Kate Smith's Good Luck Tomb in Lake Placid

We are currently in the middle of The Olympics 2010 in Canada. For a number of yrs I lived in the Lake Placid area where the 1932 & 1980 winter games were held. Many Olympic athletes still come from or train in that region. I have met along the way a few of the athletes along the way. One story I have been told more than a couple of times is an odd good luck ritual involving the tomb of the late singer Kate Smith who lived much of her life in the Placid area. Kate Smith was a singer popular in the 30's 40's & 50's primarily. She had a radio show in the forties & a tv show in the fifties. Someone your grandparents would know well. She was best known for her rendition of God Bless America one hears at ballparks around the nation to this day. She was also a huge sports fan. Fordham football to Celtics basketball and she loved hockey. The Philadelphia Fliers Hockey Team used to have her sing to open games when The Broad Street Bullies were around. She was considered the good luck charm for the team , those that know flyer history know this well. She died circa 1986 and was interred at Saint Agnes Cemetary in her beloved Lake Placid. Somewhere along the way a ritual began in the intervening yrs where Olympic athletes or just some locals kids visit the tomb sometimes in the dead of night and touch her resting place & ask for Kate's blessing. Luge to hockey players to bobsledders have apparently made the trudge especially the women athletes. This applies not just to native Adk Mt people but others hopefuls looking for that edge. I have never been able to track down where or when or who began this occasional tradition but it has gone to Vancouver 2010 I am sure.