All eighteen members of the 1961 U.S. Figure Skating team lost their lives, as well as sixteen other people who were accompanying them, including family members, professional coaches, and skating officials. Among the fatalities were nine-times U.S. ladies' champion, turned coach, Maribel Vinson-Owen and her two daughters: reigning U.S. ladies' champion Laurence Owen, aged sixteen, and her 20-year-old sister, reigning U.S. pairs champion Maribel Owen, both of whom had won gold medals at the 1961 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Colorado Springs just two weeks earlier. Laurence Owen was the cover story for the February 13 issue of "Sports Illustrated", just two days before her death.