The Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum is proud to announce the 2016 inductees into the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame! They are:
- Lloyd “Chip” LaCasse – UVM Ski Coach from 1969 to 2003
- Stan Dunklee – Two-time Olympian and U.S. National Champion Nordic skier
- Paul Graves – Snowboarding pioneer and National “Snurfer” Champion
- Rosie Fortna – U. S. Alpine ski racer, 1968 Olympian, gold medalist at the 1970 World University Games.
These new members will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on November 19th, 2016, at Schuss II, a special celebration at the StoweFlake resort in Stowe, Vermont. Tickets and further information
Also at that event the Paul Robbins Journalism Award will be presented to Mary McKhann, owner/editor of The Snow Industry Letter.
The 2016 Hall of Fame inductees represent the wide influence Vermont and Vermonters have had on skiing and snowboarding.
Chip LaCasse is credited with building the UVM ski program into one of the nation’s best. During his tenure at UVM, LaCasse built the Catamount program into a national power, leading the Cats to six national titles, 10 runner-up finishes and a record 28 Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA) championships. Named EISA Coach of the Year a record seven times, LaCasse’s skiers earned 44 individual NCAA titles and more than 250 All-America certificates during his remarkable 33-year run at UVM.
Stan Dunklee skied for LaCasse at UVM winning an individual NCAA Cross Country championship in 1976 and becoming a two-time All-American. Stan competed in two Olympics (1976 and 1980) for the United States. He was the U.S. National Champion multiple times: 1976 – U.S. National 50K champion; 1977 and 1978 – U.S. National 15K champion; 1977 and 1979 – U.S. National 50K champion; 1980 and 1982 – U.S. National 30K champion.
Paul Graves started “surfing” on snow before the term “snowboard” was coined. In 1964 when a lot of snow fell near his home in East Brunswick, New Jersey, he grabbed a single old ski out of a friend’s garage and headed for the local sliding hill. He just stood with both feet balancing upon the ski to slide down the hill. Paul moved up to the “Snurfer” when it was introduced and began experimenting with tricks such as 360s and flips. In 1979 he won the U.S. Snurfer Freestyle Championship in Michigan. In 1982 he organized what is now recognized as the first national snowboarding championship at Suicide Six in Woodstock, Vermont.
Rosie Fortna’s family moved to Moretown, Vermont, in 1954. Rosie would learn to ski at Mad River Glen where her father was a ski instructor, earning the coveted gold “no stop no fall” pin when she was just 10 years old. Rosie trained with the Mount Mansfield Ski Club where she became a successful junior racer winning races throughout New England. This included winning the Stowe Sugar Slalom when Sepp Ruschp gave winners a season’s pass for the following year. In 1965 she was named to the U.S. National Team under Coach Bob Beattie and competed in the 1968 Olympics. Her best competitive year was 1970 when she won the U.S. National Championship, the Canadian National Championship, and three gold medals at the World University Games in Finland.
The Paul Robbins Award winner Mary McKhann worked at the Manchester (Vermont) Journal in the mid-1980s and began covering ski racing when her young sons became involved. This would lead to a job as the ski reporter for the Rutland Herald. In 1992 she moved to Waitsfield, Vermont, to take a job with Ski Racing International which produced five skiing-related publications. Eventually she became editor of The Snow Industry Letter (TSIL). When TSIL owner Bob Gillen passed away, she bought the business and now says: “I am publisher, editor, janitor, and chief operating officer, putting out 48 newsletters a year.”
Source: Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum
Dorn is a lifelong skier, USSA Masters ski racer and PSIA certified ski instructor, as well as a snowboarder. For the past 30 years, she has worked as a software executive and serial entrepreneur. Together, with her passion for snowsports, she also brings over 30 years of experience in the software industry and 10 years of non-profit board experience.