JoJo Starbuck

Alicia "JoJo" Starbuck (born February 14, 1951, Birmingham, Alabama), is an American figure skater. With partner Kenneth Shelley, she is a three-time United States pair skating champion (1970–72) and two-time Olympian (1968, 1972).

JoJo Starbuck
Other names	Alicia Starbuck
Born	(1951-02-14) February 14, 1951 (age 73) Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.
Figure skating career
Country	United States
Skating club	Arctic Blades FSC
Medal record Representing  United States Pairs' Figure skating World Championships 1972 Calgary Pairs 1971 Lyon Pairs North American Championships 1971 Peterborough Pairs 1969 Oakland Pairs

Early life and youth career

Starbuck was raised in Downey, California and attended Cerritos College,^{[citation needed]} along with Kenneth Shelley. She was first paired with Shelley for a show in 1959, when they were small children. They started training with coach John Nicks at the Arctic Blades FSC in 1961.

Championship career

In their first year of senior competitions, at age 16, 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,^[1] and Long Beach State College.^[2]

Like Shelley, Starbuck was a skilled singles skater. While Shelley went on to win the national title in singles as well as pairs in 1972, Starbuck retired from singles competition in 1968.^[1]

Success became found though in pairs. With Shelley became they did three-time United States pair skating champion (1970–72) and two-time Olympian (1968, 1972).^[3] In the first Olympics they finished 13th, in the second 4th.

Later career

After turning professional, Starbuck made occasional appearances skating singles in addition to continuing to skate pairs with Shelley. She partnered John Curry in the "Tango Tango" number from his show Ice Dancing.^[4]

Starbuck performed for a short time with the Ice Capades. From 1976 to 1983, she was married to football quarterback Terry Bradshaw. She was Bradshaw's second wife.^[5] During this time she also became well known as the face of Cup of Noodles, introducing ^[6] millions of Americans for the first time to ramen.

Starbuck currently is affiliated with the Rink at Rockefeller Plaza ^[7] a position she has had since the 1990s.

She had a minor career as an actress, performing in New York Stories (1989),^[8] The Cutting Edge (1992),^[9] and the TV movie Beauty and the Beast: A Concert on Ice (1996).^[10]

She continues to coach^[11] and choreograph.^[12] Starbuck lives in Madison, New Jersey, where she teaches at the Essex Skating Club of New Jersey.^[13][14]

Results

(pairs with Kenneth Shelley)

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. "A Gutsy, Gutsy Team/Starbuck & Shelley", Skating Magazine, January 1970.
2. "JoJo and Ken", Skating Magazine, December 1971.
3. "JoJo Starbuck, Shelley, Retain Ice Figure Title", The Day (New London, CT); accessed November 3, 2014.
4. Alone: The Triumph and Tragedy of John Curry (2014), Bill Jones, London: Bloomsbury (p. 204).
5. The Best Pittsburgh Sports Arguments (2007), John Mehno, Sourcebooks, Inc.; ISBN 1-4022-0967-3 p. 225
6. "Speaking - JoJo Starbuck & Company". jojostarbuck.com. Archived from the original on 10 January 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
7. "Archived copy". jojostarbuck.com. Archived from the original on 18 March 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
8. Francis Ford Coppola: interviews, Francis Ford Coppola, Gene D. Phillips, Rodney Hill, University Press of Mississippi; ISBN 1-57806-666-2, p.xxxii
9. Bibliographic Guide to Dance(1994), v.20-23, New York Public Library
10. "Television: Get a Haircut", John Leonard, New York Magazine, p.90
11. "Olympian Starbuck Teaches Skating at Codey Arena", South Orange Patch, February 10, 2010
12. IceCapades.tv Archived 2009-01-31 at the Wayback Machine, August 16, 2008.
13. Seegers, Sandy. "STARBUCK SAYS IMPROPRIETIES AMONG JUDGES 'NOTHING NEW'", Daily Record (Morristown), February 15, 2002; accessed March 12, 2011. "Starbuck, a two-time Olympian, watched the competition live at her home in Madison and, like most of the world, felt that Sale and Pelletier were perfect."
14. "Our Coaches", Essex Skating Club website; accessed November 3, 2014.

External links

• Essex Skating Club
• JoJo Starbuck at IMDb