The Last Lap

Two of Dartmouth's best speed-skaters died recently, marking the end of a golden era on ice: Lawrence "'Pug" Goldthwait "36 grew up skating on Occom Pond. He won the speed-skating events during the 1935 and 1936 Winter Carnivals, and at the time of his death last May he held the world record for men over 80. An auto accident injury later in life prevented him from tipping his head back to see as he skated in a crouched position, so he designed special glasses that allowed him to see the track he kept cleared on his pond in New London, New Hampshire. Jack Shea '34 was the first American to win two gold medals in a winter Olympics (1932) and.the patriarch of three generations of Olympians (grandson Jim won a gold medal in the skeleton in February). After the memorial service following Shea's death in January, the hearse headed for frozen Lake Placid in New York, where he had skated most of his life. As it headed around the sixth-of-a-mile oval—scene of many Shea triumphs—mourners stood for a final ovation.

Shea '34