caption death_date death_place club birth_place image_size sport birth_date image article_title
john werket with the chinese national team in 1972 june 4 , 2010 -lrb- aged 85 -rrb- sun city west , arizona , united states lawrence wennell powderhorn skating club saint paul , minnesota , united states 350px speed skating october 8 , 1924 john werket 1972.jpg john werket

john werket

john `` johnny '' roland werket -lrb- october 8 , 1924 -- june 4 , 2010 -rrb- was an american speed skater .
he competed in seven events in total at the 1948 , 1952 and 1956 winter olympics with the best achievement of sixth place in the 1500 m in 1948 .
in 1948 , he also won the 1500 m event and a silver allround medal at the world championships .
this was the best achievement for an american skater , surpassed only in 1977 by eric heiden .
in 1950 , werket finished in third place allround , but won the 500 m and 1,500 m events .
in 1952 , he finished second in the 500 m and 1,500 m and tenth overall .
after graduating from roosevelt high school in minneapolis , he enlisted as paratrooper with the 101st airborne division and fought in world war ii .
he then graduated from augsburg college in 1949 .
werket was of norwegian descent .
while competing in hamar , norway , he met vesla bekkevoll , then aged 16 , and married her on august 17 , 1951 in minneapolis .
he retired from competitions after the 1952 world championships and coached skating , first at the richfield skating club , and then with us national team , preparing it to the 1972 winter olympics .
his trainees included diane holum and eric heiden .
in parallel he worked at the northern states power company and eventually advanced to an executive position .
he retired in 1983 after 32 years with the northern states power and settled in sun city , arizona , where he died in 2010 of stroke and cancer complications .
he was survived by his wife and two sons , john and jim .
personal bests : 500 m -- 42.0 -lrb- 1956 -rrb- 1500 m -- 2:16.1 -lrb- 1956 -rrb- 5000 m -- 8:44.6 -lrb- 1950 -rrb- 10000 m -- 18:10.2 -lrb- 1950 -rrb-
