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The Man on the Medal Book: The Life & Times of America's First Great Ski Racer

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Product Code: BOOK-DURRANCE

Description

In 1934 a skiing little high school kid from Florida turned up in New England and began winning ski races by enormous margins. Most American skiers were still struggling to master the basics of downhill skiing, leaving racing to European experts. Dick Durrance, on his way to Dartmouth College, showed then that it was possible to beat those experts. America was about to take its rightful place in international ski racing, and Dick Durrance was the fellow who put us there.

He would go on to become four-time collegiate champion, leader of out first Olympic alpine team in 1936, winner of 17 national titles, and three-time winner of the Harriman Cup, at that time America's most prestigious ski race.

In later years he played a major role in the development of the Ski resorts at Sun Valley, Alta, and Aspen, developing along the way his own ski technique, the rambunctious "Dipsy-Doodle" that anticipated modern ski-teaching methods by several decades.

He put Aspen on the map by bringing to the United States its first major international alpine competition, the 1950 FIS Wold Championships, and served as Chief of Race for the 1960 Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley, California.

Along the way he married nationally known photographer Margaret Jennings Durrance, fathered two sons, and became an internationally acclaimed film maker.

Dick Durrance's lifetime involvement with skiing virtually spans the history of that sport in America. The Man on the Medal tells, with great good humor, his adventuresome story. As told by John Jerome and richly illustrated with 200 of Miggs and Dick Durrance's remarkable photos, the book invites you to share their adventures. 1st edition, published 1995.

Hard Cover 177 pages, 10 x 11 1/2 inches.