Robert Arnold Uppgren (December 14, 1923 - May 12, 1967) 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 ...

. He competed in

pair skating Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating ...

with partner

Janette Ahrens Janette Louise Buckbee ( Ahrens, December 10, 1925 – April 24, 2016), also known as Deedee Ahrens, was an American Figure skating, figure skater. Life and career Ahrens was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota on December 10, 1925. She attended the U ...

. He also competed in fours with Ahrens, Mary Louise Premer, and Lyman Wakefield, Jr. and won the 1941 North American title. By 1967, Uppgren had begun working for the

United States Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is a List of federal agencies in the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior which oversees the management of fish, wildlife, ...

in its

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

offices. On May 12, he died in a helicopter crash in

Leech Lake Leech Lake (translated from the Ojibwe language ''Gaa-zagaskwaajimekaag'': Lake abundant with bloodsuckers) is a lake located in north central Minnesota, United States. It is southeast of Bemidji, Minnesota, Bemidji, located mainly within the L ...

Competitive highlights

(with Ahrens)

Four skating

(with Premer, Uppgren, and Wakefield)

References

1923 births 1967 deaths American male pair skaters 20th-century American sportsmen Victims of helicopter accidents or incidents in the United States Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1967 {{US-figure-skating-bio-stub Accidental deaths in Minnesota