Lives

William Kirschner, K2 founder

Bill Kirschner
Passing Date: April 23, 2006

Vashon, Wash. -- H. William Kirschner, 87, the founder of K2 Corp., died April 23, 2006, of pneumonia. Bill Kirschner was born in Seattle in 1918 and graduated in 1939 from the University of Washington with a degree in engineering. He married Barbara Rankin, and spent the war years managing a mine...

Burt Sims, award-winning ski journalist

Burt Sims
Passing Date: February 1, 2006

Born in Los Angeles in 1918, Burt Sims began his career as newspaperman in 1934 when, at age 15, “Boys Day in Industry” brought him to the city room of the Los Angeles Examiner. While a senior at Washington High, he was hired to report high-school sports scores. Burt spent the next 40 years in...

Otto Lang, pioneer skier and film-maker

Otto Lang
Passing Date: January 30, 2006

Otto Lang died January 30, 2006 at age 98. Born in Zenica, Bosnia in 1908, Otto was educated and learned to ski in Salzburg, then taught skiing at Semmering near Vienna. In 1929 he was hired by Hannes Schneider to work in the St. Anton Ski School. In 1935 Schneider delegated Otto to travel to New...

David Rowan, magazine pioneer

David Rowan
Passing Date: June 10, 2005

  David Rowan, founder of the industry’s trade publication Ski Area Management (SAM Magazine) died on Wednesday, June 8, 2005 from a rare cancer, mesothelioma. Rowan joined Ski Magazine in 1949 as associate editor, and over the next dozen years he managed the magazine in a variety of publishing...

Clif Taylor, GLM pioneer

Clif Taylor
Passing Date: May 7, 2005

Clif Taylor, inventor of the Shortee ski and the Graduated Length Method of ski instruction, died in 2005  in Evergreen, Colorado, at age 83. Taylor was a veteran of the 10th Mountain Division, and was wounded during the battle for Riva Ridge. Taylor, a ski instructor at the Mad River Ski School in...

Art Tokle, Hall of Fame jumper

Art Tokle
Passing Date: May 7, 2005

Art Tokle, jumper and coach Olympic ski jumper and coach Art Tokle, Sr. died on March 3, 2005 at age 82, sixty years to the day after his brother, world champion Torger Tokle, was killed while fighting with the 10th Mountain Division near Iola, Italy. Arthur Tokle was born in Lokken-Verk, Norway,...

Pope John Paul II, Polish skier

John Paul II
Passing Date: April 6, 2005

John Paul II: Lifelong skier With the passing of Karol Wojtyla, the sport has lost its most exalted devotee. A lifelong skier, the pontiff sneaked off to the hills as long as his health permitted. He was shot in 1981, which enforced a temporary layoff, and quit for good after the 1987 season, nine...

Honore Bonnet, legendary French coach

Bonnet Honore
Passing Date: February 22, 2005

Honore Bonnet lived to be 85 Legendary coach trained the great French teams of the '60s.. PRA-LOUP, France -- Honore Bonnet, the fireplug tough guy who led the French team from 1959 to 1968,  retired after Jean-Claude Killy's triple victory at the Grenoble Olympics. In addition to Killy, Bonnet's...

Leif Odmark, Sun Valley nordic icon

Leif Odmark
Passing Date: June 24, 2004

Leif Odmark, Sun Valley's nordic icon By Dick Dorworth Leif Odmark, often affectionately referred to as "Mr. Sun Valley" and one of the legends of cross-country skiing, died in Boise at the age of 84.  Born in Sweden in 1920, Odmark was the eldest son of a Swedish father and a Norwegian mother, but...

Dick Durrance, American skiing icon

Dick Durrance
Passing Date: June 14, 2004

By Morten Lund America's first skiing superstar, Dick Durrance, died in Carbondale, Colorado of natural causes on June 1, 2003 at the age of 89. Durrance broke into national prominence by placing 8th in the slalom and 10th in alpine combined at the 1936 Winter Olympics at Garmisch-Partenkirchen,...