Robbins leads eight to U.S. Ski Hall of Fame

By Published On: November 6th, 2009Comments Off on Robbins leads eight to U.S. Ski Hall of Fame

Long time Ski Racing contributor Paul Robbins is among eight inductees for the Class of 2009 of the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame it was announced Friday (Nov. 7).

The other seven named to join the ranks of the Hall are adaptive skiers Jack Benedick, Chris Waddell and Sarah Will, Stu Campbell, Doug Coomb, Sepp Kober and Ansten Samuelstuen.

A leader among ski journalists in all ways, Robbins possessed an uncanny encyclopedic knowledge of the sport of ski competition in all fields and as the U.S. Ski Team’s resident expert and press officer he was often the first to contact a new skier named to a team or approved for a competition trip. His fast wit and willingness to give freely of his knowledge made him a favorite among athletes and journalists alike. He died suddenly during the 2008 season while working from his home office.

U.S. Ski Team President and CEO Bill Marolt said, “Paul Robbins left a lasting impact on ski racing. His wit, charm
and beret were Paul’s trademark, but his vast knowledge and tireless work ethic
were instrumental in telling our U.S. Ski Team story for three decades.”

He was always easy to find when on site by the brightly colored tam, or beret, he habitually wore. The Paul Robbins Award for ski journalism presented annually by the Vermont Ski Museum was first presented a season ago and went to another member of the Class of 2009: Stu Campbell.

Campbell was a writer, instructor and resort executive who impacted millions of American skiers over a career that spanned five decades. He was the author of six books on ski instruction, served as an equipment consultant to several manufacturers, raced and coached racers and provided television commentary. For thirty years he was the instructional editor for SKI Magazine and was recognized, prior to his death in 2008, by the Vermont Ski Museum with its Paul Robbins Award for ski journalism.

Jack Benedick  brought passion and innovation to adaptive skiing that has left a lasting legacy. A double leg amputee due to the Viet Nam War Benedick took up adaptive skiing when the sport was still in its infancy. He worked hard with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association to create a U.S. Adaptive Ski Team and lobbied the International Ski Federation to accept adaptive skiing. A holder of the Paralympic Order for his contributions, he was a silver medal winner in the combined at the 1984 Paralympic Games.

Doug Coombs may be the most recognizable skier in this year’s class for his appearances in many ski films in the 1990’s. A former ski racer from Montana State University, he is regarded by many as the most important skier of his generation in popularizing adventure skiing. He and his wife, Emily, started the first heli-skiing operation in Alaska’s Chugach Mountains. He held steep skiing camps in Switzerland, France and Greenland. The complete expert skier, he won the first two World Extreme Skiing Championships. Although his skills far surpassed those of most of the people he guided, he had a capacity to make every skier who came into contact with him believe they could try bigger challenges. He died while attempting to rescue a friend in a skiing accident in 2006.

Sepp Kober is known as the “Father of Southern Skiing.” After immigrating to the United States and instructing at Stowe, he was the first ski instructor at the first southern ski area to open a rope tow, Weiss Knob, in 1958. From then he worked to prove that skiing could exist south of the Mason Dixon Line. Today the Southeastern Ski Areas Association, which he founded, consists of 20 ski areas serving four to five million skiers annually and is considered the largest feeder of skiers to the mountain resorts in the west. He led the Southeast in as a charter member of the National Ski Areas Association.

Ansten Samuelstuen first arrived in the United States in 1951 and set a hill record for distance of 316 feet at Howelsen Hill in Steamboat Springs that stood for 12 years. After immigrating to the U.S. in 1954 he successfully won three national titles in ski jumping, (1957, 1961 and 1962) and held four North American titles (1954, 1955,1957 and 1964). He competed for the United States on two Olympic teams and was the top U.S. jumper with a seventh place finish at the 1960 Olympic Games in Squaw Valley.

Chris Waddell recently made international headlines for his successful climb of Mount Kilimanjaro in September of this year, a first for a paraplegic. Paralyzed from the waist down after a skiing accident in 1988, he took up adaptive skiing and won twelve medals at four Paralympic Games. He swept the gold medals at the 1994 Paralympics in Lillehammer. As well he competed at three Paralympic Summer Games winning a silver medal in Sydney in 2000 in the 200 M wheelchair event. He has been a charismatic promoter for adaptive skiing and was a prominent ambassador for the Salt Lake City Games in 2002.

Sarah Will was also paralyzed in a skiing accident in 1988 and also won 12 medals competing on U.S. teams at four Paralympic Games. Like Waddell she, too, swept the gold medals at the Paralympics, this time in Salt Lake City in 2002. Shortly after her accident she read Hall of Famer Hal O’Leary’s book on adaptive skiing and started to train at Winter Park. Within three years she won gold medals in the downhill and super G at the 1992 Paralympic Games. With Waddell she started an adaptive skiing program at Vail and was recently recognized by the United States Olympic Hall of Fame to go along with honors accorded her in 2004 by the Colorado Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame.

The induction of the Class of 2009 will take place in Colorado on April 9, 2010. They will also be honored in September by ceremonies in Ishpeming Michigan, the home of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame.

Nominations for Honored Membership in the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame are received throughout the year from across the country. A Selection Committee under the chairmanship of Paul Bousquet of Woodstock, Vermont reviews all nominations. Successful nominations are placed on a ballot that in 2009 was voted on by a panel of 100 electors. This year’s class brings the number of Honored Members to 368.

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About the Author: Hank McKee

In memoriam: The veteran of the staff, McKee started with Ski Racing in 1980. Over the seasons, he covered virtually every aspect of the sport, from the pro tours to junior racing, freestyle and World Cup alpine competition. He wrote the first national stories for many U.S. team stars, and was still around to report on their retirements. “Longevity has its rewards,” he said, “but it’s a slow process.”