Eugene Turner Figure skater

Eugene Turner (November 26, 1920 – January 14, 2010) was an American champion figure skater who competed in single skating, pair skating and ice dancing, and coached professionally. He was born in Los Angeles, California. Turner won the mens singles title at the 1940 and 1941 United States Figure Skating Championships. Also in 1941, he became the first skater to medal in three disciplines at one U.S. Championship, adding the pairs title with Donna Atwood and the silver medal in ice dancing with Elizabeth Kennedy. Hailing from the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club, he was the first skater from west of the Mississippi River to win a U.S. senior title. Turner did not appear in the Winter Olympics or World Championships which were subject to international cancellation from 1940 to 1946 due to World War II and post-war rebuilding. During the war, Turner served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Forces, piloting a single seat P-47 Thunderbolt for 69 missions over Germany and occupied France. After the war, he became a coach and skated professionally. Turner partnered with Sonja Henie during her tour and in Iceland in 1942. He also performed as a skating double for Cary Grant in The Bishop's Wife in 1948, and for Patrick Knowles. As a coach, he taught or set programs for Allen Schramm, Dudley Richards, Karol Kennedy, Peter Kennedy, Catherine Machado, Richard Dwyer, Tim Brown, and Tenley Albright. Skating magazine carried his columns in the 1980s Eugene Turner was inducted into the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1983.