John Amos Shea (September 7, 1910 – January 22, 2002), better known as Jack Shea, was an American double-gold medalist in speed skating at the 1932 Winter Olympics. He was the first American to win two gold medals at the same Olympics ^[1], and the patriarch of what the BBC ^[2] identified as the first family with three generations of Olympians.

Shea won gold medals in the 500-meter and 1500-meter events, in his hometown, Lake Placid, New York. Shea also recited the Olympic Oath at the opening ceremonies of those Olympic Games. Shea chose not to defend his Olympic titles at the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, at the request of a Lake Placid rabbi for it would be in poor taste to be so "over-zealous."

Decades later, he played a role in having the Winter Olympics return there in 1980. He served as vice chairman of the Olympic Regional Development Authority in New York, the organization that ran the sites for Lake Placid's 1980 Winter Olympics, and continued to run them until his death.

His son, Jim Shea, Sr., was a 1964 Olympian in Nordic skiing; his grandson, Jim Shea, Jr. was a 2002 Olympic skeleton gold medalist. Jack Shea carried the Olympic torch into the town of Lake Placid that year. Unfortunately, Jack was killed in a head-on automobile collision with a drunk driver just before his grandson won gold [3][4][5].

[edit] Outside of sports

Shea graduated from Dartmouth College and briefly attended law school, quitting to support his family in a series of jobs. From 1958 to 1974, he was a town justice, and from 1974 until his retirement in 1983 he was the supervisor of North Elba. ^[6]

[edit] References

1. ^  2003-04 Annual Report (in PDF format) from the Olympic Regional Development Authority website
2. ^  Winter Olympic hero dies, a January 2002 BBC article
3. ^  Jack Shea, Gold Medalist in 1932, Dies at 91, a January 2002 news release from the Lake Placid/Essex County Visitors Bureau

[edit] External links

• IOC 1932 Winter Olympics
• Jack Shea at SkateResults.com
• Jack Shea's U.S. Olympic Team bio
• Jack Shea at Find a Grave