It was the first national championship held following the deaths of the entire 1961 U.S. World Figure Skating team in the crash of Sabena Flight 548 near Brussels, Belgium on February 15, 1961. Not only were all of the 1961 champions dead, but so were the skaters who might have been expected to challenge them for the titles.
Monty Hoyt, the 1961 junior champion, won over 12-year-old Scott Ethan Allen. The junior men's free skating was considered the most exciting event of the entire competition, with Tommy Litz winning a split decision over Gary Visconti. Litz, Allen, and Visconti all went on to win the senior men's title in successive years.
The ladies' event was won by 1960 Olympic bronze medalist Barbara Roles Pursley, who had been asked to come out of retirement; she had married and had a baby during the intervening year. She easily won the title with straight first-place ordinals after a poised and confident free skating performance that received an enthusiastic ovation from the crowd.