding actors whos parents were great actors.

This takes a separate comment, so I'll double post. I agree, though every now and then there's someone who reverses the pattern. For example, Robert Alda was a competent and moderately successful actor, but his son Alan was one of the great names in TV and has had a sizable film career, especially as a character actor.

Henry Fonda's kids are an interesting case. Jane probably equals her father, though he had the advantage of acting in the Golden Age of films, so he's got an iconic status that few modern actors can achieve. But she has two Oscars and a laudable film career. (He only has one Oscar, which he earned only in his final film, but that's not a true measure of his impact in Hollywood--he can be considered a true legend.) Peter is, probably by his own choice, not nearly as successful as either his sister or his father.

In the old days of theater there were true dynasties, such as the Barrymores, and the star system in existence at the time almost guaranteed that the offspring would equal the impact of the parents. The Barrymores peaked with the generation of Lionel, Ethel, and John, though Drew seems to be having at least a successful career if not a legendary one. She's interesting in that she is actually the heir to not one but three magnificent acting traditions. Her grandfather was of course John Barrymore. But through him she is also related to the Drews, a theatrical dynasty of the nineteenth century. And through her grandmother, silent film beauty Dolores Costello, she is related to the Costellos, another theater family who switched to movies. (Dolores's father, Maurice Costello, had a career in movies and before that in vaudeville.)

Maurice Costello
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Costello

Dolores Costello
http://www.doctormacro.com/Images/C...Dolores (Little Irish Girl, The)_NRFPT_01.jpg

And, to combine football and acting, there's Mark Harmon. His father Tom Harmon won the Heisman Trophy. Mark played college football competently but wasn't the star his father was, but it was as an actor that Mark eventually made his--well, mark. His mother was an actress, Elyse Knox, though she certainly wasn't well known. But Mark has lived up to the family tradition of hard work, I think. One could argue that he was merely a respectable journeyman actor until he was in his fifties, when he became the anchor of NCIS. (Though I will point out that he was one of the first men that People Magazine featured as the Sexiest Man Alive. And rightfully so!)
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Yes, acting also has quite a few exceptions. Several more:

- Charlie Chaplin + Geraldine Chaplin
- The Redgraves (three generations, I think, incl. the late Natasha Richardson??)
- Ingrid Bergman + Isabella Rossellini
- Judy Garland + Liza Minnelli
- Lloyd Bridges + Jeff Bridges + Beau Bridges
- Kirk Douglas + Michael Douglas
- Martin Sheen + Emilio Estevez + Charlie Sheen
- Alan Arkin Sr. + Jr.
- Richard Burton + Kate Burton
- Debbie Reynolds/Eddie Fisher + Carrie Fisher
- Ron Howard + daughter
- Meryl Streep + daughter
- James Broderick + Matthew Broderick
- Will Smith and Jada Pinkett's son is an actor, isn't he? And does Willow act as well as sing?
 

Dragonlady

Final Flight
Joined
Aug 23, 2003
An obvious baseball reference no one has mentioned yet: Cecil Fielder and his son Prince. Cecil played for the Toronto Blue Jays and his son, Prince, was always with his Dad at the ball park. Cecil was later traded to Detroit, where Prince is now a huge star, in more way than one, and has certainly eclipsed his father.
 

pitterpatter

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Takahiko Kozuka's family comes to mind; someone posted a link to a documentary about it recently. His grandfather was an early figure in Japanese skating, his father skated in the Olympics, and Takahiko himself is obviously highly accomplished.
 

Victura

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 8, 2012
Yuka Sato's family is also an example. Both her parents were Japanese champions and world/Olympic competitors, and all of them are now successful coaches.
 
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