On This Day In Alabama History: Skater JoJo Starbuck Was Born

By Alabama NewsCenter Staff

The famous figure skater JoJo Starbuck was born on Feb. 14, 1951, in Birmingham as Alicia Jo Starbuck. Her family moved to Paramount, California, while she was very young. In California, Starbuck began training as a skater at 7 years old. Starbuck said she was fortunate to have had parents who sacrificed their time and energies to help build her career. For years, Starbuck practiced skating for nearly three hours before school and three hours after. At the age of 16, as part of senior competitions that qualified her for the Olympics, Starbuck and her childhood friend Ken Shelley swirled into skating history. The duo electrified audiences as the top American skating pair in the 1968 and 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan, where they missed a bronze medal by one-hundredth of a point. Starbuck was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame with Joe Namath. She later became a well-known actress, playing in “New York Stories,” “The Cutting Edge” and “Broadway on Showtime.” Starbuck remained involved in figure skating – not as a competitor – but as a coach and choreographer.

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