2019 Vermont Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame inductees named

This year's Hall of Fame inductees are Craftsbury's Nordic skiing pioneer John Brodhead, legendary snowboard innovator, J.G. Gerndt of Stowe, Jeff Hastings, Olympic ski jumper and TV commentator from Norwich,  Olympic and World Cup alpine skier Doug Lewis, Ann "Nosedive Annie" Bonfoey Taylor, 1940 Olympic alpine team member and ski fashionista. The Paul Robbins award for journalism is going to ski writer and author, Peggy Shinn, of Rutland. The First Tracks Award will be presented to Tim Kelley, of Cochran's Ski Area.

Since 2002, the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame has recognized more than 70 people who have made history in snowsports in our state. The purpose of the Hall of Fame is to honor athletes, special contributors, and pioneers of Vermont skiing who promoted and/or contributed to the sport of skiing and riding in Vermont; to document the histories of Inductees in the Museum's collection; and to recognize their accomplishments through the Induction ceremony and the Hall of Fame exhibit. The Hall of Fame committee looks at candidates in three categories: Athletes, Pioneers, and Special Contributors.

 

John Brodhead skied four events at Vermont Academy ('62) - slalom, downhill, cross country and jumping, and raced at Middlebury College. In 1979 he began directing Craftsbury Outdoor Center's ski program. There he developed an extensive trail system and started numerous ski programs for youth and adults including the Bill Koch and summer training programs. He founded and organized the Craftsbury Marathon, one of the most popular ski marathons in the country. Today, winners of the Marathon are awarded the John Brodhead Award. Brodhead founded the Craftsbury Nordic Ski Club in 1997, modeled on the Scandinavian multi-generational ski training design. For 38 years as Director of the COC, John touched the lives of countless skiers.

 

 

From Norwich, VT, Hastings first made the National Ski Jumping Team while at Williams College. After successful finishes at the 1983 World Cup in Lake Placid he qualified for the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia where he placed fourth. A mere 1.7 points from bronze - his result has remained the best American Olympic ski jumping finish since Anders Haugen at the inaugural games, sixty years earlier. Hasting has served as a ski jumping TV analyst for every Winter Game since 1988. In 2009 he worked with other jumpers to found USA Ski Jumping, now USA Nordic Sports. He started the "Story Project" which solicits stories from jumpers past, present and future, which now archives 200 stories.

 

Doug Lewis, encouraged by his mother who was a ski instructor at Middlebury Snow Bowl, was on skis by the age of three. By age ten he was hooked on ski racing and had already set his sights on the Olympics. He went on to become a two-time U.S. National Champion ('86), a two-time member the U.S. World Championship team and became the first American male ever to win a medal in the downhill at the World Championships, and a two-time Olympian ('84, '88). He has continued as a tireless advocate for skiing and ski racing and is actively involved in every level of the ski industry as a broadcaster, TV host, ski celebrity, motivational speaker, product consultant, spokesperson, journalist, coach and fitness trainer. For over 25 years, he has run ELITEAM camps and clinics, designed to inspire and educate young ski racers. He's a former Green Mountain Valley School ski academy student.

 

Ann "Nosedive Annie" Bonfoey Taylor (1910-2007)

Peggy Shinn - Paul Robbins Award

Peggy Shinn of Rutland, grew up and learned to ski in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom and began writing about the sport in 1997. She began by covering local skiing for the Rutland Herald and soon was contributing to just about every ski publication in North America, including Ski Racing, Skiing, SKI, and Ski Press, as well as several other newspapers and websites. In 2008, she became a founding writer for TeamUSA.org and since then, has covered five Olympic Games. In 2018, two weeks after Shinn's book, World Class: The Making of the U.S. Women's Cross-Country Ski Team, hit the shelves, Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins won the first U.S. Olympic gold medal in cross-country skiing. The book chronicles the history of women's Nordic skiing in the U.S. and how the women built a team that could compete on the world stage. The Paul Robbins Award is given in honor of ski journalist Paul Robbins for excellence in snow sports writing.

 

Tim Kelley - First Tracks Award

Despite an injury-riddled alpine racing career, former U.S. National Team member, and UVM collegiate racer, Tim Kelley has made the most of his skiing career. After being dropped from the National Team in 2010 and undergoing multiple surgeries, Kelley was determined to re-enter the international scene. With his brother Robby and others, he pioneered a path to continue competing at an elite level, despite not having National Team support, by founding "Redneck Racing". He was re-named to the National Team and had his best World Cup results in 2016 before retiring, undergoing another surgery, and finishing at UVM. He continues to inspire and motivate young skiers with his energy and competitive integrity, and by playing an active role at Cochran's Ski Area with the maintenance, grooming and mowing of the ski and mountain bike trail systems. As a member of the renowned Cochran ski racing family, he serves on the Board of Cochran's Ski Area and strives to promote the ski area's mission "to provide area youth and families with affordable skiing and snowboarding, lessons and race training, in the Cochran tradition." Kelley volunteers with Vermont Special Olympics and as the Pace Biker for the Hand Cyclists at the Burlington Marathon. The First Tracks Award is presented to a skier or snowboarder under 35 who is making a difference by contributing and enriching skiing or snowboarding in Vermont and/or beyond. Awardees will serve to provide models for future generations to emulate. It is given in honor of former VTSSM Board Member and lifelong skier Ian Graddock who passed away at 35.