United States Ski Team - History

History

*The first US Ski Team was officially named in 1965 for the 1966 season, however the United States participated in skiing at all Olympic Winter Games and sent various athletes to World Championships prior to the '66 season.

1882 - First US Ski Club Founded

The first ski club in the United States was founded in 1882. The Nansen Ski Club of Berlin, New Hampshire, was founded by Norwegian immigrants and named in honor of Norway's legendary Arctic explorer Fridtjof Nansen. It continues to operate.

1905 - National Ski Association Founded

The National Ski Association, the forerunner of the present-day United States Ski and Snowboard Association, was founded on Feb. 21, 1905 in Ishpeming, Michigan. A meeting was held by the Ishpeming Ski Club in conjunction with a 1904 ski jumping meet in Ishpeming - but the association was not formed at that gathering. Club President Carl Tellefsen proposed holding a meeting after the 1905 jumping meet – a national meet - to found a ski association which, among other duties, would oversee jumping tournaments. In 1905, the association was formally organized during a meeting attended by officers from the Ishpeming, Minneapolis, Red Wing, Stillwater and Eau Claire ski clubs. On Feb. 21, 1905, Carl Tellefsen announced the National Ski Association - and said he was its first president.

1910 - International Ski Commission Formed

Skiing grew throughout the last two decades of the 19th Century in Europe, including Russia; the first ski club in Switzerland was formed in 1863 and national associations were created in Russia (1896), Czechoslovakia (1903), the United States, Austria and Germany (all in 1905) and Norway, Sweden and Finland (1908).

In 1910, the International Ski Commission was formed to monitor development of skiing globally. On Feb. 2, 1924 in Chamonix, France, while what would come to be recognized as the first Winter Olympic Games were being held, the commission gave way to the International Ski Federation; 14 member nations were present at the founding; 108 are FIS members today.

1924 - Jan. 25-Feb. 4 - Inaugural Olympic Winter Games - Chamonix, France

The first Winter Olympic Games actually were under the banner of International Sports Week, but were renamed the Winter Olympic Games in 1925 after organizers saw how successful they were (and after Norway, which had opposed "Winter Olympic" events because of concern Norwegians wouldn't dominate, saw it would be a winter power) supported the concept. Ski events were only Nordic, including cross country, ski jumping (then the premier ski event everywhere) and Nordic combined. Sixteen nations competed.

Anders Haugen, a Norwegian immigrant to the United States, was listed as fourth in ski jumping because of a calculation error. In 1974, as Norwegians prepared to celebrate the 50th anniversary of those first Winter Games, a recalculation in Oslo found Haugen was the real bronze medalist and not Thorleif Haug (1894–1934). A medal presentation was arranged in Oslo, where a frail Haugen received the bronze medal from the daughter of Thorleif Haug, who had been dead since the Thirties. Haugen's medal remains the only jumping medal won by an American in the Olympics or World Championships. Originally, the IOC did not recognize the medal exchange and kept Haug listed as its 1924 bronze medalist for years before recognizing Haugen as the legitimate medal-winner.

1925 - First World Nordic Championships held in Johannisbad, Czechoslovakia

1931 - First World Alpine Championships held in Murren, Switzerland

Skiing was still primarily a European sport in the Twenties. Although the United States participated in the Winter Olympics of 1924, '28 and '32 - where there were only Nordic events, there was no US Ski Team. Athletes were selected for the various championships.

1932 - Feb. 4-15 - Olympic Winter Games - Lake Placid, New York

The 1932 Summer Games were headed to Los Angeles, but Godfrey Dewey – whose father had founded the Lake Placid Club – out-foxed a half-dozen other candidates (including Denver; Minneapolis and Duluth, Minnesota; Yosemite and Lake Tahoe, California; and Bear Mountain, New York). Then-Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt pledged to build a bobsled run and Dewey, who had finagled a posting as manager of the 1928 Olympic Ski Team, parlayed those contacts to land the ’32 Winter Olympics for the small Adirondacks village. Some 300 athletes from 17 nations competed. Skiing was still a Nordic show; top US skier was another jumper, Casper Oimoen, who finished fifth.

*** This was the first major international ski event in the United States

1935 - US sends first alpine team to FIS World Championships

The championships returned to Murren, Switzerland, site of the first official alpine championships in 1931. Six men, seven women were on that first official US squad at Worlds.

1936 - Feb. 6-16 - Alpine added to Olympic Winter Games - Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

Alpine skiing was introduced with to the Olympics with a single event, the combined (one downhill run and two slalom runs). While Nordic remained an all-male province, alpine was opened to men and women. Germans took gold and silver in both the men’s and women’s alpine combined events; Franz Pfnuer and Christl Cranz were the new champions; Dick Durrance, who grew up in Florida but spent several years in Germany learning to ski before Hitler took power, was the runaway best US skier, finishing 10th.

For the only time, the FIS authorized a World Championships in addition to the Olympics with alpine championship races held in Innsbruck, Austria.

1948 - Jan. 30-Feb. 8 - Olympics return with first US alpine medals - St. Moritz, Switzerland

The Olympics (with Germany and Japan barred from competing) returned after a 12-year hiatus, with American Gretchen Fraser (then of Vancouver, WA, later of Sun Valley, ID) winning the first two US Olympic ski medals – and they came on the same day, Feb. 5; the combined downhill had been run the previous day and when she won the slalom, it gave her second place in the combined calculation. In addition to the combined, which debuted in 1936, alpine added both elements of combined as individual events, meaning alpine was now equal with Nordic, having three events (slalom, downhill and the combined; however, there were no women's Nordic events until 1952).

Fraser led US skiers, collecting the first medals by a US skier - gold in slalom and silver in combined. The US women included a talented young teen – Andrea Mead, 15, whose parents owned Pico Peak, near Rutland, VT.

Also of note, Gordy Wren (Steamboat Springs, CO) qualified for all four individual ski teams. He eventually competed only in jumping. “I was going ragged, bumping into myself, trying to train, ski alpine, cross country and the rest, so I decided to focus on jumping,” he explained. He finished fifth.

1950 - World Championships in USA, Lake Placid, NY (Nordic) and Aspen, CO (alpine)

Poor snow in the Adirondacks almost forced cancellation of the Nordic events, but, alerted by 1948 Olympic cross country racer "Chummy" Broomhall that there was more than a foot of snow in his hometown of Rumford, Maine, officials agreed to stage opening ceremonies and the jumping events in Lake Placid, then everyone drove to Rumford for the cross country competitions. At one point, Broomhall helped set the race tracks – no machine-setting equipment in those days, so skiers would ski-in the tracks – and then went home to change into his racing outfit; traffic at the site meant Broomhall missed his scheduled start time, but officials let him run at the end of the pack.

The alpine Worlds, organized by racing great Dick Durrance, then general manager at the fledgling Aspen Ski Area, included slalom, downhill and GS for men, and only downhill for women. American Katy Rodolph (Salt Lake City) led the USA, finishing fifth. Aspen was established as an alpine destination as a result of the successful World Championships.

1960 - Feb. 18-28 - Olympics return to USA - Squaw Valley, CA

The young Squaw Valley resort near Lake Tahoe in California ushered in a new Olympic era under the direction of Alex Cushing. No bobsled run was built but the skiing was memorable. In cross country, Squaw Valley introduced the initial machine-set tracks; everything had been walked or skied in before Squaw Valley but – with Al Merrill and Chummy Broomhall setting the tone as chief of competition and chief of course, respectively – snow machines were used to help groom Nordic courses for the first time.

1962 - NSA renamed US Ski Association

The 57-year-old National Ski Association got a new name as the US Ski Association. The renamed organization moved from Denver to Colorado Springs, CO.

Also, the US Ski Education Foundation, designed to "Establish, administer and promote educational programs devoted to the development and training of skiers" and promote ski museums, was founded Oct. 8, 1862 (and chartered June 13, 1964). By enabling donors to receive tax deductions for contributions, it would become the fundraising arm of the US Ski Team, the forerunner of the US Ski and Snowboard Team Foundation.

1964 - Jan. 29-Feb. 9 - US alpine men earn first Olympic medals - Innsbruck, Austria

The Olympics came to Austria for the first time in 1964. US men earned their first medals Feb. 8 as Billy Kidd (Stowe, VT) won silver in slalom and Jimmie Heuga (Tahoe City, CA) took slalom bronze. Jean Saubert (Hillsborough, OR) was a double medalist, tying for silver in giant slalom and collecting bronze in slalom.

1965 - Bob Beattie named US Ski Team alpine head coach

On June 21, 1965, the USSA took the first steps in the formation of a formal US Ski Team by naming its first head alpine coach. At the annual USSA convention on June 21 in Spokane, WA, Bob Beattie was named the first full-time US alpine skiing head coach. "When you think you're going too fast--accelerate!" he would goad team members. Chuck Ferries, a 1964 Olympian, was named assistant coach, with primary responsibilities as head coach of the women's alpine team. Ferries took leave from his job with Head Ski Co. to coach, and was named full-time women's coach in 1966. No full-time Nordic jumping or skiing coaches were yet designated.

1973 - National Training Centers created

National Training Centers were created for both national alpine and Nordic teams. It was opened Oct. 28 in three old, mid-mountain, mining buildings at Park City Ski Area (now Park City Mountain Resort). Former Alpine Director Willy Schaeffler was the center's director.

1974 - US Ski Team moves to Park City, UT

In the summer of 1974 the alpine portion of the US Ski Team relocated from USSA's Denver office to Park City, Utah. The athletes and coaches began utilizing the Alpine Training Center, a building designed by Willy Schaeffler, that opened in old mining buildings at Park City Ski Area. Administrative offices were set up in the old Mountain Air Grocery on lower Main Street. Eventually, the Ski Team move up the hill to the old Treasure Mountain Inn.

1976 - USSA and US Ski Team split

In 1976 the USSA and the US Ski Team agreed to part ways. The USSA continued to control the rules and governance of the sport, as well as organizing travel programs for recreational skiers, while the US Ski Team focused solely on the elite national team.

1988 - USSA and US Ski Team rejoin

Years of operating separately came to an end in the Summer of 1988 when USSA President and CEO Howard Peterson directed the consolidation of USSA and moved its national offices from Colorado Springs to join the ski team in Park City, UT, establishing headquarters at its present location on 1500 Kearns Blvd.

2007 - Center of Excellence Groundbreaking

The USSA broke ground on July 18, 2007 for a $22.5 million Center of Excellence, which when complete in the fall of 2009 will house world-class high-performance athletic facilities including strength-training areas, a gymnasium, a climbing wall, ski and snowboard ramps, trampolines, a nutrition center and rehabilitation facilities. Plus, it will feature educational areas for athletes, coaches and clubs such as a computer lab, multimedia rooms for performance analysis and equipment workshops. And all of the educational resources will be shared with USSA's 400 clubs around the country.