United States Ski Team
The U.S. Ski Team, operated under the auspices of the United States Ski and Snowboard Association, develops and supports men's and women's athletes in the sports of alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, cross-country, ski jumping, and Nordic combined. Since 1974 the team and association have been headquartered in Park City, Utah.
These athletes represent the best athletes in the country for their respective sports and compete as a team at the national, world and Olympic level.
History
*The first U.S. 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 U.S. 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, Czechoslovakia, the United States, Austria and Germany and Norway, Sweden and Finland.
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 supported the concept. Ski events were only Nordic, including cross country, ski jumping 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. 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. 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. 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 returned after a 12-year hiatus, with American Gretchen Fraser 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.
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 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 and Aspen, CO
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 the first appearance of giant slalom. American Katy Rodolph of Colorado led the US, finishing fifth in the women's downhill. 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 U.S. 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. 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 - U.S. 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 won silver in slalom and Jimmie Heuga took slalom bronze. Jean Saubert was a double medalist, tying for silver in giant slalom and collecting bronze in slalom.
1965 - Bob Beattie named U.S. 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. Former Alpine Director Willy Schaeffler was the center's director.
1974 - U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. Ski Team rejoin
After years of operating separately, the USSA and U.S. Ski Team were merged once again in the Summer of 1998 under the direction of Thomas Weisel. Weisel proposed the creation of a ‘super-board’ consisting of 15 people representing the leadership of both organizations. USSA CEO Howard Peterson was selected to lead the new organization and the USSA moved its national offices from Colorado Springs to join the U.S. Ski Team in Park City, UT, establishing its headquarters at its present location on 1500 Kearns Blvd.
2007 - Center of Excellence Groundbreaking
The USSA broke ground on the on July 18, 2007. Upon opening in 2009, the Center of Excellence housed 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. Additionally, educational areas for athletes, coaches and clubs such as a computer lab, multimedia rooms for performance analysis and equipment workshops are available. All of the educational resources are shared with the USSA's 400 clubs around the country.
Making the U.S. Ski Team
Interested young athletes generally begin competing through one of 425 local U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association clubs located in communities around the country, generally at ski and snowboard resorts. Clubs provide introductory education and training, as well as competition programs.Each U.S. Ski Team sport is also organized at a regional and divisional level, with slight variances by sport. Alpine skiing, for example, is organized in three regions: Eastern, Rocky/Central and Western. Within those regions are divisions including Northern, Eastern, Southern, Central, Rocky Mountain, Intermountain, Far West and Alaska. In some areas, such as New England, there are also state-based organizations.
Competition programs are held within each region or division leading up to national and international events. From these competitions, athletes earn points and are ranked nationally with the highest ranking athletes earning nominations to join the US national teams, which compete at the level.
The USSA is one of the only Olympic sports in America to support a full-time standing national team in every sport. Teams are nominated each spring or summer based on results. Teams for FIS World Championships and Olympic Winter Games are selected by specific criteria and named for those individual events.