Alf Engen newspaper clippings, photographs, and telegrams, 1934 - 1942

Page 30

The Iron Mountain News 1 " ---- ---------IR_O_N_MO_U_N_T_AI_N-,M-- I -CH-.,--M-0_ND__A_Y,_ F_E_B_R_U_A_R_Y_l_0-,1- 9-41_ __ __:._!Ne arly 5,000 l ---..jRecord Crowd Of More Cars Parked AtSiiiHill f--- 1Than 20,000 Sees -~1Enge~ Jump 267 Feet ....__. __ + I. More than 20,000 persons-some estimates are !higher than that­' the largest crowd ever to attend a Pine mounta:in ski jumping tourna· ment, yesterday afternoon saw Alf Engen, Salt Lake City, riding for the Sun Valley Ski club, lead the field with a jump of 267 feet. Engen's leap was not good enough, however, to give him first -----------------------fplace in the meet. His first jump of :228 feet and the second of 267 gave I Mayb.e.,!'~cHWrong [Sports Editor] • ' ' With per ec snow conC!it1ons, e soared 296 feet off Ecker hill at Salt Lake City, Utah, on Christmas day I 1934. The distance was measured I carefully, but it was an unsanctioned tournament and t he mark was not recognized. He leaped 281 feet, also off Ecker hill, later in practice. He jumped 257 feet o,ff the same hill in 1932, but he was a ·pro then and it did not count. The Mountain Man Hears Call of Big Slide ELEVEN years ago a young Norwegian, fresh from the old coun-try, came up to Milwaukee from Chicago because t here was 1 snow h er e a nd non e t here and he was lonesome for some "she- Wants Record Back yumping." H e watched a tournament at Gordon park a nd then Hal- B IG hills are a chall~nge to Engen. vor Wrolstad of Racine saw the yearning in his eyes and lent him He qeard the call of P ine moun­shoes and skis. So the first time Alf ~ tain and r E\sisted it for two years Enge~ w~nt down a . ski slide in bined jumpin~ and cross-country i but this wint.er he is traveling mor~ Amen ca It was th~ Jittle scaffold and the four event combined. He 1 than 3,000 miles (round trip) to ac­that used to stand m Gorpon park, has held them all except the down- cept the gage. He passed through an.d he went down in :mit pants and hill slalom. He took u p downhill . 1 M!lwauk~e Thursday night on his shirt sleeves. and slalom only three years ago. 1 w_ay, ~nxi~us to get the feel of tlie Sund~y af.ternoon, _up . at Iron Engen is a "far jumper." He has big slide m two days ?f practice. ~ountam, .MICh., E ngen will be t he skimmed down mount ainsides in the Paul ~ton~, ~ormer M!lwaukeean, b1g a ttraction at the annual tourna- Rocki~ for Salt Lak c ·t Ut h was With him. Stone is employed by men t . S orne 20 ,0 00 persons WI'I I has been' his headqmirtee rs I fyo,r soam e' t he U, m·o n P aCI' f!'C m· s un Valley pro-gather _u:pder the sho.ulder of Pine years. He works for the forest serv- motion. mount am and tl;ley will be t~ere to ice and jumps for t he Sun Valley Paul recently won the golden ski see :vhat the greatest. sk1er i_n club. He set an American record of race down Ba~dy mountain at Sun America can do off the highest arb- 242 feet in 1937 off Ecker h 'll t S it Valley. 1:Ie sa1d that Engen was in ficial ski slide in the world. Lake City and broke it in ~93~ w~h ve~y good f!Jrm, having won already . a_2!il foot lean off the new slide at this season the interstate four event A Moun tam Jumper " I' Big Pine~ Calif. That stood until ~ourn.ament at Sun Valley, the ski Iron Mountain const t d 't h · JUmpmg meet at Ecker hill and the SINCE his impromptu leap at Gor- scaffold a d B b R rukc e fi Ds uge giant slalom at Alta Utah d . . . n o oec er o uluth " · · . ' · on park, Engen has n dden h1s leaped 257 feet two y a B1g hills a re his meat " said Paul sk. 'I S t o f arne. H. e I.S 31 now and e~1.- Alf has leaped muceh fras rathgoe.r than "H. e h. eard th1.s was t he ' biggest ski. ~pble t~ the semor class, but he still that-farther than the 277 foot 'urn slide m the · country, so he !lad to Jumps m Class A. He won the cen- made last year at I ron M t J. .P have a try at it. Besides he has tral champ' · h' · 1936 th 't oun am m wanted th t d ' d th wncs Ipd:n t 'tl' : wes - unsanctioned, competition- farther Ro k ba kre~or back ever since ern an .. e ana 1an 1 es I? 1937, than any other man has jum ed on . ec er ro e 1t. He's likely to get the Pacific northwest cr.own m 1939 this side of the Atlantic. ff an ~t back Sunday unless somebody can and last season, the national cham- present day J'um h Y JUmp farther than he does-and I f~· onsfh ' Th' h . . per can reac out to 't th ' k . Ip. :~ year . e IS ai_Jt to :-vm 300 feet on an American slide-a dis- can m ~ho It would be." e .our na Ion.al btles-Jumpmg, tance attained on! in Euro ea , combmed downhill and slalom, com- mountains so far-E~gen is the ~a:. Engen Gives High Praise ToSI{iJump A<ft·er his first 12 hours in Iron Mountain, Alf Enger, Salt Lake City's !National ski-jumping cham· pion and J•ead.in.g entry in tomor- - row's tournament, was convin·ced it is a fine •to:wn, "with tJhe best ski Slide he's .seen in !his 24 years of European and .Aimerican competi· Hon. He had lbut one comp~ aint and in a distinct Norwegian Jbrogue said, "It's too cold up here." The obvious reason the climate chi1led his 'blood is the fact that only a f.ew ·days ago he was acquir­ing a Utah sun-tan on skiis, stripped from the waist up. And the night he left there t he temperature was 85 degrees. For a man proved to be the ·best skier in the nation, and prdbalbly Europe, too, Engen is a modest chap. Sun~bronz ed, with handsome, rug.ged Norwegian f eatur es, 32-year· old Engen i·s near the six-foot mark~ and carries 200 weN-proportioned pounds. Started at 8 Years Engen began his competitive ski· jumping at the tender age of ei.ght years, and 24 years later finds him experiencing the best season of ihis , life. His longest e ay was arouna- 2T6- reer.-He came o United States 1n 1929 with the ers do not consider. jumpers as s· thought of never <Seeing the hickor- ers-they d'On't know ihow to ski, ies aga:in__;he had heard it never say the westerners; <they just jump. snowed in the U. S. Such .sta1tements have "burn ed up" However, he tried it :first in Mil.· ! Engen He's out to make those so­waukee in 1929 wit h a 'borrowed 1 called "experts" ·eat thos·e words. pair of skis and s treet shoes. He's been going strong ever since and Though foreign-born, it's "Am er­climaxed ihis career with the Na- i~ First" lfor Engen. He predicts tiona! jumping title and the na- that within two years United States tionaJ. four-events t itle last year. skiers will whip anything Europe In all the territory he'·s covered has to offer. Upon r etiring, Engen h e's never seen a h ill as f ine and I hopes to have a hand :in coaching lar~e as Pine Mountain. The slide the Olympic team that wiU make at Leavenworth, Wash., runs a o1os•e the European riders "take a back second and is similar in layout, he seat, and like jt," said. He leaped 252 feet there last 1 Praises Brattlund , year. The Big Pines, •Calif., slide, '. Engen !has high praise for Walter ·I' where ihe rset the American record Brattlund, Iron Mountain's senior of 252 feet 1beJ\ore it was broken lby rider. Engen has competed against Bob Roecker, !has 'been razed. Ecker Brattlu·nd and says the Iron Moun­hilt!, Sa:lt Lake City, a natural moun- tain rid·er in lh~ s prime W!I!S one of tain s~<ide, is a nother 'huge hill. rt the finest in the nation. The na­was there that Engen mad.e a 296- tlonal champion added that Reider foot pmctice le!l!p, lhis longest. Anderson, the gr eat Norway ace Wind Too Strong .who was r epor ted to have 1been ' Yesterday afternoon a heavy head ktlied in the current war, was the wind prevented r iders from us1in•g stiffest competiti'on he has met in the Pine mountain hill, but Engen his career. gave t he loca1 addicts something to l Engen admits that on Sunday­talk abou t on the s lal·om course. he'll 1be riding· against the finest Tth:e downhiH had nev.er lbeen ddden jumpers in the nation, and makes so expertly as it was yesterday no predictions as to his own ef­when Engen came on the acene. A forts. ·~t should be a great meet," master of the art, Engen made the ] ,was hi~ · only comment. most difficult and intdcate maneuv· is Maagrroiveedrnfor tthree !years, . Ehngen I , . . , · . meru emp oy;e wit the era appear 'Unbelievaibly Simple. Utah forest service. He talks of his Having reaohed the top lin jump- four..rnonth-old son with great 1pride ing, Engen has one amibition. That a~d chuckle~ when h e says, "I've is to win the national sla lom dham- given lhim his first pair of skis a!­. . . . . ready and have him training with pionshlp. Out west, where downhill settLng up ·exercises every morn- ' skiing dominates, e~pert slalom r id- ing." ' him 143.3 points for second place. 1 Walter Bietila, riding for the Madison, Wis., Hoofers Ski club, won first place in class ·A with jumps of 236 and 256 feet, and a special award as the most graceful jumper in the tournament. Tied for third place were George Kotlarek, Duluth, Minn., and Ted ·Zoberski, Ironwood, with 143.06 each. f ' For two hours Engen held the American tournament jumping rec· .ord; fuen it was broken in Leaven­worth, Wash., by To·rger Tokle, _ New York, who leaped 273 feet to set a new American tournament record. The Leavenworth slide is !the only other hill in the United States rat.ed with Pine mou . tain at 70 meters. No Serious Mishaps · The tournament passed without a serious injury either to the riders or spectators. Don Smith, manager of the winter sports association, to­day estimated that there were near- - Iy 5,000 _caz:s- pa!'ked at the tourna­ment. Despite the heavy traffic, the last cars moved f:rom the Pine mountain area 50 minutes after: Engen's record-breaking jump ell· , maxed the meet. Smith's estimate of the crowd was 20,000 persons·. Jack !Aeb, Chicago, News of the Day photographer, who J covers many tournaments, placed the crowd at between 20,000 and j25,000. J Ho:va:d Walters, treasurer of the associatwn, was checking receipts today, but it was not expected the results would be known before to• morrow. fio Opening Ceremony · Arrangements for the tournament Eent off with but one hitch, Plans ---- ad been made for an openfug cer e· ony, but officials, eager to get t he eet under way, waived the cere· \IDOny. : Under a sparkling winter sun, ----spectators watched the jumping. Weather conditions were ideal. Sat­, urday's gale had subsided, the tem- 1peratl;lre :vas. cold enough to put the big slide J n tpp condition, and add zest to the spectacle. The week-end carnival program opened early Saturday night with rthe coronation of Gerry Provencher 1941 tournament queen, before ~ crowd of 2,000 persons in St. Paul park. Standing in the evergreen-covered band shell, the queen re­ceived the crown from Ted Zober­ski, Ironwood rider, who won the 1940 tournament. Sunday morning two fire trucks bearing huge welcome signs cruised the city streets . . Traffic MoV'ed Smoothly By 11 a. m. traffic was moving steadily toward the tournament ground, .in an unbroken line through the b~smess area. Parking space at the lull was at a premium long be­fore noon. At 12:40, 500 Chicago and Milwau­kee visit?rs arrived on a special snow tram and rode taxis and busses. to the tournament ground. The Milwaukee road Hiawatha band coming with the snow t r ain, added color to the tournament crowd. Forty-four employes of the Coch­ran Freight lines handled sales at the tournament entrances. Down­town drug stores selling buttons were rushed from Saturday after· noon until just before the meet.