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Show Three Former U.S.'C.hamps In Tourney Three former United States class A champ.ions-Torger Tokle, Alf Engen and George Kotlarek-will be among the contestants in the ninth annual Kiwanis Ski club -tournament here tomorrow. Kotlarek, of Duluth, won the title in 1936, Engen jumped to the honor in 1940 and Tokle took over in 1941. Thirty-nine national tournaments ' have been held since the first in · 1904. Though a Central Ski asso~iation entry has not won the yue since 1936, previously they dommated the competition. In the P?-st 39 national meets, 22 of the A wmners hailed from the central area. 1 Brothers Won 11 Titles l The famed Haugen brothers, Lars and Anders, have been .the most consistent winners of aH-tnne. Eleven titles were divided bet\1\'een the brothers, Lars, winning •seven and Anders four. . Class A winners in the history of the national tou~naments are: 1904--Conrad Thompson, Ishpem-ing. . 1 1905- 0le Westgaard, Ishpemmg. 1906--0le Fiering, Duluth, Minn. , 1907-0laf Jonnum, Coleraine, Minn. :1908-John Evenson, Duluth. 1909-John Evenson, Duluth. 1910-Ander s Haugen, Chippewa Falls, Wis. 1911- F rances Kempe, Red Wing, I Minn. 1912-Lars Haugen, · Chippewa Fails. · 1913-Ragnar Omtvedt, Chicago. 1914--Ragnar Omtvedt, Chicago. 1915-Lars Haugen, Chippewa I Falls. 1916- Harry Hall, Steamboat Springs, Colo. 1917-Ragnar Omtvedt, Chicago. 1918-Lars Haugen, Chippewa Falls. 1919-No tournament. 1920---;Anders Haugen, Dillon, Colo. · 1921-Carl Howelson, Steamboat! Springs. 1 1922-Lars Haugen, Denver, Colo. 1923-Anders Haugen, Orchard Lake, Minn. 1924--Lars Haugen, Canton, S. D. 1925-Alfred Ohrn, Chicago. 1926--Anders Haugen, Grandi Beach, Mich. 1927-Lars Haugen, St. Paul. 1928-Lars Haugen, St. Paul. 1929-Strand Mikkelsen, Green-\ field, Mass. · 1 1930-Casper Oimen, Canton. 1931-Casper Oimen, Canton. 1932-Anton LeKang, New York./ 1933-Roy Mikkelsen, Auburn,t Calif. ' · 1934--Casper Oimen, Minot, N. D. 1935-Roy Mikkelsen, Auburn, Calif. · 1936-George Kotlarek, Duluth . 1937- Sigmund Ruud, Norway, Europe. 1938-open- Sigurd Ulland, Tahoe, Calif.; closed-Birger Ruudr! Norway, Europe. 1939-Reidar Anderson, Norway, Europe, 1940-Alf Engen, Sun Valley, Idah o. Giant Pine Mountain Slide To Be Slii.:Jumping Nerve-Center Of Nati6n Tomorrow Afternoon King.· Of ~hen1 All Torger Tokle, above, Brooklyn's. · mite and k ing of long-distance ski-jumper s, wiil lead one of t he greatest fields of r ider s ever · in an assault 0 11 his Amer ican dis tance record of 288 feet, at Pine mountain tomorrow. 'Iokle, regard.ed as t he most powerftil jumper in the history of the sport, is conceded t he best ch ance ~,f making the longest leap- possibly a 300-footer. Engen Not Ready To Hang Up S~is StarsRead.v, For Assault On Records · Giant Pine mountain slide becomes the ski-jumping nerve-center of the nation tomorrow afternoon, when mighty Torger Tokle, the dynamic power diver from Brooklyn, N. Y., and Alf Engen, · the veteran st ylist from Sun Valley, Idaho, lead one of the most l:>rilliant lineups of · ski daredevils ever assembled in a mass assault on a new distance r ecord. Their -sights will be trained on the first 300-foot flight made in North America. The all-star classic will get under ~ay at 2 o'clock, when the first of the 102 entries roars down the icy chute of the world's highest artificial ski scaffold. Attracted by a star-studded entry list unparalleled in t he h~story of American ski-jumping and by the consenus t hat it will be the last "big" tournament for the war's duration, a record-breaking crowd is predicted to jam-pack the Pine mountairl area for -the e<vent. . Due to the ·talent-loaded list or' 17.class A expe.rts~ ,hei:e-'are -well- . fom1ded forecasts that the present American · distance r ecord of 288 feet, negotiated -last year by Tokle at Hyak, :wash., may be broken. It would be almost impossible to assemble a galaxy of t alent greater than that which graces the en try list · . for tomorrow's tournament. The only. two riders of n ational f·ame, who will not be here are Gene Wilson, of . Coleraine, Minn., and ''Ola," t he Norwegian r efugee, ·of Toronto, Canada. Tokle No. 1 In Limelight The out standing figure in the meet is t he gr eat Tokle, who for the Iast four years has been setting the ski-jumping world 011 fire with a series of sensational performances. ' Since coming to the United Stat es in 1939, the 160-pound king of the ski-ways has competed in 45 tournaments and w on f irst . place in 40 of them. He has broken 20 hill records, many of which had withstood assault for years. Though defeated · five times ori form flaws, never since he set foot , on1 American soil has he been out-jumped. 1941- Torger Tokle, Brooklyn, 1942-"0la", E!amp Little Norway, ·I f.['oronto, Can. For sometime there h ave been rumors circulating that Alf Engen would retire from jumping after this season. Engen Take~ Third as Tokle Wins / Exper ts, who !1a've seen the best of them come and ·go, call Tokle the greatest jumper the world has ever· seen. Let E;ngen answer that for you: "I'm not ready to quit. I'll keep :Jumping until every kid in the neighborhood beats me." "When I'm through jumping, I'll confine my skiing to downhill- slalom. I still feel I've got 10 more years of competitive downhill- slalom left in me. And when I drop from competitive skiing, I'll probably use skis for recreation until I 'm 60-I hope." Engen is 33 years old and known as a "late bloomer" in jumping and downhill skiing. He has been at the sport since four years of age and been in comp'etitive jumping since the t ender age of eight. However, he did not win his national jumping and four-event championships until he was 30 years old, when most skiers are "over the hill", BRATTLEBORO, Vt.; Feb. 22 UPl- Torger Tokle won for keeps Sunday the Brattleboro Outing club's winged ski trophy, which has been the object of ski jumpers' affections for 19 years. A crowd of 5000 saw Tokle, who came from Norway four years ago, turn in leaps of 230" and 226 feet to win the event for t he third time and r etire t he trophy. Tokle, in winning, edged Ola, r ed-cheeked young Norwegian a ir force r ecruit training in Canada, who had bea ten him twice before this season. Third honors went to Alf Engen, veteran campa igner representing the Sun Valley Ski club. That's why t omorrow he will be prime favorite to shatter h is own r ecord of 288-feet and fiy to the first 300-foot leap in the 55~year history of the spor t in America. Though Tokle has n ot had .the oppor tunity to ride Pine mountain up until today, he has indiCated that if a 300-foot jump is possible on Pine mountain, he will "r each" for it. But, .ev.en as great as Tokle may be, the pressure will be on. Competition has never been keener in any meet staged in the midwest. There will be Engen to contend with. Engen, who at the age of 33 is a:t the peak of his career and has proved himself the best all-around skier in the n ation, is the man who leaped to the 267-foot recor d-breaker here last year. Then ther e's Ishp~ mi ng's Walt Bietila, of the Navy , a1r corps, who by his performances |
