Don Laws (May 30, 1929 – December 2, 2014) was an American

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic d ...

and coach.

Personal life

Don Laws was born on May 30, 1929, in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

He had a brother, Willard Laws, and sister, Laura Keesling. In 1951, he joined the

United States Army Security Agency The United States Army Security Agency (ASA) was the United States Army's signals intelligence branch from 1945 to 1977. The Latin motto of the Army Security Agency was ''Semper Vigilis'' (Vigilant Always), which echoes the declaration, often ...

. Laws died of heart failure on December 2, 2014, in

Sandy Spring, Maryland Sandy Spring is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Geography Sandy Spring's boundaries are roughly defined as Brooke Road and Dr. Bird Road to the north and west, Ednor Road to the ...

Career

Don Laws competed in

single skating Single skating is a discipline of figure skating in which male and female skaters compete individually. Men's singles and women's singles are governed by the International Skating Union (ISU). Figure skating is the oldest winter sport conteste ...

and

ice dancing Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. A ...

. With his ice dancing partner, Mary Firth, he won the U.S. junior title in 1948. In men's singles, he won the 1950 U.S. junior title and placed seventh at the 1951 World Championships in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, Italy. He was coached by Osborne Colson. After retiring from competitive skating, Laws became a coach. His students included Scott Hamilton, Tiffany Chin,

Michael Weiss Michael Weiss may refer to: Sports * Michael Weiss (figure skater) (born 1976), American former figure skater * Michael Weiss (swimmer) (born 1991), American swimmer * Michael Weiss (triathlete) (born 1981), Austrian triathlete and cyclist * Michae ...

, and

Patrick Chan Patrick Lewis Wai–Kuan Chan (born December 31, 1990) is a Canadian former competitive figure skater. He is a Figure skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Team event, 2018 Olympic gold medallist in the team event, Figure skating at the 2014 ...

. Laws was inducted into the

United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame The United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame serves as a repository for the sport of figure skating. The United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame is where the greatest names in the history of the sport are honored. To be inducted into it is consid ...

in 2001 and the

Professional Skaters Association The American Skaters Guild, later the Professional Skaters Guild of America and then the Professional Skaters Association, was the first skating teachers organization in North America. On August 10, 1938, a meeting took place of thirteen prominen ...

Coaches Hall of Fame in 2004. In 2005, he received a "Lifetime Achievement Award" from the Michael Weiss Foundation. Laws was one of the Americans who help create the

ISU Judging System The ISU Judging System or the International Judging System (IJS), occasionally referred to as the Code of Points (COP) system, is the scoring system that has been used since 2004 to judge the figure skating disciplines of single skating, men's an ...

, which replaced the 6.0 scoring system in 2004. He was a former president of the

and a Lifetime Achievement Honorary Member of that association. He served on the

International Skating Union The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international sport governing body, governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded ...

's Singles and Pairs Committee. An inspiring biography, "Don Laws: The Life of an Olympic Figure Skating Coach" written by Beverly Ann Menke and including a foreword by Scott Hamilton, was published in 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laws, Don 1929 births 2014 deaths American figure skating coaches American male single skaters American male ice dancers Figure skaters from Washington, D.C. Dancers from Washington, D.C. Sports coaches from Washington, D.C. 20th-century American sportsmen