U.S. pairs figure skater Danny O’Shea’s path to Olympic gold extends far beyond the frigid ice rinks where he has spent the better part of his life thus far. When reflecting on his journey to the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, the 35-year-old credits not just his years of training, but his values and faith that were instilled in him through his Catholic school education.
He said his Catholic education was “an amazing foundation for who I am today.”
A native of Gurnee, Illinois, O’Shea started skating at age 4. As a young boy, he attended St. Patrick School in Wadsworth from kindergarten through eighth grade. O’Shea recalls the weekly school Masses and attending his first school dance.
“I spent a lot of time at the school, both before and after school,” O’Shea said, noting that his mom, Judi, worked there as a teacher’s aide.
In 2005, O’Shea went on to attend Carmel Catholic High School in nearby Mundelein for ninth and 10th grades. He remembers his math teacher John Titterton — whom he called “Mr. T” — who not only made math fun but also posted inspirational quotes around the room, something O’Shea emulates. Another favorite teacher of his was Carmelite Brother Dominic Saganich, who taught world religion.
“The Catholic faith is amazing, but understanding how it sits within the world, what other religions there are — Brother Dominic taught that class in a way that I thought was incredibly eye-opening to me, as I had not really experienced any other religion up to that point,” he recalled.
O’Shea transferred to St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights for his final two years of high school, because it was better able to accommodate his training schedule. While the new school was beneficial for his skating, his schedule made it difficult to make friends.
“I was able to have no lunch, no study hall, so I was able to get out (of school) like two periods early most days, but that made it even harder to make friends, in all honesty, as a junior,” O’Shea explained. “But it was amazing how welcoming they were even though they didn’t know who I was.”
As a junior, O’Shea had an opportunity to go on Kairos, a retreat designed to deepen one’s faith and relationships. A key component of the retreat is receiving letters from friends and family. O’Shea noted how his Carmel friends wrote letters, in addition to his new friends at St. Viator.
“That was an incredible moment for me,” said O’Shea, who still wears the Jerusalem cross he received during the retreat. “It was a life-changing moment.”
O’Shea graduated from St. Viator in 2009. Following high school, his skating career intensified. After competing as both a single and a pairs skater, he focused on pairs and moved away from home to train with then-partner Tarah Kayne. Over their nine-year partnership, the two trained in Ellenton, Florida, and then Colorado Springs, Colorado. They found much success, including winning the U.S. pairs title in 2016.
When Kayne retired from skating in 2021, O’Shea moved to Irvine, California, and competed with another partner for a few months before moving back to Colorado Springs and teaming up with his current partner, Ellie Kam.
The pair won the bronze medal at their first U.S. Championships together before subsequently winning the title the following season. The pair also has achieved international success and has competed in three World championships, finishing seventh last year.
In February, O’Shea and Kam participated in their first Olympic Games in Milan. They skated in the figure skating team competition, in which the U.S. team won gold. In the pairs’ competition, they finished ninth overall.
“It’s crazy to have fought so long and so hard, and (I) thought many times of just stopping and moving on with life and even rationalized and accepted that I’ve done enough,” O’Shea said moments after winning his gold medal. “I’ve had a great career. I’ve accomplished a lot of things; this one other achievement doesn’t mean it all. But then to be strong enough to fight through it and keep going, just to be a part of this team that achieved this, is indescribable.”
During the Winter Olympics, the students and staff at St. Patrick School celebrated their Olympic gold medalist alum with an assembly. The students wore headbands with O’Shea’s face on them and participated in their own version of ice skating.
“It was a special moment to know that place that I’d spent nine years of my life and that was really formative in the man I am today still follows me and my journey and tries to share that with other people, the young children who are at the school now, and tries to inspire them,” said O’Shea, who also recorded a video message for the students.
St. Viator also is celebrating O’Shea by planning to induct him into its hall of fame.
With his parents now living in Colorado Springs, O’Shea says he hasn’t been back to visit any of his former schools in quite some time, but he is hoping to get back there soon. O’Shea and Kam will be in the area in May when they travel with the Stars on Ice show tour.
“It would be a pretty cool thing to be able to go back and see some of the schools and the places that made me who I am. That would be an awesome experience,” he said.
Though O’Shea is uncertain what the future holds for his skating career, one thing he is certain about is that his Catholic faith is still essential to the man he is today.
“I still go to Mass every Sunday,” he said, adding of his faith, “It’s definitely an important thing to me, and it’s something that I have tried to live the values of throughout my life.”
Gina Capellazzi, a content producer since 2015 for the Catholic Courier, the newspaper of the Diocese of Rochester, New York, collaborated with OSV News for this story.
