Skordas thrives on challenges

Skordas has an old "chopper" motorcycle he still rides — a partial fee payment from a member of the Sundowners motorcycle club he represented in a criminal case. He has a newer Harley Davidson and a garage full of skis and mountain and road bikes, some of which are for his kids and wife, corporate attorney Charlotte Miller.

This summer Skordas finished 16th place in his age classification in a bike race from Logan to Jackson Hole, Wyo.

And for two decades each Sunday he's climbed into a car with friend Bruce Hancey to drive up to Park City Mountain Resort for a long day of ski patrolling. "For 25 weeks a year, for 20 years, I've driven up and down the canyon with that guy. I think I know him," says Hancey, owner of Founders Title Co.

"Greg loves people. He likes to train them. (The pair have instructed several generations of ski patrolmen.) He likes to help them when they are hurt."

Skordas' life is full today, varied in the past.

The grandson of Greek immigrants, he was raised in the Murray area (where he resides today), graduated from Cottonwood High School (where he wrestled at 119 pounds "and learned the discipline of not eating") and went to the University of Utah where he got a degree in metallurgical engineering.

"Yeah, I was a geek in high school and college, a guy with a calculator on his belt."

He would have actually liked to get a job in his engineer field, but the nation and world were in a mining slump when he graduated in 1978, and the only jobs "were in the middle of nowhere."

He applied to a few graduate schools in different disciplines, including the U.'s law school, and was accepted to several. He picked law.

While in law school he worked part-time for Yocom in his mentor's private criminal law practice.

"We defended Joseph Paul Franklin, who shot the African-American kids" near Liberty Park. Almost immediately, "I was hooked on criminal work. I loved it."

After law school and passing the bar, he worked in the Legal Defender's office — long hours, low pay and hundreds of cases.

In 1986 he went to work for Yocom, now the county D.A., starting with misdemeanor cases. He worked his way up, ultimately prosecuting some big cases, including the kidnapping/murder at Alta View Hospital.

His first marriage, ending in divorce, produced son Nic, now a junior at the Air Force Academy. While it may sound hokey, says Nic, "My dad is my best friend. I can talk to him about anything, and so can other people."

Skordas tries to find the best in any situation, says Nic, like the time Skordas took his son and half a dozen teenage friends on a boating outing on Utah Lake. "Our boat wouldn't start. A wasted, frustrating day? No. Dad struck up a conversation with a guy at the dock who actually let us take his boat out. It was great."

Skordas actually recruited his second wife, Miller, but not for marriage.