Editing Dick Button (section)

====College years====
Button had intended to attend [[Yale University]] beginning in the fall of 1947, but deferred a year due to the Olympics.<ref name="onskates" /> Although he had originally been assured that his skating would not be a problem as long as his grades were good, he was later informed that he could not continue competing if he wanted to attend Yale. On advice from people from the [[Skating Club of Boston]], Button applied to, and was accepted at, [[Harvard College]]. Button was a full-time student at Harvard while skating competitively and graduated in 1952 and was a member of The [[Delphic Club]], one of the University's select "[[Final Clubs]]".{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}} He went on to win every international competition he entered for the next four years.{{Sfn|Hines|2011|p=48}}

As reigning and defending champion, as well as being the first skater to perform a double Axel and a flying camel, Button was under pressure to perform a new jump or spin every season. In 1949, he performed a 2Lo-2Lo combination. He was the winner of the [[James E. Sullivan Award]] as the top U.S. amateur athlete of 1949, becoming the first figure skater to win the award. In 1950, he performed the 2Lo-2Lo-2Lo. In 1951, he performed a 2A-2Lo combination and a 2A-2A sequence.<ref name="onskates" /> For the [[1952 Winter Olympics]], Button and Lussi began working on a triple jump. They settled on training the triple loop. Button landed it for the first time in practice in December 1951 at the Skating Club of Boston, and for the first time in exhibition in [[Vienna]] following the European Championships.<ref name="onskates" />