Alternative names Edi Scholdan Name Edi Scholdan | Country represented Austria | |
Born 1911 or 1912 Vienna, Austria Died February 15, 1961, Kampenhout, Belgium | ||
Eduard "Edi" Scholdan (1911 or 1912 — February 15, 1961) was an Austrian figure skater and figure skating coach.
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Personal life
Scholdan was born in Vienna. He moved to the United States in 1938. In 1946, he married a figure skater, Roberta Jenks, with whom he had two children, Ruth and Jimmy, and a stepdaughter, Dixie Lee.
Career
Scholdan represented Austria as a competitor at the 1933 World Championships. However, he became better known as a coach; he worked at the Broadmoor Skating Club in Colorado Springs, Colorado beginning in 1945. His students included:
In 1961, Scholdan and his 13-year-old son were among those killed in the crash of Sabena Flight 548, which was carrying the entire U.S. Figure Skating team to the 1961 World Championships. Aged 50 at the time of his death, he was travelling as the coach of Gregory Kelley, Stephanie Westerfeld, and Bill Hickox and Laurie Hickox. Scholdan had planned to take his son to Vienna and other places in Europe following the competition.
In Scholdan's honor, the Professional Skaters Association's annual awards are called "EDI awards". Scholdan was president of that organization from 1950 to 1954 and was inducted into the inaugural class of their Coaches Hall of Fame in 2001.