FIS honors Mike Clark with journalism award

Longtime Associated Press sportswriter Mike Clark, whose editorial support and historical recordkeeping on the FIS Alpine World Cup made a significant impact on skiing worldwide, was honored with the presentation of the FIS Journalist Award on June 28. The International Ski Federation presents the award to journalists worldwide for their service to the sport.
    “I am very humbled to receive this award and to be included on such a distinguished list of ski journalists,” Clark said. “Ski racing was central to my professional life for over 20 years while I was with the AP. It provided me with a thrilling sport and tremendous athletes to write about, as well as a group of fellow scribes I am proud to call friends.”
LYME, N.H. — Longtime Associated Press sportswriter Mike Clark, whose editorial support and historical recordkeeping on the FIS Alpine World Cup made a significant impact on skiing worldwide, was honored with the presentation of the FIS Journalist Award on June 28. The International Ski Federation presents the award to journalists worldwide for their service to the sport.
    “Mike made a real difference for athletes,” said U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) Vice President of Communications Tom Kelly. “The AP is a critical media outlet, providing worldwide distribution of news. Mike's passion for ski racing helped to bring exciting athlete stories to millions of fans around the globe. And, along the way, he became a one-man database in cataloging World Cup results — data that is extremely important today.”
    Clark retired from the AP's New York bureau in 2000 and is now an editor with Stars and Stripes. In a nearly 30-year career with the AP, he was a strong force on the news desk for ski racing and a regular fixture at Olympics, World Championships and U.S. World Cups as a writer.
    “I am very humbled to receive this award and to be included on such a distinguished list of ski journalists,” Clark said. “Ski racing was central to my professional life for over 20 years while I was with the AP. It provided me with a thrilling sport and tremendous athletes to write about, as well as a group of fellow scribes I am proud to call friends.”
    The award was presented by Kelly, head of the FIS Public Relations and Mass Media Committee. Four past recipients were also on hand including Ski Racing magazine Managing Partner and CEO Gary Black (2008), film producer Joe Jay Jalbert (2002), former Ski Magazine and Snow Country editor John Fry (1998), and longtime ABC and ESPN commentator Bob Beattie (1997). The presentation took place following a celebration service for U.S. Ski Team correspondent Paul Robbins, who died last February. Robbins and Clark had worked very closely together for many years.
    “It was especially fitting to honor Mike on the day we also recognized Paul. The two of them worked hand-in-hand for many years. And Paul was instrumental in Mike's award,” Kelly said. “Mike joins a list of past recipients of this award that's really a who's who of dedicated professionals who have passionately spread the word of our exciting action sports.”
    FIS Marketing Director Christian Knauth, who oversees the awards for the sport's governing body, worked for many years with Clark. “The FIS appreciates the great work that Mike Clark has accomplished on behalf of our sports over decades. We especially value the competition results information he has collected and maintained. Most of all, we respect that he has done this as a part of his private passion – that's very unique.”
    “For years Mike was a fixture on the alpine World Cup and at the World Championships. But, more importantly, his effort on The Associated Press sports desk allowed ski competition stories to move on the AP wire even if it was a big football or basketball weekend,” Black said. “And his statistical work was always a good check for Ski Racing’s own Hank McKee, who keeps our data. They were always trying to outdo each other with obscure points! He is a very deserving recipient of this FIS honor.”
    “I began crunching numbers as soon as I started covering ski racing because I wanted to have as much information as possible to call upon when writing stories,” Clark said. "And I was happy to share anything I had with my colleagues. It was for them that I kept expanding my files over the years.”
    Some of Clark's fondest athlete memories are working with the legendary Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden. "It was almost a privilege to be on the same mountain with him when he was having one of those days,” Clark said. “He had a reputation, well deserved, for being withdrawn. But over the years we developed a relationship based on his trust that I wouldn’t rush into print with things we chatted about privately.”
    Clark still takes credit for calling Stenmark's 86th and final win. “I told [AP's] John Mossman and [Denver Post's] Charlie Meyers in the press room at the GS in Aspen in 1989 that the ol' guy had one more big race left in him. And he sure did!”
    World downhill champion and Olympic silver medalist Hilary Lindh was one of his favorites. While other journalists thought Lindh was shy, Clark found she was just quiet – “there's a difference,” Lindh told him. “I can recall many pleasant conversations with Hilary in which skiing was barely mentioned, he said. “I always enjoyed talking with her.” Lindh was inducted into the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 2005.
    Clark is the ninth U.S. journalist to receive the FIS recognition, dating back to 1996 when Sports Illustrated's William Oscar Johnson was honored.

FIS Journalist Award – Past U.S. Recipients
2008 – Mike Clark, Associated Press
2007 – Gary Black, Ski Racing
2002 – Peter Diamond, NBC
2002 – Joe Jay Jalbert, Jalbert Productions
2001 – Anita Verschoth, Sports Illustrated
1999 – Charlie Meyers, Denver Post
1998 – John Fry, Ski Magazine
1997 – Bob Beattie, ABC/ESPN
1996 – William Oscar Johnson, Sports Illustrated