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Diane Carol Sherbloom

1961 U.S. ice dancing champion

Diane Carol Sherbloom, 18, retired from competitive skating after she graduated from high school and had no plans to compete in 1961. The elder of Thomas and Ruth Sherbloom's two daughters, Diane, known by friends as "Dee Dee," began skating at age 10 along with her sister, Joan, at Jerry Page's Ice Studio in Los Angeles. She joined the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club (LAFSC) and trained at the Polar Palace ice rink in Hollywood and at the Iceland rink in Paramount, Calif. Her coaches included Helen Gage Moore, Joan Zamboni, Bill Kipp and Bert Wright. She was the 1958 Pacific Coast ice dancing bronze medalist with Ray Chenson. The following year, she and new partner Roger Campbell placed second in junior at the 1959 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Rochester, N.Y., behind Larry Pierce and Marilyn Meeker. Sherbloom competed with Howie Harrold in 1960, but after placing seventh at the Pacific Coast Sectional Championships, she retired. Dancer Ray Sato had coaxed her to compete with him in the 1960-61 season, but then she received an unexpected call from Pierce. Meeker had broken her ankle, and he invited Sherbloom to come to Indianapolis as his temporary partner. After five weeks of intensive coaching from Danny Ryan, Pierce and Sherbloom won the 1961 U.S. ice dancing title and two weeks later placed fourth at the 1961 North American Figure Skating Championships.

Bio written by Patricia Shelley Bushman, author of Indelible Tracings.