Olympic Medalist Jimmie Heuga Dies

Pepi Stiegler won the race, the 1964 Olympic slalom at Innsbruck, Austria. And Billy Kidd won silver. But perhaps no medal was more important than the bronze medal won by Jimmie Heuga.

Buddy Werner and Kidd became the American heroes of the sport in the sixties when skiing was booming and Norway’s Stein Eriksen and the charismatic Jean-Claude Killy were spreading the charms of skiing throughout the world and especially in the United States.

The medal gave Heuga credibility.

He was an unlikely athletic hero. Of Basque descent, about 5’6″ and maybe 140lbs he did not reflect the same appeal of  Eriksen or Killy. But the very traits that had propelled the son of a ski lift operator to that Olympic medal – the first U.S. male, along with Kidd, to win an alpine Olympic medal of any color – the grittiness, the toughness, the resiliency, those traits would prove invaluable both to Heuga and to the thousands he would inspire.

Jimmie Heuga was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis while he was still competing.

The medal gave him credibility and so did the MS, because Jimmie Heuga never gave up anything willingly. In that Olympic race he was a second-seed skier facing two beat-up courses in a day when every skier’s run sliced the surface, but despite that handicap he persevered. When he learned he had MS he also persevered and continued to work out, continued to ski as much as was possible, helping to pioneer what we now know as adaptive skiing. He became an icon in the world of MS, the very figurehead of the philosophy of using physical activity, goal-setting and motivation to minimize the effects of the disease. 

He used his celebrity to spearhead a battle, founding the Heuga Center for Multiple Sclerosis, a foundation dedicated to creating “innovative lifestyle empowerment programs.” It is now called Can Do Multiple Sclerosis and helps those with the illness concentrate on what they can do to improve their lives.

Jimmy Heuga has been named both to several athletic Halls of Fame, and in 2008, the Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame.

Monday, Feb. 4, Jimmy Heuga died at the age of 66 exactly 46 years after winning that Olympic medal.

“He was the personification of determination and never giving up – he inspired so many people,” said Kidd, the man who stood beside Heuga on that Olympic podium. “Jimmie’s accomplishments on the race course will forever be remembered. But it is his accomplishments and drive in the fight against MS that will continue to help so many people live their lives. His life is an inspiration.”

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Jimmie Heuga Endowment Fund, 27 Main Street East, Suite 303, Edwards, CO 81632. Details on services are pending.

Image: Jimmie Heuga and Billy Kidd at the Audi Birds of Prey World Cup last December in Beaver Creek. (USSA)