Longtime figure skating coach Frank Carroll, who over the course of a 60-year career helped guide six Olympic medalists at 10 Winter Games, including Michelle Kwan and Evan Lysacek, died Sunday. He was 85.
U.S. Figure Skating, with whom Carroll worked closely for decades, announced his death. It said Carroll died Sunday “after a battle with cancer.”
With a sharp wit and even sharper sense of humor, Carroll was instrumental in the success of American standouts such as Kwan, Lysacek and Linda Fratianne. He retired from coaching in August 2018, not long after his 80th birthday.
“He changed the lives of every skater and parent he came across,” Kwan said at the time.
Carroll, the younger of two children, was born on July 11, 1938, to a shop teacher father and city clerk mother. He was inspired by two-time Olympic champion Dick Button to learn to skate on the frozen ponds near his hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts, and later attended Holy Cross, where he graduated in 1960 with a degree in sociology.
Yet it was on the ice where Carroll showed such a brilliant ability to absorb, and pass along, his vast knowledge. Much of it was gleaned from his own first coach, Maribel Vinson-Owen, the two-time world medalist and 1932 Olympic bronze medalist.
“She taught me great discipline, about being on time, always showing up, never backing out, not saying, ‘Oh, I don’t feel well today,’” Carroll recalled later in life. “You go to the rink and you never complain about the ice.”
Carroll won a junior bronze medal at the U.S. championships before turning professional and skating with Ice Follies, a popular touring show at the time that featured elaborate productions. Carroll also dabbled in acting before getting into coaching, despite having been accepted into the law school at the University of San Francisco.
His first big stars were Mark Cockerell, the 1976 world junior champion, and Fratianne, who would win world senior titles in 1977 and ’79. But it was Kwan, the daughter of Chinese immigrants from Hong Kong, who launched Carroll to stardom in his own right. She would win five world championships along with silver and bronze medals at the Winter Olympics.
Carroll also coached Tim Goebel, Gracie Gold and Denis Ten to Olympic medals. His lone champion was Lysacek, whose stirring free skate at the 2010 Vancouver Games was enough to beat out Russia’s Evgeni Plushenko for the gold medal.
Lysacek honored his coach afterward with the Order of Ikkos medal from the U.S. Olympic Committee, which is designed to be a symbol of excellence in coaching as represented by an athlete’s achievement as an Olympic medalist.
“He made me believe that I could skate perfectly in the Olympics,” Lysacek said after the 2010 Games. “When I first heard the results, he was the first person I thought about. … He owns just as much or more of my Olympic gold medal as I do.”
Carroll was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1996 and the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2007.
Funeral arrangements were not available, but donations can be made in Carroll’s honor to the Memorial Fund. It was created after the 1961 crash of a flight from New York to Brussels, Belgium, that killed the entire U.S. figure skating team on its way to the world championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Many of Carroll’s friends and coaches were aboard the plane.
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Frank Carroll, a legendary figure skating coach who mentored some of the sport’s biggest stars, including Michelle Kwan and Evan Lysacek, has passed away at the age of 85. Carroll’s impact on the world of figure skating cannot be overstated, as he helped shape the careers of numerous Olympic and World champions.
Carroll began his coaching career in the 1960s and quickly gained a reputation for his keen eye for talent and his ability to bring out the best in his skaters. Over the years, he worked with some of the sport’s most iconic figures, including Linda Fratianne, Christopher Bowman, and Denis Ten.
However, Carroll is perhaps best known for his work with Michelle Kwan, who he coached to five World Championships and two Olympic medals. Kwan has credited Carroll with helping her develop into one of the greatest figure skaters of all time, praising his dedication, expertise, and unwavering support.
In addition to Kwan, Carroll also coached Evan Lysacek to an Olympic gold medal in 2010. Lysacek’s victory was a testament to Carroll’s coaching prowess, as he helped the skater overcome numerous obstacles and reach the pinnacle of his sport.
Carroll’s coaching style was known for its tough love approach, as he pushed his skaters to their limits while also providing them with the guidance and support they needed to succeed. His dedication to his athletes was unmatched, and many of them have spoken about the profound impact he had on their lives both on and off the ice.
In addition to his work as a coach, Carroll was also a respected figure in the figure skating community, serving as a mentor and role model for countless young skaters. His passion for the sport was infectious, and he inspired generations of athletes to strive for excellence and never give up on their dreams.
The passing of Frank Carroll is a great loss for the figure skating world, but his legacy will live on through the countless skaters he coached and inspired. His impact on the sport is immeasurable, and he will be remembered as one of the greatest coaches in figure skating history. Rest in peace, Frank Carroll.
