"Aude Volare" -- Dare to Fly!
New Heights, Online
the electronic newsletter of
Eastern U.S. Ski Jumping
Spring 2004 Issue
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Between
the
Colors
...
by Dan "Mouse" Warner
Think good thoughts...
This was one winter I will not soon forget. The season for snowmaking
started off slow as the weather didn't change until Dec. 1st. Then came two huge
snow storms followed by heavy rains right after each storm. It was a very trying
time. Anyway, after cleaning up those messes, things got going. January was a cold
month. I remember Don West telling me how the event round ups for our website went.
Meets were cancelled for being too warm… then too cold. Again, very strange.
Traveling was another escapade in itself. It seemed that Chicago was in a world of
it's own. I met the Eastern Junior Olympic Team en route to Anchorage, Alaska. We were
all stuck in the Windy City. As usual the Eastern sites tried their hardest to get jumps
ready and hold events the best they could. Sometimes everything goes great and other times
it's a challenge to pull it off. To all those involved, thanks for your help!!
As we look to next season, the hope is that some of the sites will continue to improve
their venues. Salisbury for one, installed a new staircase and snowboard on the landing
which brought up the knoll and that hill flies much better now. Just ask Jonathon Kling,
winner of this year’s event. Gunstock is looking to design a new K55 ski jump for the
upcoming 2006 Junior Olympics. Solid work Geoff Howe. Many plans are layed out all over
the East and everyone is seeking funding to keep the plans moving foreword.
The East has a good program going with a variety of different people working very hard to
keep things moving in the right direction. I do however get concerned when I hear " I can't
wait to get out of here and go out West". That seems to be a frequent cry these day's. Keep
in mind, we plan on Ski Jumping on snow before the Utah Olympic Park in Park City, Utah
this winter. You will get as much out of any endeavor as you put into it.
Sometimes the forces are not in line. We need to keep trying to improve our programs,
sites and events. -- Mouse
First jump on a K90 in the U.S. for the 2004
summer goes to David McCahill of Lake Placid.
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Proctor Academy's Nick Fairall
flying high in Salisbury, CT
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THANK YOU to Our Sponsors!
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our donors; our parents; our volunteers; our coaches and those who know, in their hearts,
that we have not forgotten them.
Art Devlin
, Olympian, National Champion, 1922-2004
Art Devlin flies 405 feet at Oberstdorf in 1952
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Art Devlin, 1952 Olympian
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On April 22nd, 2004 Art Devlin of Lake Placid N.Y. passed away after a long bout
with cancer. He was 81 years old. Art was the country’s most famous ski jumper, chosen
for five U.S. Olympic Teams.
During WW-II, as a Army Air Corps bombardier, he flew 50 missions in Europe, after which he earned his pilot's wings.*
Donations to the Eastern Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Fund
in memory of Art Devlin can be sent to:
8 New John Brown Rd.,
Lake Placid N.Y. 12946, c/o Larry Stone: Art Devlin Fund: ESJ, NC Foundation
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A local motel owner in Lake Placid, he was also a T.V. commentator for CBS and ABC.
Art served on many committees including Vice President of the 1980 Olympic Games
Organizing Committee. He was a legend.
Devlin competed at a time when most of the very best ski jumpers in North America had learned
their skills in Norway. In addition, organizers of high level competitions regularly
reinforced their start lists by importing European stars. In many competitions, Art Devlin was the top U.S. finisher, placing close
behind foreign skiers such as Olympic gold medalists Petter Hugsted and Birger Ruud or immigrant stars
such as the amazing Alf Engen and the immortal Torger Tokle. Art won the U.S. National Championships in 1946, breaking a
string of at least ten foreign-born champions.
Art was chosen for the 1940 U.S. Olympic Team, but those Games were canceled due to World War II.
After the war, he qualified for the 1948 Games in St. Moritz but suffered an injury which
kept him from competing. Devlin went on to compete it two Olympics, finishing 15th
in the 90-meter jump in the 1952 Oslo Games, and 21st at the 1956 Olympics in Cortina, Italy.*
He was inducted into the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame in 1963.
Movie-star handsome, Devlin enjoyed a brief flirtation with Hollywood, but his long lasting media
role was as ski jumping color commentator for 21 years on ABC Wide World of Sports.
Art loved his country and his home town and, traveling the world as an athlete and later as a TV personality,
he never missed an opportunity to promote Lake Placid.
Note -- the material above came from several sources, but a dependable
record of Devlin's accomplishments has been hard to assemble because of substantial differences
between different articles and obituary notices. Art was a member of two, or three, or four, or
even five Olympic teams (as claimed above), depending on what source we read. ORDA tells us that
Devlin was a four-time national champion and this was repeated in several obituaries while others
report only his 1946 crown ( see list of champions ).
During the war, Art was either a pilot or a bombardier, again depending on what source we believe.
Art Devlin was a legend, but it appears that the legend continued to grow after he hung up his jumping skis.
We would welcome any documented facts and will edit this article appropriately.
[ Submit facts now ]
* Author James D. Long has told us Art's war record, and that Art was also chosen for the 1960 Olympic Team, but "he gave up his spot in 1960 to go into the broadcast booth."
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"Aude Volare" -- Dare to Fly!
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"Aude Volare" -- Dare to Fly!
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