February 14, 1976: Dorothy Hamill wins the Gold Medal in ladies' figure skating at the Winter Olympics at Innsbruck, in the Austrian Alps.
A 19-year-old native of the New York suburb of Greenwich, Connecticut, she had won the Silver Medal at the World Championships in 1974 and 1975, and the Gold Medal a few weeks earlier. Still, in spite of previous U.S. Gold Medalists Tenley Albright, Carol Heiss and Peggy Fleming, she was not considered the favorite in Innsbruck. But she won, and became "America's Sweetheart."
Hamill was credited with developing a new skating move, a "camel spin" that turned into a "sit spin," which became known as the "Hamill camel." The bobbed hairstyle that she wore during her Olympic performance was created by stylist Yusuke Suga, and started a fad, known as the "short and sassy" look, leading to a contract with Clairol hair products.
The following year, the film Star Wars premiered, starring Mark Hamill. He and Dorothy are not related, and it appears they have never even met.
She starred in the Ice Capades, and as late as 1993, a poll showed her tied with Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton as the most popular athlete in America, ahead of Michael Jordan, Joe Montana and Wayne Gretzky.
She has married 3 times, including to singer Dean Paul Martin (son of singer-actor Dean Martin), and had a daughter with her 2nd husband. As of 2022, she still appears in skating shows.
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February 14, 1976 was a Saturday. Baseball and football were out of season. There were 7 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 101-97 in overtime at Madison Square Garden.
* The Washington Bullets beat the Houston Rockets, 108-89 at the Capital Center in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Buffalo Braves, 114-111 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. Bob McAdoo scored 41 points in defeat for the Braves.
* The Milwaukee Bucks beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Bulls, 95-89 at the Chicago Stadium.
* The Phoenix Suns beat the New Orleans Jazz, 112-93 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.
* The Golden State Warriors beat the Detroit Pistons, 106-105 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Phil Smith scored 45 for the Warriors.
* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat their arch-rivals, the Portland Trail Blazers, 122-108 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.
There were 3 games played in the American Basketball Association:
* The New York Nets lost to the Denver Nuggets, 108-103 in overtime at the McNichols Arena in Denver. This result would be reversed in that year's ABA Finals, which turned out to be the last games before the NBA-ABA partial merger.
* The Kentucky Colonels beat the Virginia Squires, 100-89 at The Scope in Norfolk, Virginia.
* And the San Antonio Spurs beat the Indiana Pacers, 105-101 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. Billy Knight scored 37 in defeat for the Pacers. He is not related to Bobby Knight, who was, then, in the process of coaching Indiana University to an undefeated National Championship season.
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