Ken Henry

Who was Ken Henry?

Kenneth "Ken" Charles Henry was a speed skater from the United States.

Henry won the gold medal in the 500 m at the 1952 Winter Olympics held in Oslo, Norway in front of 28,000 people at Bislett Stadium in a time of 43.2 seconds. Two weeks later, he won the same title in the annual World Meet at Hamar, Norway. His 1952 Olympic Gold Medal time was one tenth of one second short of the record time set in 1948 by Finn Helgesen of Norway.

Henry competed in three Olympics. In 1948, he became fifth in the 500 metre event at the Winter Olympics of St. Moritz, Switzerland. The 1956 Winter Olympics were the third for the American in the 500 m event in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. In between, Henry finished fourth overall in both the 1949 and 1950 World Allround Championships.

Henry has always lived in the Chicago area. He began skating when he was nine years old near Edison Park in Chicago. He later starred at Taft High School.

He won the Chicago Tribune newspaper sponsored, Silver Skates titles in 1946 and 1947, as well as the Intermediate National and North American Outdoor Championships when he was seventeen years of age.