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numerous notables: Darryl (Pinky) Robison, 1952 U.S. Olympic Team; Jack Squires, coach in 1951; Dean Roberts, 1951; Bicknell Robbins, Spence Eccles and Don Bren, 1954; Marv Melville (1958, 1960 U.S. Olympic Team and later U ofU ski coach), Tom Spencer, Mike Reddish, 1955; coach Pres Summerhays, Don Irvine, Ramon Johnson and Tom Warnock,1956. The 1958 team included Darm Penny, Ken Read, Bill Spencer (later National Biathlon Hall of Fame and Olympic official), and Wesley Sine. The following year Brad Smith, Jim Gaddis (NCAA alpine combined champion), Alan Engen (later a member of the National Ski Hall of Fame), Dave Wilson and Dick Mulder carried the U's banner. The 1961-62 women's team included Connie Abegglen, Diane Robards, Susan Spencer, Lynn Johnson, Katy Stoddard and Sue Cronin. The 1960s found Terry Morris, Mike Wilson, Frithjoff Prydz, Paul Goddard, Pete Karns, Matz Jenssen and Ladd Christensen bringing ski glory to U of U. Ron Steele and Kip Sundgaard made headlines with their ski jumping skills while Per Nicolaisen was the men's collegiate slalom champion in the 1970s. The 1980s saw Hans Martin Sjulstad, Bernt Lund and John Aalberg dominate the collegiate cross-country scene and Scott Hoffman and Jeff Durtschi winning national slalom titles. On the feminine side, U o/U Ski Team celebrating their 1993 NCAA Championship title Bente Dahlum, Kathy Kreiner, Vibeke Hoff and Anke Friedrich were dominant in slalom and giant slalom. The following decade found the likes of Luke Bodensteiner, Havard Sol bakken, Rune Kollerud, and Thomas Weman cart away cross-country championships. Mark Bonnell, Louis Francois-Gagnon, Andy Hare, Heidi Selnes, Kristin Vestgren and Christl Hager (3-time GS champion) also added national awards to the UofU's trophy cases. In the new century, Katrin Smigun brought accolades to the U of U by winning the national women's cross-country championship in 2000 while Jernej Bukovec and Ben Thornhill were men's alpine champions. Petra Svet and Lina Johansson dominated the women's alpine scene. The most impressive aspects of the U's storied 60-year march of the champions was the tenure ofU ofU ski team coach Pat Miller, who came on the scene in 1974 as an assistant coach and took the helm of the men's and women's teams in 1976. During his 21-year stint the U ofU won nine NCAA ski titles, 17 conference championships and had 251 skiers named All-American. Ski coaches Kevin Sweeney (2000-2004) and Eli Brown (2004-present) continued the U ofU's winnings by honing the ski skills of Rob Whitney, Jed Schuetze, Torin Koos, Ben Thornhill, Scott Veenis, Snorri Einarsson and Even Sletten. On the distaff side, Kristina Joder, April Mancuso, Annik Boulva, Rowena Bright, Barbro Hatlevik, Mikaela Grassi, Sara Schweiger, Chirine Njeim and Eva Huckova flashed the crimson-colored "U" across the finish lines. Previous Ski Mfair History-Maker Award recipients include ski instructors, influential women skiers, ski patrol members, local Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and World Cup competitors, the U.S. Forest Service, and members of the 10th Mountain Division of World War II fame. Some 600-plus are expected at the 2008 Ski Mfair, says Barbara Yamada, chair of the all-volunteer Ski Archives advisory board. Admission is $70 per person or $1,500 for a sponsor table of 10. (A portion of which is tax deductible.) Proceeds from the Ski Affair support the Ski Archives, founded in 1989 to locate, preserve, catalogue and make available to the public the ski history of the region. The archives contain more than 100,000 images (20,000 digitized and available on line), 250 manuscript collections and more than 250 oral histories. Mike Korologos KAREN KORFANTA TO RECEIVE THE 2008 QUINNEY AWARD The S.J. Quinney Award is presented annually to a person or group in recognition of their outstanding achievements and contributions to skiing in the Intermountain Area. It is named in honor of the late S.J. (Joe) Quinney, ski area pioneer and founder of Alta. This year, Karen Korfanta has been selected to receive this prestigious award. Karen Korfanta began skiing at an early age as a young schoolgirl in Pinedale, Wyoming. She and her three sisters learned to ski at the Surveyor Park Ski Area, now called the White Pine Ski Area, operated by their father, Sunny and mother, Fanny. In the early 50's Karen, her sisters and several other skier friends began a "seriously" fun approach to ski racing. With Sunny's persistent and unwavering encouragement they traveled to Jackson, Sun Valley, Alta, Brighton, and to the Junior Nationals. Thus began Karen's storied ski racing career. In 1961 and 1962 she was the USSA Intermountain Division Junior slalom champion, downhill champion in 1962 * -------------------------* |
