Editing Dick Button (section)

==Personal life and death==
Button's television skating debut came on ''[[We the People (American TV series)|We the People]]'' on April 11, 1952, when he skated on the rink at [[Rockefeller Center]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Stretch |first1=Bjud |title=Air Waves |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104397042/courier-post/ |access-date=October 31, 2022 |work=Courier-Post |date=April 11, 1952 |location=New Jersey, Camden |page=22 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> He was a guest on the TV show ''[[I've Got A Secret]]'' as one of five former Olympic champions which aired October 13, 1954. In 1975, Button married figure skating coach [[Slavka Kohout]]; a son Edward and a daughter Emily were born to the couple, who later divorced.<ref name=LandingIt /> Button was a resident of [[North Salem, New York]].<ref name=WP060211 /><ref name=Lohud130906 /> He was inducted into the [[World Figure Skating Hall of Fame]] in 1976, the same year it was founded.<ref name=WHOF />{{Sfn|Hines|2011|p=49}}

Button suffered a serious head injury on July 5, 1978,<ref name="Ireland1978" /> when he was one of several men assaulted in [[Central Park]] by a gang of youths armed with baseball bats.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/07/13/archives/new-jersey-pages-5-are-arrested-in-club-attack-in-central-park-came.html |title=5 Are Arrested in Club Attack in Central Park |first=Donald G. Jr. |last=McNeil |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 13, 1978 |page=A1 |access-date=March 16, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180712001919/http://nytimes.com/1978/07/13/archives/new-jersey-pages-5-are-arrested-in-club-attack-in-central-park-came.html |archive-date=July 12, 2018}}</ref> Three persons were subsequently convicted of assault for the attacks. News accounts and trial testimony indicated the assailants were intending to target gay people, but the victims were attacked at random, and that because of the random nature of the attacks "... the police said there was no reason to believe the victims were homosexual."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/10/17/archives/3-sentenced-in-attack-using-bats-against-6-in-central-park-in-78.html |title=3 Sentenced in Attack Using Bats Against 6 In Central Park in '78 |first=Charles |last=Kaiser |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 17, 1979 |page=B2 |access-date=March 16, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241130115249/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/10/17/archives/3-sentenced-in-attack-using-bats-against-6-in-central-park-in-78.html |archive-date=November 30, 2024}}</ref>

On December 31, 2000, Button was skating at a public rink in [[Westchester County, New York]], when he fell, fracturing his skull and causing a serious brain injury.<ref name=NYT060215 /><ref name=Goldstein>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/sports/dick-button-dead.html |title=Dick Button, Figure Skating Champion and Commentator, Dies at 95 |date=January 30, 2025 |accessdate=January 31, 2025 |last=Goldstein |first=Richard |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url-access=registration |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250131181525/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/sports/dick-button-dead.html |archive-date=January 31, 2025}}</ref> He recovered and became a national spokesman for the Brain Injury Association of America<ref name=BIAUSA /> as well as continuing his Emmy Award–winning commentary on broadcasts of the Olympic Games and on various figure-skating television shows.

Button died in North Salem on January 30, 2025, at the age of 95.<ref name=Goldstein /><ref name="espn-ap2025">{{cite news |title=Olympic figure skater, commentator Dick Button dies at 95 |url=https://www.espn.com/olympics/figureskating/story/_/id/43631465/olympic-figure-skater-commentator-dick-button-dies-95 |access-date=31 January 2025 |agency=The Associated Press |publisher=ESPN |date=30 January 2025}}</ref> His death occurred less than a day after several participants in the [[2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships]], including skaters and coaches from the Skating Club of Boston with which Button had a life-long association,<ref name="espn-ap2025" /> were killed in a [[2025 Potomac River mid-air collision|mid-air collision over the Potomac River]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/dick-button-olympic-great-voice-skating-dies-95-118292366 |title=Dick Button, Olympic great and voice of skating, dies at 95 |publisher=ABC News |date=January 30, 2025}}</ref>