Jack Shea

Who was Jack Shea?

John Amos Shea, better known as Jack Shea or The Chief, 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 one Winter Olympics edition, and was the patriarch of the first family with three generations of Winter Olympians. Along with his compatriot Irving Jaffee, he was the most successful athlete at the 1932 Winter Olympics.

Shea won Gold medals in the 500-meter and 1500-meter events at the III Olympic Winter Games in his hometown of Lake Placid, New York. He also recited the Olympic Oath at the Games' opening ceremonies, which were presided over by then-New York State Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt. Shea chose not to defend his Olympic titles at the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, at the request of a Lake Placid rabbi who asked him not to compete in Hitler's Germany.

Decades later, Shea played a major role in returning the Winter Olympics to Lake Placid in 1980 as a member of the 1980 Olympic Organizing Committee. Afterward, he served as Vice Chairman of the Olympic Regional Development Authority, the organization that manages the venues used in the 1980 Games.