Kenneth Shelley

Kenneth Gene Shelley (born October 4, 1951) is an American figure skater who competed in both singles and pairs. As a single skater, he won the 1972 United States Figure Skating Championships and placed 4th at the 1972 Winter Olympics. His highest placement at the World Figure Skating Championships was a single skater was 7th, in 1972. As a pair skater, he competed with JoJo Starbuck, with whom he is a three-time National Champion. Starbuck and Shelley competed in two Olympic Games, placing 13th in 1968 and 4th in 1972, and won two bronze medals at the World Figure Skating Championships. When they made the 1968 Olympic team, they were the youngest athletes the United States had ever sent to the Olympics.^[1]

Kenneth Shelley
Full name	Kenneth Gene Shelley
Born	(1951-10-04) October 4, 1951 (age 72) Downey, California, U.S.
Figure skating career
Country	United States
Skating club	Arctic Blades FSC
Medal record Representing United States Men's singles Figure skating North American Championships 1971 Peterborough Men's singles Pairs' Figure skating World Championships 1972 Calgary Pairs 1971 Lyon Pairs North American Championships 1971 Peterborough Pairs 1969 Oakland Pairs

Shelley was from Downey, California. He was first paired with Starbuck for a show in 1959, when they were very small children. They started training seriously with coach John Nicks at the Arctic Blades FSC in 1961. In their first year of senior competitions, when they were both 16 years old, they qualified to compete at the 1968 Winter Olympics. Both Starbuck and Shelley attended Downey High School, where they performed off-ice lifts with the cheerleading squad^[2] and Long Beach State College.^[3]

In the summer of 1969, Shelley had a serious off-ice accident, crashing through a glass patio door at a party. He had surgery to repair two severed tendons and spent 5 weeks in a cast.^[2]

After retiring from competitive skating, Starbuck and Shelley skated in the Ice Capades and competed professionally. Shelley was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1994.^[4]

Results

Men's singles

Event	1970	1971	1972
Winter Olympics			4th
World Championships	8th	8th	7th
North American Championships		3rd
U.S. Championships	3rd	2nd	1st

Pairs

(with JoJo Starbuck)

Event	1967	1968	1969	1970	1971	1972
Winter Olympic Games		13th				4th
World Championships		11th	6th	5th	3rd	3rd
North American Championships			2nd		1st
U.S. Championships	1st J.	3rd	2nd	1st	1st	1st

References

1. "International Figure Skating Forum > American Icons To Be Honored by Ice Theatre of New York". Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-08-19.
2. "A Gutsy, Gutsy Team / Starbuck & Shelley", Skating magazine, Jan 1970
3. "JoJo and Ken", Skating magazine, Dec 1971
4. Official Site World Figure Skating Museum and Hall of Fame Archived 2007-09-05 at the Wayback Machine

• Pairs on Ice profile
• Skatabase: 1960s Olympics Pairs
• Skatabase: 1970s Olympic Pairs
• Skatabase: 1970s Olympics Men
• Skatabase: 1970s Worlds Pairs
• Skatabase: 1970s Worlds Men

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