Dick Button, Harvard's Olympic titlist, took a slim nine point lead over Jimmy Grogan, as the National Figure Skating Championships opened last night at Colorado Springs.

Judges awarded Button four firsts and a second in the senior men's compulsory figures competition, while Grogan drew four seconds and a first. World-champion Button, however, is expected to forge well ahead in the free skating tonight.

Dudley Richards, sophomore skater from Eliot House, and 1951 National Junior Champion, was in fourth place.