Since 2002, the Vermont Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame has recognized more than sixty athletes, pioneers and contributors who have made skiing or riding history in Vermont. Five new inductees will be celebrated at an Induction Ceremony presented by Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum on October 27, 2018 at Killington Grand Resort Hotel. They include Foster Chandler, Dennis Donahue, Hannah Kearney, Paul Johnston, and Janet and Brad Mead, each changed skiing and snowboarding in Vermont and beyond while maintaining Vermont's reputation as a breeding ground for athletes and industry pioneers. Peter Oliver will be presented with the Paul Robbins Journalism Award. The First Tracks Award will be presented to Kelly Brush Davisson. Killington Resort will be honored with a new Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum Community Award.
"We are proud to celebrate the impact of these individuals on Nordic and alpine skiing, and snowboarding, plus the overall culture of the sports," said Museum Executive Director Deb Taylor. "The Killington Grand is the perfect location for the recognition of these athletes and special contributors from central Vermont."
As an avid promoter of the values inherent in alpine skiing, Foster Chandler was an integral figure in bringing the sport of skiing to the public at large. From 1964 to 1996 he was Vice President and Director of Marketing of Killington Ski Area where he helped grow Killington into one of the largest ski areas in the country. He spearheaded the mass marketing of the Graduated Length Method that revolutionized the way people learned to ski, resulting in the major growth of the sport in the 70s and 80s. He was founder and President of Ski New England, Director of New England Ski Areas Council for 46 years, and for 8 years was Chairman of the Vermont Travel Council, and member of the Vermont and National Ski Area Associations marketing committees. Foster has skied 196 ski areas.
Biathlete Olympian Dennis Donahue grew up in Essex Junction, went to Middlebury College, and currently resides in Thetford. He raced internationally from 1968 to 1976, representing the Putney Ski Club. He competed in the 1972 and 1976 Olympics. He participated in five World Biathlon Championships. After seven years teaching and coaching at the Holderness School, he has spent 30-plus years dedicated to the development of competitive junior skiing in New England at the Ford Sayre program at both national and regional levels, and was actively involved with Junior Olympics.
Freestyle mogul skier, Olympic and World Championship medals winner, Hannah Kearney grew up in Norwich, attended Hanover High, and graduated from Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah. With 117 World Cup starts, she was on the podium seventy-one times, winning forty-six events. During the 2010/11 and 2011/12 seasons, she won a record-setting sixteen World Cups in a row. Over her career, Hannah competed in three Olympic Games (2006, 2010, 2014) winning a gold medal in Vancouver and a bronze in Sochi. She also won eight World Championship medals, three gold; and ten F.I.S. World Cup crystal globes.
Industry pioneer Paul Johnston accumulated many "firsts" in his thirty years of ski resort management to his credit, most notably as Vice President of Stratton Mountain where he opened the slopes to snowboarders and staged the U.S. Open of Snowboarding at Stratton starting in 1985. Keeping in step with the growth of snowboarding he brought in specialized Bombardier grooming equipment, including a pipe grinder, Stratton was able to introduce halfpipe events at the 1998 U.S. Open. As the number of riders at areas quickly grew, he was instrumental in helping other resorts navigate best practices for instructors, equipment, and liability. He also worked at Bromley Mountain, installing snowmaking and the first alpine slide in the 1970's.
Pico Peak founders Janet and Brad Mead opened their ski area in Rutland on Thanksgiving Day 1937 with a rope tow on Little Pico. In 1938, Sunset Schuss opened on a hike-up basis, and Karl Acker came from Switzerland as the Ski School Director. The Meads installed the first T-bar in the US in 1940. Janet ran the ski area until 1954 after Brad's tragic death in 1942 focusing on youth programs as their daughter Andrea Mead Lawrence succeeded internationally in ski racing, winning two Olympic gold medals in 1952.
Three additional special awards will be presented:
Waitsfield's Peter Oliver will receive the Paul Robbins Journalism Award in recognition of his contributions to ski writing. He is the author of seven books, including Stowe: Classic New England (Winner of the 2005 Ullr Award from the International Ski History Association) and The Insider's Guide to the Best Skiing in New England and more than 150 feature articles for Skiing, Ski, Outside, Ski Vermont, Powder, Ski Area Management, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, USA Today, and many other publications.
This year, Kelly Brush Davisson will receive the First Tracks Award, which honors exceptional and ongoing contributions made to skiing or snowboarding in Vermont by someone under 35. This award is given in memory of Ian Graddock, a Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum Board member and lifelong skier who passed away in 2016 at the age of 35. After Kelly suffered a spinal cord injury in 2006 in a ski race, Kelly and her family founded the Kelly Brush Foundation, which started as a commitment to ski racing safety and has expanded to support people with spinal cord injuries to lead an active lifestyle.
Killington Resort will receive the first VTSSM Community Award. The award recognizes a group or organization within the skiing and riding community that is making a significant and unique contribution to further Vermont's place in skiing and snowboarding history. The Museum celebrates Killington for bringing world class skiing competition to Vermont by hosting the F.I.S. Alpine Women's World Cup in 2016, 2017, and 2018.
The Vermont Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame Induction honors the Class of 2018 and is open to all. The dinner event includes a reception and awards ceremony highlighting each inductee's achievements with a short biographical film and award presentations and silent auction. Tickets are available on-line via https://vtssm2018hof.brownpapertickets.com/ or visit www.vtssm.com for more information or contact Deb Taylor, Executive Director, 802-253-9911 ext. 202 or [email protected].
The Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to collect, preserve and celebrate Vermont skiing and snowboarding history. The museum is located at the corner of Vermont Routes 100 and 108 in Stowe village and is open 12-5 daily, except for Tuesdays. Events such as the Annual Hall of Fame induction, donations and tax deductible individual and business memberships allow the museum to fulfill its mission.
The Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum thrives by collecting, preserving, and celebrating Vermont's skiing and snowboarding history. The Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum is a 501c3 non-profit organization that welcomes visitors from around the world to share, to reminisce, and to enjoy the collections and their stories. The museum creates visually stimulating and historically in-depth exhibits, along with year-round educational programming and statewide community events.