By Cary Shuman
One day after the 1980 U.S.A. Olympic hockey team won the gold medal in Lake Placid, Captain Mike Eruzione, his teammates, and other medalists boarded Air Force planes headed to Andrews Air Force Base.
They were invited to the nation’s capital by President Jimmy Carter who welcomed the team to the White House for a national recognition ceremony. Mr. Carter enthusiastically greeted Eruzione with a congratulatory handshake and pat on the back before the ceremony.
“I just remember how nice the President and his wife (First Lady Rosalynn Carter) were,” recalled Eruzione. “And I remember how proud he was of our team and what we accomplished.”
James Earl Carter Jr., the 39th President of the United States, died Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024. Mr. Carter was 100 years old.
Interestingly but unsurprisingly to those who realized the magnitude of their victory, Eruzione and the team were the main topic on the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite that night.
CBS News reporter Leslie Stahl (who grew up in Swampscott) said in her report on the USA hockey team, “It was hard to remember a time when the entire country was so united in its excitement and happiness over anything. It was evident in New York this morning when the American team left Lake Placid on the Air Force plane. And it was evident in Washington when the planes touched down at Andrews Air Force. And it was evident on the lawn of the White House. As the Marine band played patriotic songs, the ceremony took on the flavor of a heroes’ welcome. Mr. Carter said this was one of his proudest moments.”
“These are wonderful young Americans, and they have thrilled our nation, and we’re all deeply grateful for your tremendous achievements,” President Carter told the large crowd that had assembled for the ceremony.
Reporters swarmed to Eruzione following the ceremony to interview the captain and get his comments about the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott in Moscow by the U.S. team, a decision that had already been announced by President Carter.
“It’s a sad thing that something like that could happen, but if our country decides that that’s the thing to do, then it is the thing to do,” Eruzione told the media.
President Carter went on to win the Democratic nomination in the 1980 Presidential Primary, defeating then-U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, but lost the general election in a landslide to Ronald Reagan, who became the 40th President of the United States and served two terms in office.
(Information from the Feb. 25, 1980, CBS Evening News broadcast was used in the compilation of this story).