Friday, September 25, 2009

Engl among four inductees in Intermountain ski shrine

Ceremony held Sept. 24 in Utah


Four men who made significant contributions to winter sports in the region in far-reaching and diverse ways were inducted into the Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame here Thursday, Sept. 24.

The 2009 inductees are:

The late Siegfried (Sigi) Engl of Sun Valley. He won major races in Europe and the U.S. and was a member of the storied 10th Mountain Division which fought in Italy during World War II. Engl catapulted the Sun Valley Ski School into international prominence in the 1950s;

Richard D. (Dick) Bass of Dallas, Texas. He was the developer of Utah's Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort in 1971, one of the original investors in Colorado's Vail Ski Resort and the first to reach the summit of the highest mountains on each of the world's continents;

Alan K. Engen of Salt Lake City. He was a Nordic and alpine winner on several levels and a long-time instructor and Director of Skiing at Alta. An All American for the University of Utah, Engen was the founder of the ski museum at Utah Olympic Park that bears the name of his father, Alf;

Mike C. Korologos of Salt Lake City. A writer whose articles and photographs on tourism and winter sports in the Intermountain Region have appeared in periodicals world-wide, Korologos was named Utah Ski Journalist of the Year by Ski Utah, the industry's promotional entity.

Induction ceremonies were at the Joe Quinney Winter Sports Center at the Utah Olympic Park.

The Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame was established in 2002 and this foursome brings the number of inductees to 42. Each honoree receives a glass plaque bearing their likeness and biographical overview of their accomplishments and achievements that merit Hall of Fame status.

A duplicate plaque is enshrined in the Will and Jean Pickett Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame, located in the main foyer of the Alf Engen Ski Museum that is housed in the Quinney Center. The Hall is named in recognition of the late ski enthusiast who lived in Salt Lake City.

Scott Ulbrich, president of the non-profit Alf Engen Ski Museum Foundation that oversees the Hall of Fame, said that Hall of Fame selections are made annually by knowledgeable winter sports historians from Utah, Idaho and Wyoming.

Selection is based on outstanding achievements in the areas of skiing competition, skiing innovations, ski sport development and significant contributions to the overall promotion of winter sports the Intermountain West.

Inductees to the Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame to date are:

2002: Junior Bounous, Zane A. Doyle, Alf M. Engen, Sverre Engen, Karre "Corey" Engen, Gretchen K. Fraser, W. Averell Harriman and S. Joseph "Joe" Quinney.

2003: Stein Eriksen, Bill Briggs and Axel Andreason.

2004: Pepi Steigler, "Mayor" George Watson, Suzy Harris Rytting, Bill Lash, Bill Spencer and Edward L. Scott.

2005: Edgar B. Stern, Jr., Neil Rafferty, M. Earl Miller, Lou Lorenz, Keith Lange and James R. Gaddis.

2006: Marv Melville, Cal McPhie, Dick Movitz, Dev Jennings, Jack Reddish and Marthenius (Mark, M.A.) Strand.

2007: Ted Johnson, Paul McCollister, Woody Anderson, K Smith, Pete Karns and Margo Walters-McDonald.

2008: Alvin F. Cobabe, Albert "Sunny" Korfanta and Pat Miller.

Specifics on the nominees

The Hall of Fame plaque for each of the 2009 inductees reads:

Siegfried (Sigi) Engl (1911-1982): A stylish competitor and inspirational ski instructor, Siegfried (Sigi) Engl carved an indelible swath of accomplishments on the slopes of Europe and the Intermountain West.

A native of Kitzbuehel, Austria, he was a ski instructor by age 15, won the Italian downhill and slalom championships in 1931, the Hahnenkamm combined and the famous Marmolata downhill in 1935. He won the Austrian slalom and downhill championships twice and was a member of the Austrian FIS World Championship Team for two years.

In 1937 Sigi became an instructor at Badger Pass in Yosemite National Park, Ca. and two years later joined the ski school at Sun Valley, Idaho, where he won the prestigious Harriman Cup in 1941.

During World War II he was a member of the storied 10th Mountain Division serving in Italy. In 1952 Sigi became director of the Sun Valley Ski School where his innovative instructional methods vaulted the school into international prominence. He was inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame in 1971. In 1974 the president of Austria awarded him Austria's Golden Medal of Honor for distinguished service.

"Sigi's Bowl" on Sun Valley's Bald Mountain is a lasting tribute to the contributions he made to his beloved sport of skiing.

Richard (Dick) Bass (1929-): Passionate dreamer, extroverted optimist, adventurous mountaineer and energized entrepreneur. Bass personifies each trait with nonstop verbosity and hyper-enthusiasm.

A man of blanket curiosity and persevering determination, Dick's accomplishments are mountainous, literally and figuratively. They range from being the first to reach the summit of the highest mountain on each of the world's continents to nurturing Utah's Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort into a world-class, year-round destination.

He was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but since the age of three

has made Dallas his home. As a graduate of Yale in 1950, Dick's multi-faceted credentials include successful forays into geology, petroleum engineering, ranching, and recreation. In 1962 he was one of the original investors in Vail Ski Resort. In 1986 co-authored the book, Seven Summits, about his climbing adventures.

He was honored by the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) in 2006 with its Lifetime Achievement Award. In June 2007 he received the Sheldon Coleman Great Outdoors Award from American Recreation Coalition (ARC) in Washington D.C., recognizing his significant contributions to

skiing and recreation.

His undaunted faith and innermost strengths are founded in his mantra that, "if it's meant to be, it's up to me." Utah's Snowbird Resort, which he opened in 1971, stands as a living testimonial to his words.

Alan K. Engen (1940-): A native of Salt Lake City, he started skiing at age two and was a skiing competitor by age nine. Alan was a five-time Intermountain junior ski champion and a five-time senior champion involving both Nordic and Alpine events. He was an All American skier for the University of Utah. He was also a member of the U.S. military ski team which participated at the highest level of international skiing competition in Europe and was a perennial winner in U.S. Masters Series ski events.

Engen was named a Utah Ski Legend (1988), inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame (1991), added to the honored roles of the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame (2004) and inducted into the University of Utah Crimson Club Hall of Fame (2006). He meshed his quiet, persuasive manner with his passion for preserving the history of skiing in the West to record his most notable accomplishment—spearheading the building of the Joe Quinney Winter Sports Center/Alf Engen Ski Museum. He also authored two books on skiing, served as chairman and president of the Alta Historical Society, and was a charter member of the University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library Ski Archives Advisory Board.

He has been involved at Alta for over 50 years as a ski instructor, ski school director and later Director of Skiing and was a torchbearer for both the 1996 and 2002 Olympic Summer and Winter Games.

Mike C. Korologos (1937-): He used the written word to leave his imprint on the annals of skiing. For more than 50 years his writing and photographs enlightened readers of periodicals worldwide about winter sports in the Intermountain West. His way with words was instrumental in Salt Lake City's successful quest to host the Olympic Winter Games 2002 and had him serve as communications director for the organizing committee of those games.

A native of Salt Lake City and a graduate of the University of Utah, Mike started his writing career at The Salt Lake Tribune where he was ski editor for 10 years. He received the State of Utah Tourism Achievement Award in 1984 and was named Ski Journalist of the Year in 1992 by Ski Utah. In 2003 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Ski History Association.

A willing volunteer for numerous worthy causes, Mike was a charter member of the Alf Engen Ski Museum Foundation Board of Directors and a long-serving member of University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library Ski Archives Advisory Board. If it pertained to skiing, Mike had a word for it.




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