"Aude Volare" -- Dare to Fly!
New Heights, Online
the electronic newsletter of
Eastern U.S. Ski Jumping
Spring 2005 Issue
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"We Can Make the Podium"
By Nick Fairall, age sixteen
The morning
of the event, we knew that we had a good shot at making it on the podium. Cooper, Alex, Fuzzy and I got together when we arrived at the hill to warm up. We talked about what we needed to do. Our plan was simple: jump as far as you can and land; although it sounded easy, it was harder than one expected. The conditions kept getting warmer and the snow got wetter. The conditions were always different for each jump. I told Alex, Andrew and Cooper to just think of it as training and not to get too excited. We were all able to calm ourselves down until Matt Cook came up and said to us that we have a good chance at taking home the Gold. The nerves started back up once we realized that we could win. As we went up to take our jumps, we listened carefully to each other's distances, determining how far we needed to jump. For the first competition round; Cooper, Alex, and Andrew each had great jumps of 63, 67, and 69.5 meters. I jumped 73 meters but I dragged, which counted as a fall. We were in second place after the first round. We headed back up for our second and final jump. I heard everyone's jumps over the loud speakers and knew I had to jump far. I jumped 70 meters, not quite far enough to take home the gold but we got second place. We achieved our goal of getting on the podium. At the awards banquet, we knew that we had done well; we knew we were on the podium. When we walked up to the podium, there was an excitement that filled the air. When the slver medals were placed around our necks, we knew that we had accomplished what we came to do.
Eastern Ski Jumping/NC Personality profile
Tracy Lamb
By Larry Stone
New Heights will be running articles from time to time profiling personalities who are important to Eastern Ski Jumping but whose real connection to and benefit to our sport might not be fully acknowledged. The first of these profiles will be Tracy Lamb, the legendary associate Director of the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center. Anyone who has ever spent time at the U.S. OTC in Lake Placid has undoubtedly had contact with Tracy. Athletes and coaches alike tremble at the thought of having to make an appearance in “Tracy jail” over a problem or mistake involving usage of the OTC. I myself have spent many occasions in Tracy jail, as have countless others, but I wonder how many of our community really know Tracy’s connection to and the benefits he has brought to our Eastern program.
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I have
known Tracy since the mid 60’s when I enjoyed the hospitality of the Lamb family on the countless occasions when I was in Lake Placid training or competing. Tracy’s mother and father, Vern and Winnie, have been extremely active in the Nordic world for many years and were driving forces in bringing the 1980 Olympics to Lake Placid. Vernon is in the USSA Ski Hall of Fame and Winnie is likewise in the Lake Placid Hall of fame for her long standing work for Nordic skiing.
Vern and Winnie have four offspring including Tracy, his brother Joe who was a member of the 1972 Olympic Team as a Nordic Combined athlete and is currently a FIS Committee member, a FIS Official and a driving force in US and International Nordic Skiing, Carol who works at Paul Smith’s College and Tommy who is a well known carpenter in the Lake Placid area.
Tracy, with tongue firmly in cheek, often refers to his notoriety as Joe’s brother, but it is true that these two brothers have had far reaching effects on all of our lives, many times without people even knowing it. Joe runs the Lamb family business, Lamb Lumber, and is an active force at the Olympic and FIS level in Jumping and Nordic Combined and will be the subject of a later profile himself, but for now I want to focus on Tracy’s role as a supporter of Eastern ski jumping.
As a youngster growing up in Lake Placid Tracy was a part of the famous Lake Placid Junior Jumping Team coached by John Viscome and Bud Colby in the mid 60’s. Tracy continued Nordic skiing as a biathlete into the 80’s and began coaching for the US Biathalon Team in 87-88. In 1988 Tracy moved to Calgary as a coach for the Canadian Biathalon time through the 1992 Albertville Olympics. In 1992 the new Lake Placid Olympic Training center was completed and Tracy was hired as Operations Manager. He has now become the Associate Director of the OTC under Director Jack Favro. At this point in time Tracy coordinates all sports programs at the OTC including training activities and access to the Lake Placid sports venues, transportation, medical issues, public information and media, marketing, etc and keeping things coordinated with a myriad of National Governing bodies and the home offices of the US Olympic Committee in Colorado Springs.
Outside of the world of winter sports another facet of Tracy’s versatility is his long interest and participation in the theatre world. He has been involved in several local productions at the Pendragon Theater and the Lake Placid Center for the Arts and is in a current production slated for the center this summer. He and his wife Alicia are the parents of two children, Colden and Kaleigh, and Tracy is also a member of the Lake Placid School Board.
Most people who come and go at the OTC only know Tracy as the force to be reckoned with when things go wrong, but the fact remains that when things go right, Tracy is the force behind the scenes which keeps things running smoothly as well. In addition, as the Eastern program has grown more successful in the past few years, a great deal of credit must go to Tracy for allowing our group of jumpers to utilize the OTC as our base of operations for both warming up, technical work, strength and conditioning and as a home base for our many camps and competitions. Behind the smoke and fire that can be associated with “Tracy jail”, we all owe Mr. Lamb (and the USOC) a huge debt of gratitude for the opportunities that have been made available to us. Without the resources of the OTC we would not be able to have as good a program as we currently do. Many thanks, Tracy. See you at the OTC. ( and hopefully not in Tracy Jail!)
Galen Sayward delivers
The OFFICIAL LINE
Just a few thoughts and items from the 'faces in the square windows'.
We could not
leave this season without remembering the great life of Art Tokle, Sr. As the youngest of a large family. Art survived the many pitfalls of growing up with many brothers and sisters telling him what and how to do it. Being a true Norge, he figured out what worked best for him and went on to become one of the world's top ski jumpers during the middle part of the 20th century. As his competition days began to wane, he became a Style Judge and worked at many of the top facilities in the world. One of his last events was the 2002 Olympics in Park City, Utah. We are privileged to have worked with him and known him as a vibrant member of our Association. We would also like to congratulate Jack Phelps and Ken Barker who have achieved Style Judge Status with the Eastern Ski Jumping/ Nordic Combined Officials Association. Joe Holland and Fred Baker have been nominated to membership, both having credentials as Chiefs of Competition. They will work their way through the protocol of becoming Style Judges and then both hope to take the test to become Technical Delegates.
As we look forward to next season, our Association has the following officials: Dan Warner, 1st VP; Peter Claus, 2nd VP; Ted Chivers, Sec; Mike Sayward, Treasurer; and Galen Sayward, President. Dan has also been designated as the Chairman of the Assignment committee, with Galen as his associate. Dan will be making all of the assignments for the ensuing season for the East, and in conjunction with Galen will nominate from our membership to the National Committee for national events.
Our thoughts for the jumpers is to:
Slide Efficiently, Fly Well, and Touch Down with Style
Galen Sayward, Chairman of the Eastern Jump and Nordic Officials
Association
NEWS & NOTES
- Congratulations to Eastern Head Coach
Larry Stone for being named USSA's
2004-05 Ski Jumping Coach of the Year!
- Bring it on!
Lebanon, NH prepares to host the
US Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Junior Olympics
February 28-March 5, 2006. Let's Go, East!
- Let's Do it Again!
World Cup B Nordic Combined events will return to
Lake Placid, NY December 20-21, 2005.
- Ski Jumping Coach Needed in Alaska.
Contact Mike Jokela at PO Box 231331, Anchorage, AK, 99523
or e-mail at mikejokela@lantechi.com
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GENERATIONS of
EXCELLENCE
The ESJ&NC Foundation, Inc. is
participating in a campaign called
LEAVE A LEGACY.
Its simple message is that we can all make a difference in the
lives that follow with a charitable gift in our will.
For more information about including a charitable bequest in your
will contact your legal or financial advisor or the
LEAVE A LEGACY NH/VT program
c/o Upper Valley Planned
Giving Council,
PO Box 974, Hanover, NH 03755.
THANK YOU
for helping to continue Eastern Ski Jumping
& Nordic Combined’s
GENERATIONS OF EXCELLENCE
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THANK YOU,
to the families of Art Devlin and Art Tokle, Sr., for your
kind designations of memorial gifts on behalf of ESJ&NC. These
gifts will help ensure another generation of excellence.
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A New Heights Online Extra
Notes on Three Former Ski Jumpers
On August 31, we received this update on Chris Jones:
"Chris has entered UNH after a year jumping in Coleraine with the
Central Division team and being coached there by Martin Bayer. He also
coached the Mt. Itasca J-4 & J-5 jumpers while there, had a job working at the Itasca ski complex, and did the surveying work for the installation of their new poma lift. Quite a growing experience for him. He now is concentrating on his studies in Athletic Training, and resuming his own training as a 110 meter High hurdler, and 400 meter runner for the UNH track team." (from Martin Jones)
And during the summer we received a note about Marshal Ambros:
"Marshall stopped ski jumping in 2003 and now concentrates as a nordic specialist. He has attended nordic special Junior Nationals 2004 and 2005 with great results. He will attend UVM this fall after graduating from Burke Mtn. Academy."
And in May, with the weather warming and the sap rising, the local paper reported that streakers had been observed at staid old Williams College. The reported incident was a visit by two freshmen to the lecture of long-time Williams College Art Professor Eva Grudin. Two naked students barged into her lecture hall, struck a quick pose for the 150 students there, and ran out.
The students laughed, then applauded. "It's hard to get your bearings back
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Andy Whinery (left) and Morgan Goodwin,
ready to pop in on an art class
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and continue with your lecture after that," said Grudin.
The semi-organized streakers club, the Springstreakers, was the brainchild of freshmen Morgan Goodwin and Andy "Tex" Whinery who made their first nude dash through a freshman dormitory in December and, by May, had staged about a dozen surprise streaks on the Williams campus. The founders say that they do not condone drunken streaking.
Grudin, who began lecturing at Williams in 1971, summed up her reaction: "I was saddened to see only the backsides, but they were nice backsides."
"Aude Volare" -- Dare to Fly!
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"Aude Volare" -- Dare to Fly!
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