 |
| Frank DeBoise and John "JD" Nelson |
EP 113 The Birth of Freestyle Skiing at Waterville Valley
Part 2 - The Mentors & Protectors
https://feeds.podetize.com/ep/h9zwlyIsg/media
https://www.anamaki.com/art-productions/podcasts/new-hampshire-secrets-legends-lore
A brief note about accompanying interview podcasts
You will note throughout this series that we refer the listener to accompanying podcast interviews with some of the key players. The people we have interviewed come from a wide range of ages. Their range of tech knowledge is at times, limited. Often they could only be interviewed by telephone, so the technical quality of the interview varies - sometimes dramatically. We take responsibility for our own part in this and apologize for any inconvenience it may cause. However, we wanted to make the conversations available for the historical record, irrespective of our own failings. WDKThe excitement and joy of freestyle also had its downside. It was not all rainbows and unicorns.
For those who remember those early days of Freestyle, you may recall that a less-than-healthy competition developed between skiers, racers, hot doggers, and only a few years later snowboarders as well.
A well-known cartoon shows each of the groups disdainfully pointing at the next and uttering “they suck”
In fact, many ski resorts were slow to welcome Freestyle skiing to the mountain. At some ski areas, skiers were having their tickets “pulled” if they were caught doing stunts, even the tamer ballet moves. Today, nearly every mountain has a ski park, especially for Freestyle skiers and boarders.
The early aversion to Freestyle may have been an overreaction but that never happened at Waterville Valley.
Tom Corcoran - a racer and Olympian himself - was determined to be the peacemaker, the bridge from the traditional skiers to the hot doggers.
So, too, was Paul Pfosi, recruited as the first Director of Waterville Valley’s Ski School. Paul was a member of the Swiss National Ski Team, so racing was in his blood, but internecine rivalry within the skiing family was bad for the sport. Paul saw us as a family and he was determined to make sure there was room at the table for everyone. A ruggedly handsome fellow who made friends easily who fit right into the Waterville Vibe and had a sense of humor that was second to none.
 |
| Waterville Valley Ski School |
Here’s Jerry Dunfey telling a fun story about his relationship with Paul Pfosi
Listen to the Interview with Jerry Dunfey here.
Paul was at Waterville for 10 years and then moved on to Mammoth Mountain in California. Shortly after the move he was lost in a plane crash but his memory lingers on among the many friends who so appreciated Pauls efforts to encourage everyone to continue moving ahead together.
The rivalry between racers and hotdoggers was, at least in part, ameliorated by the fact that Waterville’s Freestyle superstars were also members of the Waterville Family. Teaching for the Ski School or covering the Mountain as members of the WV Ski Patrol. Wayne Wong had moved to Waterville in the year following his success in 1971 and was hired by Paul and Tom to coach Freestyle and skiing.
So the superstars of Freestyle at Waterville were either adopted favorite sons like Wayne Wong or George Askevold or were homegrown like Floyd Wilkie. George Askevold who came to Waterville as a traditional instructor had been a medic in Vietnam, his made switching from Ski School to Ski Patrol a seamless transition. After he switched to Ski Patrol George found himself increasingly drawn to the Hotdogging life.
Floyd Wilkie, who had a raft of cousins in the local school systems practically had his own fan club among the kids. He was a much beloved ski instructor and a renowned mogul skier, who inspired local kids with his “mad skills”. Floyd was a first rate Freestyler but he did not particularly like the aerial competitions giving him a bit of a reputation as a “reluctant warrior”.
 |
| Nick Preston |
Here’s Nick Preston with an observation about these complicating factors within the Freestyle movement.
Listen to the Interview with Nick Preston here.
Listen to the Interview with Nick Preston here.
We’ll have more to say about Nick and Suzi Preston, because they played a role as both competitors and mentors in this evolving sport, in this and the third of our three podcasts, but for now we can see that Nick’s optimism in the face of all these challenges contributed to Freestyle’s resurgence.
Like any rapid social change the breakthrough of Freestyle came with complications, in part related to the “wild west’ nature of the entire Freestyle adventure.
There were also those who sought to protect the domain of ski racing as the preeminent form.
So, too, like the “wild west” there were the folks who were looking for ways to capture the wave to their own particular advantage. Most of the Freestylers were young and naive to the ways of the world and it put them in a position where those who had less charitable intentions could take advantage of them.
Further complicating the emergence of Freestyle was a growing concern about the dangers and liabilities associated with the most thrilling and popular event: Aerials.
The changes were happening at a dizzying pace. Ski areas were concerned, Freestylers were being taken advantage of, standards were slow to develop and this put everyone in a precarious position.
The accident at Stratton Mountain that left Dirk Douglass paralyzed was one of several accidents and it had sponsors, insurers and the ski areas themselves deeply concerned about liability and safety.
Tom Corcoran, however, wasn’t missing a step. After all he had the responsibility of developing the ski resort from all angles.
Tom hired a young ski instructor from Mt Snow, Frank DeBoise as an instructor for the ski racing program. Frank, now 90, was the very first Certified African American ski instructor in America.
Here’s a short vignette from my full interview with Frank. See the show notes for the link to the full interview with Frank.
Frank Deboise
Listen to the Interview with Frank Deboise here:
Like any rapid social change the breakthrough of Freestyle came with complications, in part related to the “wild west’ nature of the entire Freestyle adventure.
There were also those who sought to protect the domain of ski racing as the preeminent form.
So, too, like the “wild west” there were the folks who were looking for ways to capture the wave to their own particular advantage. Most of the Freestylers were young and naive to the ways of the world and it put them in a position where those who had less charitable intentions could take advantage of them.
Further complicating the emergence of Freestyle was a growing concern about the dangers and liabilities associated with the most thrilling and popular event: Aerials.
The changes were happening at a dizzying pace. Ski areas were concerned, Freestylers were being taken advantage of, standards were slow to develop and this put everyone in a precarious position.
The accident at Stratton Mountain that left Dirk Douglass paralyzed was one of several accidents and it had sponsors, insurers and the ski areas themselves deeply concerned about liability and safety.
Tom Corcoran, however, wasn’t missing a step. After all he had the responsibility of developing the ski resort from all angles.
Tom hired a young ski instructor from Mt Snow, Frank DeBoise as an instructor for the ski racing program. Frank, now 90, was the very first Certified African American ski instructor in America.
 |
| Frank DeBoise |
Here’s a short vignette from my full interview with Frank. See the show notes for the link to the full interview with Frank.
Frank Deboise
Listen to the Interview with Frank Deboise here:
https://feeds.podetize.com/HGW31ThDn.mp3
Meanwhile, Four other notable families began to make their journey onto the pages of Freestyle Skiing Story: The Sanders Family, headed by NH’s iconic attorney Jack Sanders from the NH Seacoast; The Dunfey Family, the Nelson brothers of Boston and the Preston family, youngest of them all and most recently graduates of Colby College and Ski instructors at Sugarloaf Mountain. Together they would serve as the vanguard of the Mentors and Protectors of the Freestyle Dream.
The Dunfey family, originally from Lowell but by now spread through New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts as they grew the family business from a clamshack on Hampton Beach to one of the nation’s most successful hotel chains were getting into the action, adopting Waterville Valley as their family’s winter resort.
The Dunfeys, who were friends with both Tom Corcoran and the Kennedy Family, had recently added the Parker House hotel in Boston - the nations oldest continually operating hotel in America to its rapidly growing inventory of hotels.
The relationship between the Dunfeys and the Nelson brothers, David and JD, was no accident.
In the 50s and early 60s the Dunfey clan began their entrepreneurial adventure when they leap-frogged from a family lunch counter in Lowell to a clam shack on Hampton Beach, but by the late 60s they had expanded into hotels and then insurance as well. In early 1968 Dunfey Hotels and Insurance purchased the Parker House hotel, the nation's longest-operating hotel - with Jerry as General Manager.
The Dunfeys, who would later go on to play a critical role in the fight to end Apartheid and elect Nelson Mandala President of South Africa as well as helping to bring about the Good Friday Accords and Peace in Northern Ireland, made it their first order of business to open the Parker House to everyone, irrespective of race, color or creed. Parker House became the first hotel in Boston to break the stranglehold of segregation.
The Parker House became ground zero for breaking the color barrier in Boston. Bud, Jack, Jerry, Bob,and Walter were supporting the young African-American candidate David Nelson for congress. Though David did not win his congressional race, he built a very credible reputation in the process of his run and a few years later would be named to the Federal Bench by President Carter. David was ably supported by his brilliant brother John “JD” an investment Banker at State Street Bank who would create a reputation within the business community to rival his brother’s standing in the political community.
JD would go on to be the Treasurer of the National Democratic Party as well as starting a highly successful Finance business, “Rumbline” in Boston. He was a brilliant and genuine businessman and made friends easily. In fact, he was often seen at Waterville with his friends Chip Carter, son of President Carter as well as Jamie Bush, Nephew of President George H.W. Bush.
As I said earlier, The Dunfeys played an integral role in breaking the back of segregation in Boston, but that did not mean that JD and David were free from the slings and arrows of racial animus. But the grace and humor with which they faced these challenges gave their newfound friends at Waterville Valley a confidence in them that helped everyone to rise together.
Hali Beckman, close friends with JD and ultimately life partners related this story to me.
Listen to the Interview with Hali Beckman here
The Dunfeys introduced the Nelson’s to Waterville and it was love from the start. JD would become one of the most important mentors to the young freestyle skiers, stepping in to manage many of them when they were feeling short-changed by early business operators in the Freestyle community.
HERE’S WAYNE WONG SPEAKING ABOUT HIS EVOLVING RELATIONSHIP WITH JD THAT WOULD WREST CONTROL BACK FOR THE FREESTYLERS.
Listen to the Interview with Wayne Wong here
After the accident at Stratton, Freestyle was on the ropes, JD would join Jack Sanders , Bernie Weischel and Nick and Suzi Preston to craft protocols for the safe operation of competitions and to convince a highly skeptical insurance industry to come back to providing coverage for events, with a lot of help from Jerry Dunfey.
Just in the nick of time to save the sport in its most desperate hour of need. . .
HERE’S JERRY AGAIN COMMENTING ON BOTH JD’S MENTORING OF THE FREESTYLERS AND HIS WORK TO HELP BRING INSURERS AND SKI AREAS BACK TO THE TABLE FOR FREESTYLE
JD and Jerry Dunfey became fast friends in those early years and along with Frank Deboise, were known as the Three Musketeers because they were often seen together in Waterville.
So JD Nelson, Jerry Dunfey, Jack Sanders with a lot of help from Bernie Weichel would play a critical role in saving the nascent Freestyle skiing Industry when they, first developed standards and protocols for the safe conduct of Freestyle competitions and then engineered a deal that brought the ski industry, event sponsors and insurance companies back together after a period of panic set off by the accidents that had send them into a panic. Together they crafted protocols that convinced the skittish business community that Freestyle could be made both fun and reasonably safe.
The final piece of the puzzle came a few years later when Nick and Suzi Preston began working with young aspiring freestylers, making sure that the next generation of Freestyle skiers would be trained and equipped to carry the sport forward in a way that minimized the risks and maximized the fun. The result has been an explosion of both the number of new and interesting Freestyle events as well as a huge public interest in the sport, both on the competition side as well as the public side. Freestyle competitions are now the most popular events in the Winter Olympics.
In the final installment of our Birth of Freestyle Skiing series, we’ll focus on the athletes.
Thanks for joining me for New Hampshire Secrets, Legends & Lore. As a reminder, you can hear many of the individual personal interviews that went into the process of creating this series of podcasts by visiting the show note page for each episode, you can also find them in the New Hampshire Secrets, Legends & Lore Podcast sections of your favorite podcast app. You won’t want to miss the interview with Nick Preston available on both audio podcast and YouTube focusing on many of today’s modern Freestyle competitors, the beneficiaries of the enthusiasm and hard work of the earlier generations of competitors.
A special thanks goes out to our friends and sponsors at the New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism who carry these podcasts on the pages of their InDepthNH.org website.
The shownotes can be found at NHSecrets.blogspot.com where you can subscribe, make a contribution or purchase art and merch that helps support the podcast.
Thanks again for joining us on this special series of podcasts on the Birth of Freestyle Skiing at Waterville Valley, we’ll see you again on the next episode of New Hampshire Secrets, Legends & Lore.
Accompanying Interview Podcasts:
Meanwhile, Four other notable families began to make their journey onto the pages of Freestyle Skiing Story: The Sanders Family, headed by NH’s iconic attorney Jack Sanders from the NH Seacoast; The Dunfey Family, the Nelson brothers of Boston and the Preston family, youngest of them all and most recently graduates of Colby College and Ski instructors at Sugarloaf Mountain. Together they would serve as the vanguard of the Mentors and Protectors of the Freestyle Dream.
The Dunfey family, originally from Lowell but by now spread through New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts as they grew the family business from a clamshack on Hampton Beach to one of the nation’s most successful hotel chains were getting into the action, adopting Waterville Valley as their family’s winter resort.
The Dunfeys, who were friends with both Tom Corcoran and the Kennedy Family, had recently added the Parker House hotel in Boston - the nations oldest continually operating hotel in America to its rapidly growing inventory of hotels.
The relationship between the Dunfeys and the Nelson brothers, David and JD, was no accident.
In the 50s and early 60s the Dunfey clan began their entrepreneurial adventure when they leap-frogged from a family lunch counter in Lowell to a clam shack on Hampton Beach, but by the late 60s they had expanded into hotels and then insurance as well. In early 1968 Dunfey Hotels and Insurance purchased the Parker House hotel, the nation's longest-operating hotel - with Jerry as General Manager.
The Dunfeys, who would later go on to play a critical role in the fight to end Apartheid and elect Nelson Mandala President of South Africa as well as helping to bring about the Good Friday Accords and Peace in Northern Ireland, made it their first order of business to open the Parker House to everyone, irrespective of race, color or creed. Parker House became the first hotel in Boston to break the stranglehold of segregation.
The Parker House became ground zero for breaking the color barrier in Boston. Bud, Jack, Jerry, Bob,and Walter were supporting the young African-American candidate David Nelson for congress. Though David did not win his congressional race, he built a very credible reputation in the process of his run and a few years later would be named to the Federal Bench by President Carter. David was ably supported by his brilliant brother John “JD” an investment Banker at State Street Bank who would create a reputation within the business community to rival his brother’s standing in the political community.
JD would go on to be the Treasurer of the National Democratic Party as well as starting a highly successful Finance business, “Rumbline” in Boston. He was a brilliant and genuine businessman and made friends easily. In fact, he was often seen at Waterville with his friends Chip Carter, son of President Carter as well as Jamie Bush, Nephew of President George H.W. Bush.
As I said earlier, The Dunfeys played an integral role in breaking the back of segregation in Boston, but that did not mean that JD and David were free from the slings and arrows of racial animus. But the grace and humor with which they faced these challenges gave their newfound friends at Waterville Valley a confidence in them that helped everyone to rise together.
Hali Beckman, close friends with JD and ultimately life partners related this story to me.
Listen to the Interview with Hali Beckman here
The Dunfeys introduced the Nelson’s to Waterville and it was love from the start. JD would become one of the most important mentors to the young freestyle skiers, stepping in to manage many of them when they were feeling short-changed by early business operators in the Freestyle community.
HERE’S WAYNE WONG SPEAKING ABOUT HIS EVOLVING RELATIONSHIP WITH JD THAT WOULD WREST CONTROL BACK FOR THE FREESTYLERS.
Listen to the Interview with Wayne Wong here
After the accident at Stratton, Freestyle was on the ropes, JD would join Jack Sanders , Bernie Weischel and Nick and Suzi Preston to craft protocols for the safe operation of competitions and to convince a highly skeptical insurance industry to come back to providing coverage for events, with a lot of help from Jerry Dunfey.
Just in the nick of time to save the sport in its most desperate hour of need. . .
HERE’S JERRY AGAIN COMMENTING ON BOTH JD’S MENTORING OF THE FREESTYLERS AND HIS WORK TO HELP BRING INSURERS AND SKI AREAS BACK TO THE TABLE FOR FREESTYLE
JD and Jerry Dunfey became fast friends in those early years and along with Frank Deboise, were known as the Three Musketeers because they were often seen together in Waterville.
So JD Nelson, Jerry Dunfey, Jack Sanders with a lot of help from Bernie Weichel would play a critical role in saving the nascent Freestyle skiing Industry when they, first developed standards and protocols for the safe conduct of Freestyle competitions and then engineered a deal that brought the ski industry, event sponsors and insurance companies back together after a period of panic set off by the accidents that had send them into a panic. Together they crafted protocols that convinced the skittish business community that Freestyle could be made both fun and reasonably safe.
The final piece of the puzzle came a few years later when Nick and Suzi Preston began working with young aspiring freestylers, making sure that the next generation of Freestyle skiers would be trained and equipped to carry the sport forward in a way that minimized the risks and maximized the fun. The result has been an explosion of both the number of new and interesting Freestyle events as well as a huge public interest in the sport, both on the competition side as well as the public side. Freestyle competitions are now the most popular events in the Winter Olympics.
In the final installment of our Birth of Freestyle Skiing series, we’ll focus on the athletes.
Thanks for joining me for New Hampshire Secrets, Legends & Lore. As a reminder, you can hear many of the individual personal interviews that went into the process of creating this series of podcasts by visiting the show note page for each episode, you can also find them in the New Hampshire Secrets, Legends & Lore Podcast sections of your favorite podcast app. You won’t want to miss the interview with Nick Preston available on both audio podcast and YouTube focusing on many of today’s modern Freestyle competitors, the beneficiaries of the enthusiasm and hard work of the earlier generations of competitors.
A special thanks goes out to our friends and sponsors at the New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism who carry these podcasts on the pages of their InDepthNH.org website.
The shownotes can be found at NHSecrets.blogspot.com where you can subscribe, make a contribution or purchase art and merch that helps support the podcast.
Thanks again for joining us on this special series of podcasts on the Birth of Freestyle Skiing at Waterville Valley, we’ll see you again on the next episode of New Hampshire Secrets, Legends & Lore.
The Birth of Freestyle Skiing at Waterville Valley Podcast Series Overview
From Anamaki Chronicles and InDepthNH.org
This podcast series was produced in three main parts with ancillary interviews also published. YouTube interviews are included where possible.
Part 1 - The Dreamers and the Doers
https://feeds.podetize.com/ep/merRchZ-4/media
https://www.anamaki.com/art-productions/podcasts/new-hampshire-secrets-legends-lore
Part 2 - The Mentors and the Protectors
https://feeds.podetize.com/ep/h9zwlyIsg/media
https://www.anamaki.com/art-productions/podcasts/new-hampshire-secrets-legends-lore
 |
| Midday Dreams Before Time |
Part 3 - The Athletes
Coming soon
Accompanying Interviews
Frank Deboise
Frank Deboise: https://feeds.podetize.com/HGW31ThDn.mp3
https://www.anamaki.com/art-productions/podcasts/new-hampshire-secrets-legends-lore
Nick & Suzi Preston
Nick & Suzi Preston - A Life in Skiing, a Freestyle Life https://feeds.podetize.com/ep/bRHCU52Td/media
https://www.anamaki.com/art-productions/podcasts/new-hampshire-secrets-legends-lore
YouTube - Coming soon
Remembering Ray Brox
Bill Brox, Son of Raymond Brox
https://feeds.podetize.com/b04rwqlg2.mp3
https://www.anamaki.com/art-productions/podcasts/new-hampshire-secrets-legends-lore
 |
| Purple Light |
Jack Sanders
Jack Sanders a brilliant legal mind and protector of Freestyle
Jack Sanders
https://feeds.podetize.com/Gybe4fSK3.mp3
https://www.anamaki.com/art-productions/podcasts/new-hampshire-secrets-legends-lore
Tom Gross
Nick Preston calls Tom the Unofficial Mayor of "Waterville Valley"
Tom Gross
https://feeds.podetize.com/C6pYhDC1A.mp3
https://www.anamaki.com/art-productions/podcasts/new-hampshire-secrets-legends-lore
 |
| ABQ Dawn Impressions |
John & Donni Hughes
Understanding the culture of Waterville during the birth of Freestyle. The wind beneath the wings of Freestyle.
John & Donni Hughes
https://feeds.podetize.com/nOawqmYok.mp3
https://www.anamaki.com/art-productions/podcasts/new-hampshire-secrets-legends-lore
Bernie Weischel
Bernie Weischel: 75 Years on the Boards and an Exhibition Guy at Heart
https://feeds.podetize.com/6w0RDNU_2.mp3
https://www.anamaki.com/art-productions/podcasts/new-hampshire-secrets-legends-lore
 |
| The Rose and the Headdress |
George Askevold
Attitude and Altitude in the Wild West of Skiing https://feeds.podetize.com/yp_6i71bi.mp3
https://www.anamaki.com/art-productions/podcasts/new-hampshire-secrets-legends-lore
Hali Beckman
Hali Beckman Remembers JD Nelson and the early days of Freestyle Skiing at Waterville Valley
https://feeds.podetize.com/v_ggGFPqm.mp3
https://www.anamaki.com/art-productions/podcasts/new-hampshire-secrets-legends-lore
 |
| A Rest at Jefferson Highlands |
Jerry Dunfey
Jerry remembers JD Nelson and his friend Frank Deboise
https://feeds.podetize.com/YTfKrY5qL.mp3
https://www.anamaki.com/art-productions/podcasts/new-hampshire-secrets-legends-lore
 |
| Zion Canyon Crossing |
Accompanying Interview Podcasts:
Frank Deboise
 |
| Trees in a Ridgetop Fog |
 |
| Spirit Buffalo on a Blue Horizon |
 |
| Three Maples For an unsigned open-edition print, of any size, and merchandise using this image, click here |
|
| A Rest at Jefferson Highlands |
|
| The Rose and the Headdress |
No comments:
Post a Comment