Diane Sherbloom was without an ice dance partner in 1960, and did not plan to take part in the 1961 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. At the last minute, Larry Pierce asked her to skate with him since his "regular partner" broke her ankle. Five weeks later, the newly formed ice dance team won the 1961 U.S. Ice Dance title.

Sherbloom and Pierce died in the 1961 plane crash where the entire U.S. figure skating team perished. Their coach was Daniel "Danny" Ryan, who is mentioned when the team is interviewed after this performance. Ryan also died in the 1961 plane crash.

_{Jeremy Abbott and Evan Lysacek - Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images}

More About Figure Skaters Jeremy Abbott and Evan Lysacek:

• Jeremy Abbott - Rising Figure Skating Star
• Olympic Ice Skater Evan Lysacek

Daniel "Danny" Ryan, was the 1953 U.S. National ice dance champion. He also won the bronze medal in ice dancing at the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952 and 1953. Ryan was one of the U.S. figure skating coaches who died in the 1961 plane crash where the entire U.S. figure skating team perished.

Nineteen year old Christopher Nolan is Danny Ryan's grandson. He will be competing in pair skating at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships that will take place in Cleveland, Ohio next week. Isn't this a wonderful story? Today, many people in figure skating don't know who Danny Ryan is, but through his grandson, the Ryan figure skating legacy lives on!

• Grandson of 1961 crash victim continues legacy - By Jo Ann Schneider Farris, on IceNetwork.com

_{Christopher Nolan holds up his grandfather's world championship ice dance bronze medal - Photo by JO ANN Schneider Farris}

A young man wrote this to his father on October 6, 2003. I believe it shows the emotion involved when a serious figure skater decides to leave our sport. I wonder if this young man ever did return to figure skating?

Join the Discussion: When is it time to quit figure skating? Share your thoughts and experiences.

When Everything Froze

You open up the glass door and a gust of cold air that smells of mold hits you in the face. Your skin tightens as goose bumps ripple across your body to adjust for the sudden drop in temperature. With an old torn luggage bag dragging behind you, you head towards your normal seat. Sitting down a shiver runs threw your body as you get used to the cold metal bench. Pulling out the ice skates stored in the luggage bag you remember to check the blisters on your feet. Band-aids are put on the small blisters and make-up pads are taped to the bigger ones. Tightening up your skates you feel them dig into to the ever-present cuts in the sides of your ankle. You tighten them up even more with the knowledge that it will make the day easier even as the warm blood from the all ready reopened cut trickles down the inside of the skates.

With your skates firmly on your feet you get up and walk out to the flat surfaces of the ice rink. Another blast of cold air hits you as you skate towards your waiting dance partner and your coach. The pain in your ankle begins to fade and the cold air seems to get warmer as the enjoyment of being out there on the ice takes hold. You begin to feel as if you're the only person in the world, no worries, no troubles, just you and the ice. Everything is good; no one could wreck it for the world. This is why you're here.

Day in and day out you return to the rink to pour your soul into a thing you love, into a thing you would give everything to make it last forever.

Then slowly that pain in your ankle takes longer to fade. The warmth takes longer to beat out the cold. You are no longer the only person on the ice, and you have to share it with everyone.

Then one day the pain never leaves, the warmth never comes and the ice seems crowded. That's the day you decide to quit.

In part you leave a large part of whom you were behind. You just walk away from what you spent your life doing.

This was my life or most of it.

I was an ice dancer and I loved it, but over time, I lost that love for it, so I did the only thing there was for me to do.

I quit. I hung up my skates and they haven't been touched since.

After I quit I spent long time looking for who I was. Before I had always known who I was; I was an ice skater. I was a guy who had the guts to dress up in tights and go out and dance to some cheesy music and I loved it.

After searching in myself and in others I now know who I am, I'm no longer an ice skater, I am myself, and the only thing I need to be. I love this more then skating. After all the searching I now know what I want to do with my life. I want to go to college and get a degree. I want to continue to further myself in this society and leave my loved, but lost past, behind me.

Join the Discussion: When is it time to quit figure skating? Share your thoughts and experiences.