Alf Engen newspaper clippings, 1930 - 1932

Page 31

• t THE DESERET NEWS SALT LAKE CITY MONDAY JANU GEN CROWNED UTAH. SKI CHAMP * ... __..___.._ _ ___. _ _. . ..._ __ Loose Snow and Slight :Y 4 1932 '-,. ~; WindRohS~owRidersOf WITH 234-·FQQT LEAP Records In Ecker Joust •• _ "T" · . ·Snow .Condtttons 1 o ~ -·- - --~------ ~ Stg . Ulland Places Second - Greatest !hrongEverSeesBigTourney. ; Be /deal; Records BY MACK CORBETT. ; HE maximum ski jump to obtain on Ecker hill Sun­day without fear of a fall from over-reaching, was 23.1 feet, 13 feet short of the world's pro jump rec­? , ut. 1t was good enough to establish Alf Engen victor J:=-o---=~-=-==m=TJ='h=i~ l;!;'~k En~? Officials N~an~te'i m the.f1rst tournamen ..of the 1932 "big money" circuit. L&ck of crispness ln the snowl' and as Alf asserted, "a slight vlnd," ~==========~~ robbed the 2500 spectators of the ! .. thrlll they came for to sec the Alr precipitate himself any number of feet be­yond hi• own WOl'ld's record. How- Alf Engen Smashes Jump Ski Record ever, because By FRA.i.~J( RASMUSSEN ~t '~as _i~1 ~ Alf Engen of Salt Lake City, a trim­co~ fd do ski bu1lt son of Norway, sent a small crov.d folk k ri e w of hero-worshipers Into a frenzy of ex­that 234 feet cttement Saturday when he hurled his ,was the best lithe body through the mountain air for a 11 y t h i n g · the remarkable distance of 266 feet on short of Dll Ecker ski h111, near Park City to em­angel could brazon his name across the modern pages have d 0 n c of athletic endeavor throughout the on E c J;: c r world. The spectacular ski leap exceecis yeste1·day. Engen's own accepted world's professional Twice En- record of 247 feet, made last New Year's gen ~<panned day on the same hill, and eclipses what .'\If Engen just 2 3 4 feet is believed to be the longest jump tn the for 33 1-2 points out oC a po!'sible world made last winter by Sigmund Rund 40 for form and 501 1-2 for total. of Norway. Rund made an unofllc!al 1 ~ ­The Up of his left ski evidently cord of 264 feet while practicing on a wobbled ever so !l!ightly on his ski hill in Germany. second ride, depriving him or per- ' Alf was practicing for the coming ski feet polntage for form. Otherwise tournaments on January 1st and Srct, <'Verything about tho clmmpion's When he found the weather concUtiOl:S two rides appeared perfectly flaw- !deal for long distance jumps. There w'•s less to the layman. no wind to hinder his efforts out ln the Second place ~hck<'ls went to air and the snow was of the right con ­dapper Sig Ulland of Mt. Shasta ditton to enable him to attain the high ­whose best was 214_ feet ~-n .his lnsl est possible speed, attempt _for 448 pomts. S1g_s grav- His mighty leap of 266 feet was preced­Jt_ y defymg nuweu,·ering., m m1d- ed by three jumps better than his own rur to avert apparent nose d)\'CS record of 247 feet. The Salt Lake ski ace lhrJlled and ch!lled the large on his first trial rall1ed down the Ecke; crowd. incline for a 25S foot air ride. Hls sec- Ulland Cops Second Place ond attempt was 256 feet and on his third ride he spanned 264 feet. All four of Alf's remarkable lumps were made without fall1ng, in fact, his S )~ il 1 • poise throughout the daring rides was \'f't"l'e "ngen, 1c • c 1amp s perfect. youn r bro." gave the Utah Skl His rides were timed with a stop watch club a swPep of the meet wlth and It was found that he averaged 72 jumps of 197 and 190 feet to place: thlt·d. The "rocker" effect Sverre , m1les per hour on his daring rides. It gets with his sl<IR is worth even ! was estimated he traveled over 90 miles more than the 33 points he got per hour during the speediest part of for form his descent. Halvo1." Hvabtad, 180 pound After his last leap he declared it was bolt of green "Dynamite," plac<'d the fastest and most thr1111ng ski ride fourth with 201 and 179 foot spans he had ever had during his ski-jumping but gave the fans a bigger thrill career. Engen told those who witnessed ,.,·Jth his unique form. The big the great spectacle that 1! the weather l\1t. Shrsta pro spreads out Jlke an condltoins were the same on the two eagle almost parallel with level tournament days the ski fans would be ground. The mile from Reno, 'J'Pd treated with one of the greatest skllng Rex, jun1ping for the Ogdl'n Rki exhibitions in history. He realizes the club. finished fifth with 190 feet keen competition that wlll be displayed on his initial attempt and 17 4 on by the visiting ski artists. J1!s second. Steffen T1·ogstad of Engen Has Great Career 1\Iinneapolls, _also jl:lmping for Og- Many people have asked the .question: de!l. placed SIXth "\nth 168 and 164 "What was Alf Engen's record before he footers for 3 64 pointage. His form came to Utah?" If It were really revealed gave him 32 pomt~. Calmar Andreason. stale cham-~ · lt would be found that he Is one of the pionshlp, was in rare form amon;; most all-round athletes In Utah. Besides the amateu1·s who gave exhibition being the proud possessor of over slxt~ eprings. He did thret> perfert leaps trophy cups and hundreds of medals for to1• 101, 102 and 115 foot dis- ! ski jumping victories he holds medals iances. Nord Nordquist attained for many other athletic endeavors. He ts 97 and 91 feet. sans !*pills to place a marathon runner of exceptional abUlty. second, while Law1·encP. and Jim During the summer months he would Rasmussen finished rN;pt'Clively run a distance of between five and ten in ordpr with modest leaps tn the n'llles every day merely to keep In con­seventies. , dltton for ski jumping. He is a ten RKO Rally On Tonight The Rasmussen b1·others, with a Lawrence thrown in for good measure, monopolized cross coun­' f.ry honors. They finished first, second and third, like this: Jim, Frank and Lawrence. Jim's time was 22 mlnutes and 30 seconds for beating around four miles of bushes. Frank was only a minute behind. Clah· Pratt of the Utah ski club finished fourth. The professional prize winners in Sunday's meet will be presented I -their awards on the stage or the RKO theatre tonight at 9 p.m. The <J.wards will be presented by Com­ro. issioner Harry E. Finch and Ax­C'l Andreason will act as master of c('remon~es. As an added attrac­tion that should be interesting, the tmow experts will f;]ng their famed 'Skiing Song.' The poros will now rest up for a fetv days before commencing their sw.i ng around the we,tern circuit, second man on the hundr'ed yard sti'aigbt aw~y add a-n outstlffid,Ag pole vaulter. While he was In Norwat critics declared him a~ lJetng one of the great­est hockey players of the twentieth cen­tury. Alf has also a reputation as an ex­ceptional swimmer, besides being a fancy diver, he holds many records in free style swimming. Tennis playing appeals to him and he has shown many tenn .~ enthusiasts how good tennis should l:::e }>layed. I He Is about" the average for a.. soccer player, having displayed his ab!llty on a 1 Salt Lake soccer football team the paH season. Other sports which he delight3 In are bicycle-riding and trap-shooting. He being a medal holder In the lattu event. Besides being an extraordinary atble.u he Is very talented musical. Alf can play almost any Instrument one mtgbt as:; him to play, and he has won many sin!(­tm: contests. Tournament At Becker Hill EIGHT of the world's greatest ski riders arrived in Ogden today ·and started immediate preparations for the third an­nual champion- ...-----~ ship tournament ' at Becker hill, in Ogden c a n y o n S a t u r da y a n d Sunday. The del­egation was head- . ed by Lars Hau­gen, captain of the ski team, and seven times na­tional champion. Other outsOO.nd­ing performers are 1. as follows: Alf · E n g e n , world's record holder and pne£'A present champion; S v e r r e E n g e n, ·'Einar Fredbo, Steffan Trogstad, Halvor Hvalstad, Sig Ulland and Ted Rex. Rex and Trogstad will wear Og­den's colors during the 1932 season. The take off at Becker hill will be moved this week in preparation for the championshiiY event. This is necessary in order that the jump­ers may get greater distance. T11e hill record of 209 feet estab­lished last year by Ein·ar Fredbo is almost certain to be shattered this week end. Three of the jumpers jumped bet­ter than 200 feet at Salt Lake City last Sunday. Alf Engen, the cham­pion, l-eaped 234 feet on two occa-sions at Salt Lake. ~ . , Snow conditions at the hill are , \ ideal and indications point to the :'> ...... ,.,. . ,.. .. ,,,".~ .-... "·.. . .. . ~!b. best tournament thus far held il}. ,...... ..,_., - • · _,,. il!\!!f2LZ) • Ogden. r The professional events Saturda! and Sunday will get underway a , two o'clock. Outstanding amateurs of Salt Lake and Ogden will perform Saturday and Sunday in special events. Saturday afternoon immediately following the cilampionship event' youngsters of Ogden will take patti in a series of jumping c:Jntests. Youths of the city will be divided into three classc: Twelve years of ·:tge and younger; 12 to 16 years and 16 to 20 yeru·s of age. All youngsters desiring to compete must register with the sports editor, Ogden tSand­ard- EJ..'aminer, not later than three o'clock Friday afternoon. No en­tries will bz received at the hill. Two events will be staged for girls alGO. Governor George H. Dern of Utah and Governor Fred Balzar of Neva­da will attend and will serve in of­jficial capacities. Governor Balzar will serve as honorary and active starter on Saturday and Governor Dern will hold the same position on Sunday. The 1932 event will again be sponsored by the winter sports di­vision of the Ogden chamber of commerce. The committe8 is com­posed of the following: E. R. Alton, chairman; L. W. Nims, C. E. Arm­strong, Heber Young, W. R. l\lcEn­tire, G. L. Becker, 0. C. Hammond, Dana Pru·kinson, Percy Cook and A; F. Larson. Othe~· officials to s.iq in handling the tournament wer~ named as follows Monday afternoo by Chairman Alton: Honorary and official starters Governor F'red Balzar of Nevada an Governor Geo!·ge H. Dern of Utah ljudges cf jumps, M. A. Strand, Sal La!ce; Alex Norbeck, Ogden, and G L. Becker, Ogden; referee, Axel , Andreasen, Salt Itake; scorers, A.J.·vL. / Nylander, Arthur Larson, Claudl'i­Armstrong, Henry Turner, Harry Kammeyer and P. N. Cook; chair­Il_ lan of hill. 0. C. Hammond; physi­ctan, Dr. J. F. Wickstrom; announcer Al Warden: honorary judges, ,J. c: Derks, sports editor Salt Lake Trib-j une; Fronk Baker, sports editor, 1Salt Lake Telegram; Les Goates J sports edit-or. Deseret News, and Ai Warden. sports editor, Ogden St:md-ard- Exa.miner: supervisors, E. R. Al- TAHOE CITY (Lake Tahoe) Feb. 8.-Ski jumping on Tahoe' Olympic Hill was slowed up Satu day afternoon by a sudden rise i temperature, followed by which soflened the deep sno Three of the jumpers, includin Alf Engen, national champion, fei after reaching the landing aprox Engen's ankle was slightly injur by the fall, but he was able to bE on the bill again Sunday. The hill was in splendid cond1 tion Sunday after a clear freezin night, and six of the team gav perfect performances on this occ sion. Sigurd Ulland did not tak p_a1·t because of a lame knee. AI of Sunday's jumps neared the 200 foot mark and were exceptional fo grace and form. AI! Engen, in spit of his injured ankle, made a juro of 195 feet, the longest one rna( Sunday. His brother, Sverre, can next with 181 feet. Four hundred San Fran- ' Shrincrs with their fam. thronged the mountain sides < in thr da), a.nd the younger l<k of the. Tahoe Club gave a 5e1·ies jump~< from the junior hill for .CJ'QWd '~ entertainment. .r..on_.__.,_~d-•t.Aa--- --1 ----