Western Colorado University Athletics

The first two intercollegiate ski teams in Western State history were among the inductees in the Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame 2009 induction ceremony Oct. 2. The 1946-47 and 1947-48 teams worked to secure equipment and facilities while being the first to travel and compete against other collegiate teams.

“The fact that a group of college students could have the impact on a sport and a college that this group did is certainly a basis for such an induction,” said Gerald Groswold, the younger brother of team member Thor Groswold, in his nomination letter. “I attended Western State in my freshman year of college, 1949-50, for the primary purpose of skiing for Western State. I wanted to be part of teams that were gaining national attention.”

After World War II, an influx of veterans from the 10th Mountain Division along with the traditional high school graduates enrolled at Western State. A pair of veterans from the division, Crosby Perry-Smith and Dick Wellington, approached faculty to gain financial assistance and support to start an intercollegiate ski program. Faculty members denied the request in order to focus on other projects.

Perry-Smith and Wellington worked on their goals along with other members of the teams and obtained permission from the U.S. Forest Service to construct a jumping hill at the Pioneer Ski area. The group worked with the county to bulldoze part of the area while the members provided labor. The jump was finished with trees and brush after an early snow prevented the full completion of the jump. The in-run was so steep that a rope was tied between two trees to hold jumpers on the hill before starting the downhill run.

Perry-Smith, Wellington, Hubert Snyder, Thor Griswold and Paul Wegeman each spent their Thanksgiving break at Winter Park to train while working at Timmerhaus Lodge for room and board.

After Thanksgiving, new Western State President Dr. Peter Mickkelson brought Perry-Smith into his office and endorsed the idea of an intercollegiate ski team. Funds were allocated for transportation and hotel rooms and the team would provide their own equipment and coach.

The Mountaineers opened the program at Sun Valley, Idaho, during the winter vacation in 1946 against 25 other collegiate teams from across the nation. Perry-Smith won the cross country race while wearing a pair of swim shorts with a Hawaiian pattern over his long underwear. Western State returned to Gunnison with 19 different injuries among its members, but the men generated a large amount of nationwide publicity for the institution.

Western State recorded three runner-up finishes and a third-place finish in the next four meets of the season. Team members had to compete in all four events using converted Army skis and old football shoes screwed to the skis.

Members of the inaugural team included Perry-Smith, Wellington, Fred Pearce, Leonard McLean, Glenn McLean, Paul Wegeman, Hubert Snyder, Thor Groswold, Don Larsh and Marlin Yarmer.

In 1947-48, Western State claimed its first victory at Aspen during the winter vacation and went on to win each meet held in the Rocky Mountain region that year. The Mountaineers still won a meet in Wyoming after missing two members due to the Olympic trials and a season-ending injury.

The highlight of the season was participation in the Middlebury Carnival in Middlebury, Vt. Considered the largest intercollegiate ski meet in the nation, Perry-Smith set the hill record in the jump and finished third in the downhill to help establish Western State as a national power in skiing.

Members of the team included Perry-Smith, McLean, Groswold, Snyder, McLean, Wellington, McLaren, Yarmer, Larsh, Fred Pearce and Bill Gorsuch.

“During these seminal years, while I was also an undergraduate at Western State, these student-athletes, on their own initiative, organized and developed nationally competitive teams that brought respectable recognition to Western,” said Anton G. Pegis (’49), a professor emeritus and former vice-president at Colorado School of Mines, in his nomination letter. “Through their efforts, they achieved a high watermark of athletic accomplishment with few resources underpinned by strength of character and dedication to their school and sport.”

Four members went on to officiate or participate in five Winter Olympics and three have entered the Colorado Ski Hall of Fame. Perry-Smith and Gorsuch were inducted in the Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame in 1997 and 2001, respectively.

Through their pioneer efforts, athletic director Paul Wright worked to establish skiing as an NCAA sport and Western State finished fourth in the inaugural championship event in 1950.