Vail Resort innovator 'Sarge' Brown dies at 85

William ''Sarge'' Brown, who as mountain manager at Vail helped develop the Colorado resort into one of the world's top ski and ski racing areas, died Sunday. He was 85.

VAIL, Colorado — William ''Sarge'' Brown, who as mountain manager at Vail helped develop the Colorado resort into one of the world's top ski areas, died Sunday. He was 85.  
    Brown died at his Grand Junction home, Vail Resorts officials said.
    Brown introduced cutting-edge snowmaking, grooming and trail cutting technologies as mountain manager from 1970 to 1989. He installed Vail's first snowmaking equipment, at Golden Peak, in 1970, and started overnight grooming, now an industry standard. Brown also helped Vail and Beaver Creek win and stage the World Alpine Ski Championships in 1989.
    Brown’s attention to detail and work ethic was challenged mightily at the 1989 World Championships when a 30-inch snowfall the night before the downhill race seemed certain to postpone the event. But Sarge ran 17 snowcats up and down the mountain throughout the night and the course was ready to run by morning. The race was postponed anyway after many of the racers slept in, thinking it was going to be a powder day.
    George Gillett, the owner of Vail Associates from 1985 to 1992, told the Vail Daily that Brown brought the values learned from his time in the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division to the ski industry.
    “Integrity, ethics, commitment to work, an understanding of the guests,” Gillett said. “Consistency — to deliver a consistent product every day, no matter what the condition, temperature, weather, how tired you were, how sick you were.”
    Employees who worked under Brown recalled a hard-nosed man who demanded punctuality and hard work. But Gillett said Brown also had a giving heart.
    “He was just one of those wonderful men,” Gillett told the Vail Daily. “He was a man’s man. He was crusty. Scared the hell out of most of us most of the time. Then you found out later he was doing it mostly to help you grow and help you get better.” 

Army stint laid foundation for work ethic
Prior to his time at Vail, Brown entered the Army in 1942 where he became the youngest first Sergeant in the Army at age 19. Brown retired with the Command Sergeant Major. He was the fifth-ranked non-commissioned officer in the Army and was decorated with five Purple Hearts, two Silver Stars and three Bronze Stars.
    Brown’s personal friendships with the late President Ford and Vice President Mondale ensured their safety on and off the slopes as they became familiar faces around the Vail Valley.
    “Sarge was a wonderful human being from the remarkable World War II generation—The Greatest Generation—and he worked with so many others to make Vail the greatest ski mountain,” Mondale said.
    John Garnsey, the executive vice president of Vail Resorts Mountain Division and CEO of Beaver Creek, said anyone who worked with Brown would be deeply saddened by his passing.
    “Sarge is recognized for setting the bar for mountain operations for Vail and Beaver Creek, a standard of perfection which the resorts still aspire to today,” Garnsey said. “ … We will honor his legacy.”

    — The Associated Press contributed to this story