- Successfully landed the first Double Axel Jump in competition (1948) as well as the first Triple Loop Jump in competition (1952, which was also the first triple jump of any kind). In the 1940s he invented the variation Flying Camel Spin.
- Father of actress Emily Button.
- Won back-to-back gold medals in Figure Skating (men's singles) at the 1948 St. Moritz Winter Olympics and at the 1952 Oslo Winter Olympics. He is the only American man to win two consecutive gold medals in Olympic men's figure skating.
- Inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1983 (charter member).
- He was on the top 100 list of nominees, although not inducted, for the New Jersey Hall of Fame for his services and contributions to Sports in the following years: 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.
- Graduated from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts with a Bachelor's degree in 1952. He graduated from the Harvard School of Law with a Juris Doctorate in 1956.
- Won the European Figure Skating Championship in 1948.
- Inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame of New Jersey in 1995.
- The only men's figure skater to hold a National, North American, European, World, and Olympic Championship at the same time in 1948 (On the women's side, the same feat was achieved by Barbara Ann Scott of Canada in 1948).
- Won the World Figure Skating Men's Championship in 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, and 1952.
- Won the U.S. Figure Skating Men's Championship in 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, and 1952 - 7 consecutive years.
- Ridgewood, New Jersey (November 2010)
- Inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1976 (charter member).
- Won the biennial North American Figure Skating Men's Championship in 1947, 1949, and 1951.
- Won the James E. Sullivan Award as the "most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States" in 1949.
- He was nominated for the 2023 New Jersey Hall of Fame in the Sports category.
- He was nominated for the 2024 New Jersey Hall of Fame in the Sports category.
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