Saturday, February 15, 2025

EP 110 Frank Deboise - America's First Black Certified Ski Instructor and Still Working at 90!

 

New Hampshire 


Secrets, Legends & Lore

Featured on the NH Center for Public Interest Journalism - InDepthNH.org


Frank Deboise: America's First Certified Black Ski Instructor

The Birth of Freestyle Skiing at Waterville Valley Series

From Anamaki Chronicles and InDepthNH.org

Frank Deboise USA's First African American Ski Instructor

Listen here:
https://feeds.podetize.com/HGW31ThDn.mp3

EP 110 Frank Deboise - America's First Black Certified Ski Instructor and Still Working at 90!

An interview for a special Birth of Freestyle at Waterville Valley podcast series from Anamaki's Winter Warrior Studios and InDepthNH.org


In this historic interview New Hampshire Secrets, Legends & Lore podcast host Wayne King chats with Frank Deboise the very first African American certified ski instructor in the US. Certified at Mount Snow in Vermont, Frank was hired away by Tom Corcoran at Waterville Valley as an instructor in the Waterville Valley Black & Blue Trail Smashers racing program. 

This interview was particularly meaningful to Wayne because Frank was his coach when Wayne was a 10-year-old aspiring racer (before he fell in love with freestyle, of course). Frank also bought his first ski home from Roger and Roberta King, Wayne's mom and dad, in the town of Campton. 

Frank's son Tony was a great racer who actually led the family to Waterville when he entered a competition for a scholarship in the Waterville Racing program. For the next two years, Tony would live with Tom Corcoran and his wife Birdie so that he could go to the Waterville Academy Tutorial School (lovingly referred to as the "Tute School") and ski in the afternoons. Frank would live in Worchester during



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