Scott Hamilton Gives Cancer Update and Teases Ice Show: 'As Long as There Is Cancer I'll Be Raising Money' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo:Faye Sadou/MediaPunch/Shutterstock

Faye Sadou/MediaPunch/Shutterstock

Ice skating legendScott Hamiltonis returning to the rink withScott Hamilton and Friends.

The event on Sunday, Nov. 24 at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena will raise money for his CARES Foundation, which donates to cancer research — a cause dear to him not just as someone who lost his mom to the disease, but also as a survivor.

“I’m feeling great!” he says now, of successfully beating testicular cancer in 1997 and currently living with a benign and asymptomatic pituitary gland tumor. “I’m 66, and when I think about what’s next, I know that as long as there is cancer in the world, I’ll be doing something in that space as a volunteer.”

“It’s Christmas-themed, and I think it will be huge because Christmas and ice-skating together is magic,” Hamilton says of the show. “It just reminds you of Charlie Brown.”

Would that be an ice skating lesson? Nope — it’s a golf outing with him instead.

“We did golf last year and it was so much fun,” he says with a laugh. “So we’ll be doing it again because we had such a blast. We went out with the winner and two of his friends, and it was the perfect day. I love golf. I’m terrible at it and want to get better, of course. But there’s no time for that!”

Hamilton’s rise to fame began in 1984 when he won gold in the men’s singles competition at the Sarajevo Olympics, where he earned worldwide fame and became notorious for incorporating a backflip into his exhibition routines.

“I remember it all so vividly,” he told PEOPLE in February of his Olympic victory four decades ago. “It just feels like it happened to someone else!”

SARAJEVO, YUGOSLAVIA - FEBRUARY 1984: Scott Hamilton (USA) skates his Long Program of the Men’s Singles competition in the 1984 Winter Olympics held at the Zetra Ice Hall in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia in February, 1984.David Madison/Getty Images

In 1997, tragedy struck when abdominal pain turned out to be testicular cancer. Surgery was successful, but Hamilton’s outlook on life was forever changed. “I realized life was precious,” he said. “And I wanted to be an activist.”

He launched CARES, as well as the foundationThe 4th Angel, which pairs newly diagnosed patients with survivors. “I wished I’d had someone who had been there, done that, who could speak to me about what to expect,” he said. “I wanted to change people’s experience with cancer.”

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While he’s endlessly proud of the work CARES has done, he’s equally thrilled at how many young skaters also give back through his foundation.

“Being a part of something that’s going to make their world better as they grow up, it just gives you a sense of peace that things are being done,” he says. “And to be a big part of those things being done? It’s really remarkable.”

To get tickets to the Scott Hamilton and Friends Show or donate items to be auctioned, visit https://www.scottcares.org/scotthamiltonandfriends.

source: people.com