Ed Champagne - Canadian Ski Hall of Fame member

Ed Champagne, Canadian Ski Team manager and promoter, died February 9 in Ottawa, Ontario, at age 96.

Born in St. Anne, Manitoba, Champagne began his career as junior chairman of the Manitoba Ski Division, promoting the Nancy Greene Ski League program. Beginning in 1961, he served on a Parks Canada committee that led to the development of Mount Agassiz, and then on a Manitoba provincial government committee that launched the Falcon Ridge Ski Slopes area.

In 1969, Champagne was hired as manager of the national ski team, based out of the Alpine Canada offices in Montreal. He moved with the team to Ottawa in 1972. Champagne was an integral part of the Crazy Canucks’ rise in popularity, as ski racing boomed in Canada in the 1970s and 80s. He was inducted into the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame in 1995.